The Wicked Bargain

by Gabe Cole Novoa

“I’m not an angel or a monster,” they say with a smile. “I’m just the pirate who beat you at your own game.”

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss the queerness of the book. Queer and trans people have existed since the beginning of time. Popular Western media about pirates has largely straightwashed their stories, but historians have noted more than a couple of idiosyncrasies with cisgender heterosexual expectations. There are relatively famous accounts of people assigned female at birth living as men among pirate crews (see: Anne Bonny and Mary Read).

Queerness abounds in history, and I hope to shine a light on stories that, while fictional, spotlight queer and trans people who have always been here.