Saint Antony's Fire

by Steve White

  Oceans of ink have been spilled over the question of Shakespeare's whereabouts and occupations during the "lost years" between the mid-1580s and early 1590s. Some would place his arrival in London as late as 1591, but a date of 1587 is supportable. The latter seems more likely given his attested status as a budding playwright by 1592, with at least Henry VI to his credit. There is no reason to suppose he was ever in any way connected with Walsingham's intelligence network, but his friend Christopher Marlowe certainly was.

  The North Carolina Outer Banks have changed over the centuries under the relentless assault of the Atlantic waves. Croatoan Island probably comprised what are now Ocracoke Island and the southern end of Hatteras Island. Hatorask Island almost certainly included today's Pea Island and the northern end of Hatteras. Roanoke Island, inland from the Banks and sheltered by them, is more or less as it was. Incidentally, at the time of the story the entire area was included in what was called "Virginia."

  As regards dialogue, I have deliberately made no attempt to reproduce sixteenth century English, with its unavoidable air of affected quaintness. Elizabethans didn't know they were being quaint; they weren't consciously trying to sound like Elizabethans.

  THE END

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  Saint Antony's Fire

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Author's Note