Killer of Crying Deer — William Orem

Award-winning poet, playwright, and novelist William Orem's literary novel KILLER OF CRYING DEER is an account of the beauty and horror that unfolds when an English slaver ship carrying an abducted boy (the protagonist) wrecks off the coast of the Florida Keys in 1699. The survivors encounter a village of the "noble savage" Calusa tribe and the not-so-noble crew of Spanish Catholic zealots led by the sadistic Comandante Albenix. Orem is a stylist whose prose is both visceral and lyrical, a consummate wordsmith whose ear for dialogue is pitch-perfect and whose storytelling skills deftly lead the reader through young Henry Cote's abduction at sea to the unexpected conclusion of his horrendous journey, all rendered with unflinching authenticity.