Greenbeard

Mixing space travel and 17th-century pirate lore, this extremely odd debut novel is by turns droll, pedantic, and compelling. Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges was a Cambridge-educated lawyer before he realized that piracy was a more honorable profession. Intending to raid a Spanish fleet full of silver plate, he stumbles into the Martian Saucer Fleet and endures years of slavery before escaping and raising a crew of pirates to pillage the aliens’ fortress on Mars. There are many places along the way where the narrative loses focus; the pirate argot is more irritating than amusing, and the characters are prone to lecturing each other over arcane matters. On the other hand, the situations are cleverly contrived, the characters likeable, and the over-the-top premise worked out in careful detail. Somehow, despite stumbles and lurches, the story keeps moving along and pulling the reader with it. (May)