Winner of the American Book Award, Walter Wangerin's allegorical fantasy concerns a time when the sun turned around the earth and animals could speak, when Chauntecleer the Rooster ruled over a more or less peaceful kingdom. What the animals did not know was that they were the Keeper of Wyrm, monster of Evil long imprisoned beneath the earth. And Wyrm, sub terra, was breaking free.
This title tells the story of three people whose lives were interwoven by love, friendship, and desire for the destruction of evil. The novel is set in ancient times, when magic, nature, mortals and immortals existed together.
A space vehicle from Earth's distant future is trapped in the l8th Century, lands in the Caribbean Sea, and its crew boards the pirate ship Orinda. The unwitting pirate, Captain Fletcher, must cope with the uncanny problems posed by time-displacement, an alien "cabin boy;' captives sentenced towalk the plank who drown but do not die, and an ominous battleship that has sneaked in from a different point in the galaxy. How the "cabin boy" struggles to restore his ship, fight off the enemy battleship, and prevent Earth's history from being irrevocably changed, makes for a wonderful adventure that blends futuristic time-travel with the swashbuckling excitement of l8th-Century pirates.