By Any Other Name by Michel R. Vaillancourt

They spar both literally and figuratively, and their blossoming romance is one of the best components of this book.Īlternatively, there is an underlying theme that pirate women are wild and free, while European wives and fiancés are demure and unobtrusive. She has her eye on the shy, moralistic Sauder, but he has a difficult time letting go of his Victorian values on love and relationships. The ship’s Captain of the Gunnar-Marines is the beautiful and saucy Annika Nadezhda – not only is Nadezhda Sauder’s equal with a weapon, she is also smart and playful. Arietta Atala is a tall black woman who commandeers the Propulsion room, including the all-important EMIPALE mechanism Sauder looks to her for leadership and education as he applies his knowledge of designing airships. One of the more interesting components of this piece of work is the implied equality that exists among the men and women on board the Bloody Rose there are women in positions of power all over the ship, handling a sword just as well (if not better) then most of the men. Saunder chooses the latter, and the rest of the story is the chronicles of his adventures with the crew of the Bloody Rose. Sauder is given an option by the legendary Captain Blackheart either become a pirate, or die.

The story is told from the point of view of Hans Saunder (hence the title – the Saunder Diaries… By Any Other Name), a wealthy young German whose passenger merchant airship was hijacked by one of the most feared pirate ships in all of Europe or Russia – The Bloody Rose.

The Allied and the Russian Air Navies are still antagonistic towards one another, and the airwaves above the earth are full of steam-powered naval ships, merchant ships and treasure-hungry pirate ships. Vaillancourt introduces us to the time period of 1888, 30 years after the end of the Crimean War. In his newest novel The Sauder Diaries… By Any Other Name, Vaillancourt creates an alternate history where pirates rule the flying airwaves, beautiful murderesses fall in love with a captured aristocrat, men can be created out of nuts and bolts, and rogue mechanical Dragons can destroy entire towns no matter if they are part of the Russian or Allied alliance.

The name “Michel” rolls off the tongue, causing one to sigh right between the soft –ch sound and the dominant ‘l’ sound, simultaneously summoning the voices of Paul McCartney and Captain Hook.

He lives on an island, you know- Prince Edward Island, to be exact. Don’t believe me? Just look at his name – all Canadian French and romantic and full of dreamy syllables. Vaillancourt is a romantic swashbuckler of a novelist. I recently read a novel which motivated me enough to write a new blogpost (amazing, eh?) so may I please introduce to you a new friend and a pretty darn good author- Michel R. I know I have been pretty quiet lately, but I have been a tired hausfrau.

By Any Other Name by Michel R. Vaillancourt