Smithereens: Trencadis Tales

By MB Austin

When British privateers seek refuge inside Pollesa Bay from an avenging kraken, the Confederacion Mediterraneo calls on naval cadet Coreopsis Fairholm-Mendoza to act as truthreader. How did a Malagasy ship fall into enemy hands; how did it get so far off course; and why do these raiders lay claim to it and to its sole survivor? Some truths are more menacing even than a kraken lurking off Mallorca's idyllic shores.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MB Austin
• Release date: Jan 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393953975

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Smithereens

Smithereens

The Unvarnished Truth of the Pollensa Bay Blockade

MB Austin

Seedbomb Studios

Copyright © 2021 by MB Austin

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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9 April, 1850

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Dear Salix,

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By now the Captain’s message will have reached you and Lupe, true to thon’s word. So at least you need not worry about my head, despite the blow it took. The Concordia’s physician monitors my concussed state like a brood hen. Yet I must capture all the peculiar events and revelations before the strangeness fades like a fever-dream. Will it ever? You’ve told me precious little about the land of my birth; steadfastly reticent all through my childhood. But today my innocence plunged into the Bay along with my body. Surely I am of age to hear the truth.

Were you two up at the Finca while the blockade transpired? I always picture you there, cataloging flora and fauna, rather than in town giving lectures and entertaining. No matter. By sunrise tomorrow, all of Alcúdia will buzz with tales, one more confabulated than the next. Believe all or none of your neighbors, but trust not the official record the Council shall issue from the grand halls of Palma (once the dignitaries settle upon a palatable lie).

Naturally the Captain forbade me to discuss the matter with my Navy shipmates. A relief, to be frank.