Perfect for Pride Month, A Prince Among Pirates by Katie Abdou combines high-seas adventure, and queer romance set against the backdrop of pirate life. The novel follows Kit, a high-born nobleman, as he accidentally finds himself on a pirate ship. Too late for him to find another ship, Kit sticks it out. This YA fantasy explores identity, rebellion, and the freedom to forge your own path. We spoke to Katie Abdou about pirate fiction, writing queer characters, and bringing life at sea to the page.
Pop culture has given us so many iconic pirates over the years. Were there any pirate stories, films, or legends that especially inspired you while writing the book?
My high school English Lit teacher will be the first to tell you that Captain Jack Sparrow was a crucial part of my identity as a teenager—but actually, Jim Hawkins (Disney’s Treasure Planet) and Stede Bonnet (Our Flag Means Death) were the largest inspirations for the conception of this book. The true story of Black Sam Bellamy was also a large, Captain Sharpe-shaped piece of the puzzle for me. I could write an entire dissertation on the how and why!
Pirates have always had a rebellious, larger-than-life appeal that is associated with freedom. What makes you want to tell a queer story in a pirate setting?
Pirates, or rather the romanticized version most people know of them, have always inspired and intrigued me—starting with Captain Hook when I was very young. Plus, being the middle child with left-leaning parents, I grew up being fearlessly rebellious toward authority figures—and recognized from a young age that people in power were there because of money and influence—not because they deserved it. I think, for me, writing a book with a piratical setting was an inevitability, and the main character being queer was never a question.
At the same time, pirates are often romanticised in fiction, but they also exist outside society’s rules. Did that outsider status influence how you approached the LGBTQ+ themes in the story?
The romantic notion of pirates existing outside of the rules of society speaks to me at my very core, but in a way that’s unrelated to my queerness. I have always known I was queer, and I have always been out. I’ve been very fortunate to grow in a place where it’s been normalized my entire life, so my queerness has not, until recent years, ever made me feel like an outsider. Queerness is unquestioningly intrinsic to me and all my stories, but not in a conscious way. Instead, my particular sense of “otherness” or my “outsider status” has always been related to my being a white-passing Arab woman, though that was something I didn’t understand or recognize until my teens—much like Kit himself.
Life at sea feels both thrilling and claustrophobic in the book. What did you enjoy most about writing a story set largely aboard a ship?
My father owns a fishing boat he renovated into a sort of miniature-yacht or cabin cruiser with a galley, cabin, and bathroom on board. He takes us out on it, and lives on it in the summer when he is State side. There is definitely a competing feeling of claustrophobia and liberation that comes with being on that boat. I love the juxtaposition of those two sensations competing with one another. There is a sense of panic that can set in when you focus on the closed quarters that can be entirely at odds with the overwhelming vastness of the ocean around you and the wind in your hair the moment you step out on deck. I loved trying to capture that in prose.
And what was more enjoyable to write: the high-seas adventure or the romantic tension between characters?
Not to be contrary, but I actually think my favorite scenes to write were the quiet scenes where Kit is dealing with inner turmoil. I loved the moments when he saw himself changing, but couldn’t quite put his finger on what was happening or why. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Kit and the twins are in the marketplace at Nassau, and Kit gets to take in the diversity of the people, food, and culture around him. It’s an eye-opening experience for him, and every time I go back to that scene, I get the same small thrill I got while writing it.
Finally, pirate stories always make readers dream about setting sail themselves. If you could visit one location or setting from the book in real life, where would you go first?
This answer will likely surprise and disappoint people—but I have never been to England, the very country Kit ran away from. I have always dreamt of visiting the UK and exploring the historic sites there. I love nature and history, and desperately want to explore all the places I have read about in books. I very much hope to have the opportunity soon. I have spent a great deal of time in the Caribbean—as my father lives there half the year and frequently invites me to come stay with him, so it feels like cheating to choose one of the islands as my answer!
