Tim Powers early pirate tale, full of swashbuckling action and terrible magics. A puppeteer in search of a stolen inheritance is waylaid on his way to Jamiaca and obliged to join a pirate crew, who in turn are carrying out the behest of the terrifying Blackbeard, in search of the fountain of youth which he hopes will rid himself of an infestation of ghosts as well as grant him power and immortality aided by two Englishmen, one completely insane and dragging his daughter along with him for unthinkable purposes, the other depraved and determined to become God. This they now do.