Four Questions

Ahoy, Matey!

After a trip to North Carolina's Outer Banks several years ago, Alan Levine, after hearing numerous tales of the pirate Blackbeard, decided to write a book about the famed pirate's less successful cousin, and The Adventures of Short Stubbly Brownbeard became the first young adult book named to the suggested reading list of the Atlanta NPR show Between the Lines. Levine is in the middle of a book tour along Georgia's coast that kicked off with an appearance at the Tybee Island Pirate Festival. Levine answers Julep's Four Questions.

1. What book, movie, TV show or other medium are you dying to share and why?

Novel: Patricia Anthony's God's Fires. Space aliens land in the middle of Portugal during the Inquisition. An absurd premise, yet so well written it's believable. Rock band: Five Star Iris. Brothers and AEPi alums Rob Schaefer and Alan Schaefer form half of this top-notch Atlanta group.

2. If you could have brunch with one biblical or historical Jewish figure, who would it be and why?

Moses Cohen Henriques and Jean Lafitte. Both were Sephardic pirates. Henriques, for revenge against the Inquisition, boarded Spanish ships off Cuba. He helped plan one of the largest pirate heists against Spain. Lafitte's conversos grandmother and mother fled Spain for France in 1765, after his maternal grandfather was put to death by the Inquisition for "Judaizing." Referred to as The Corsair, Lafitte went on to establish a pirate kingdom in the swamps of New Orleans, and led more than 1,000 men during the War of 1812.

3. What is your favorite Jewish food?

Gefilte fish. Is it a fish? Is it a loaf? It's both! It's fish loaf! And it's the perfect delivery device for horseradish.

4. Nu? (So?)

The Tybee Island Pirate Fest was a blast! There were hoards of people dressing like, talking like, acting like and smelling like pirates. I sold a bunch of my books to pirates drinking mugs full of what they claimed was rum, but sure smelled like Manishewitz cherry wine. No doubt they woke up the next morning under the pier with a headache, wondering where the book spread out on their face had come from.