Sassy, Swashbuckling Ladies of the Sea

“Not that there is anything wrong with Mathilde,” he assured her. “It is a perfectly lovely name for a young lady. It strikes me though as not being piratical. Women who are pirates have names that are simple, but do not detract from their fierceness. Girls like Anne Bonny and Mary Read.”
“There are girl pirates?” If she looked happy before, he feared now she would explode with excitement.
“Yes, indeed there are. I will show you Captain Johnson’s book of pirates when we’re aboard the Prodigal Son. So, what shall your name be?”

--The Pirate's Secret Baby

My most requested talk is "Good Girls Go to Heaven, But Bad Girls Go to Sea: Women Pirates Through History". It's no surprise that it's a crowd pleaser. My inbox this month was filling with friends and fans asking, "Did you see the Smithsonian article on swashbuckling women?" I had, and I enjoyed it, just as I've enjoyed tales of women pirates since I first learned about Anne Bonny and Mary Read when I was about Mattie St. Armand's (The Pirate's Secret Baby) age. 

Over the years I've learned there were many more transgressive women who took to the water, on rivers and on the ocean. It's excellent fodder for an author who loved pirates as a child, but like Mattie and other little girls I was especially entertained by stories of lady pirates. It gave me hope for my own future career options.