The Veiled Threat: Five Female Pirates in History Guest Post and Giveaway

PIRATES!! Who doesn’t like a story about pirates? The Veiled Threat by Sophia Menesini has plenty of them along with princesses, kidnapping, pirate ships, and a treasure no pirate could refuse. But as with any adventure, it doesn’t turn out the way it’s expected to.

As you scroll through, check out the synopsis, a guest post from the author talking about lady pirates throughout history. and… A GIVEAWAY! Pirates and a giveaway?! What more could you ask for? Let’s get to it!

The Veiled Threat
by Sophia Menesini
Genre: NA Fantasy/LGBT
Release date: July 2019

Summary:

Captain Shea Lara is the current leader of The Veiled Duchess. The most feared pirate ship in all of Neried. And now, after completing her former mentor’s final score, she’s retiring. Everything seems to be coming to an end… Until a mysterious stranger drags her back into the fold with an offer for a score she can’t refuse. All she has to do is kidnap the crowned princess of the northern Queendom, Princess Joana of Arethusa. The prize is just within reach. But sparks fly as the two women collide. And an obscured threat that could upturn Shea’s entire world storms on the horizon. She’ll face it alone unless she can allow herself the support she needs from old and new allies alike. Something’s coming and Shea is at the center of it.

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Top 5 Female Pirates in History: Author Guest Post by Sophia Menesini

Have any of you seen Drunk History on YouTube? This question is one I hope I get to answer on there as a Historian someday as this is my specialization for my graduate degree. Female pirates are awesome, pirates, in general, are awesome. Their culture had no sense of prejudice if you could fight and earn your keep, you were in. They didn’t fit into boxes. I mean they weren’t good people necessarily they were criminals but for many reasons, some of them were escaped slaves and deserting naval officers. People who came from all walks of life.

I mean growing up as a little girl, I loved my princesses, I mean that’s how I wrote Jo in a lot of aspects like Ariel and Belle. But Pirates of the Caribbean was my jam.

I loved Captain Jack Sparrow and King Elizabeth Swann, and Will the pretty side damsel. So when I came up for The Veiled Threat, it was at a DnD session and I wanted to be a pirate because they were a community that valued the free. Okay, so enough ranting here are the top 5 female pirates in History to me.

1. Jeanne de Clisson – Also known as The Lioness of Brittany, de Clisson was an incredible fourteenth-century privateer who took revenge into her own hands against the French crown for the death of her husband. She was a wealthy french courtier who after what she felt was a betrayal of the French king for the execution of her husband sold their many estates and purchased three warships and later known to the British Channel as the Black Fleet. She even recruited her two sons as crew members to her flagship. She targeted mostly french ships and rarely left anyone alive. She was the Lioness for thirteen years until her flagship was destroyed, she lost one of her sons in the aftermath and out of miraculous luck retired with her remaining son. She even remarried and lived out the rest of her days in the castle of Hennebont.

2. Anne Bonny and in extension Mary Read – If you haven’t seen Black Sails, watch it? Clara Paget is a great Anne Bonny. An Irishwoman, a redhead, and one of the most famous pirates of all time operating in the Caribbean during the eighteenth century. She was a lover of the pirate captain “Calico Jack” and friends with fellow crew mate Mary Read. Both women were often remarked for cross-dressing as men for disguise in their profession, which I mean come on who wants to work in a petticoat (sorry Elizabeth Swann). Both Read and Bonny were apart of the Golden Age of Piracy, the eighteenth century was a marvel for pirates to be alive. Calico Jack, Anne Bonny, and Mary Read were eventually captured and while Calico Jack and Mary Read both have recorded deaths (Jack was executed and Mary died in prison as Read and Bonny both claimed to be pregnant to avoid execution) Bonny’s death was never recorded. Some even believe she escaped prison or was released although the latter is unlikely.

3. Ching Shih– Considered one of the most successful pirates in general in history. Shih amassed an incredible fleet during her life, about 300 hundred ships and somewhere between 20,000 to 40,000 crew that manned all of her vessels. She fought off established nations such as the British Empire, the Qing Dynasty, and the Portuguese. She died a free woman a different narrative from the beginning of her story as a prostitute. She was a businesswoman, a feminine visionary. She married into the piracy game but eventually maneuvered and manipulated so that when her husband died, she became the leader of his own pirate empire. She even created her own pirate laws, which outlawed the rape of women in her fleet.

4. Queen Teuta of Illyria– A queen regent and while not necessarily a pirate herself, she was for it. Especially if it involved stealing from Rome. She used her position and power to basically legalize piracy for her subjects as long as it was for an advantage to her country. Because of this, she extended her reign far beyond her borders empowering her subjects. Unfortunately, she drew the attention of the Romans, she tried to hold them off but ultimately was forced to seek out peace, losing much of the original land of Illyria. The roman empire had a strict no pirates policy to the point in fact that piracy was almost completely extinct in the time of Caesar. Any piracy that was happening, was happening because the Romans were allowing it to happen. When Rome fell, Piracy was finally able to return to the Mediterranean.

5. Princess Alfhild – Her existence is questioned, as well as the time period in which she existed, but I had to put her on here because it’s a wicked cool story. A modest princess with an overprotective father who placed snakes in her room to guard her against unwanted suitors. Eventually, a prince managed to bypass those systems and was rewarded with Alfhild’s hand but instead of marrying the brave, daring prince she took a handful of her handmaidens and other ladies who didn’t wish to marry and made them a seafaring crew. She earned them many riches and even eventually moved on becoming captain of yet another crew this time, a crew of men. In time, Alfhild had a fleet of ships and was a very successful buccaneer. She would later retire though after being caught by her ex, the one who managed to sneak into her room and still become the Queen of Denmark after all her years of Piracy.

About the Author

The Storyteller with Salt Water in Her Veins

Sophia Menesini lives in Martinez, CA with her husband, and their two small Chihuahuas, Ziggy and Zeppelin. The Veiled Threat is her first novel. Sophia is an avid tea connoisseur and lover of Scotland with an unconventional memory for obscure Disney and Broadway song lyrics.