Barbados Bound, the first book of the Linda Collison’s Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series has been published by Fireship Press. First published as Star-Crossed in 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf, the New York Public Library chose Star-Crossed to be among the Books for the Teen Age — 2007. The revised re-released book is targeted for an adult audience (though should still appeal to young adults.) See our previous reviews of Star-Crossed and Surgeon’s Mate, the second book of the Patricia MacPherson series.

From David Hayes, writing for Historical Naval Fiction:

I asked Linda about this and she told me “The late Tom Grundner, founder of Fireship Press, was anxious to obtain the rights to publish Star-Crossed (though he hated the title and wanted me to change it) as the first in what he called the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series. It took some time and persistence for me to get a reversion of rights from Random House, even though the book was technically out of print. Fireship Press needed that reversion of rights before they could republish the novel. Meanwhile, Tom, on a leap of faith published the sequel, Surgeon’s Mate, in April of 2011. Tom and I discussed a few technical details that needed correcting in Star-Crossed (now, Barbados Bound) which I have taken care of, to the best of my knowledge. I was also able to add back in some words, sentences and brief scenes that I deleted or modified for the young adult audience that the original publisher was anticipating. But I never intended the book to be for a teen audience — it was written from an 18th century teen’s naive perspective, which is quite another thing. Most readers who bother to write in praise of the Patricia MacPherson series are adults. Like the late Tom Grundner, they “get” it! And that’s what keeps me writing.”