In my fictional world, opportunities for butt-kicking do not cease merely because one isn't a beautiful teenager or a muscle-wrapped font of testosterone. I offer her up on a silver platter with a fucking bow on top I hope she amuses and delights. 'Shit yes, Zamira Drakasha, leaping across the gap between burning ships with twin sabers in hand to kick in some fucking heads and sail off into the sunset with her toddlers in her arms and a hold full of plundered goods, is a wish-fulfilment fantasy from hell. HL Mencken once wrote that, 'Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.' I can't think of anyone to whom that applies more than my own mom, and the mothers on my friends list, with the incredible demands on time and spirit they face in their efforts to raise their kids, preserve their families, and save their own identity/sanity into the bargain. Why shouldn't middle-aged mothers get a wish-fulfilment character, you sad little bigot? Everyone else does. I realised this as she was evolving on the page, and you know what? I fucking embrace it. You know what? Yeah, Zamira Drakasha, middle-aged pirate mother of two, is a wish-fulfilment fantasy. 'First, I will pretend that your last sentence makes sense because it will save us all time,' responded Lynch. It is unrealistic wish-fulfilment for you and your readers to have so many female pirates, especially if you want to be politically correct about it!' The reader wrote: 'Real sea pirates could not be controlled by women, they were vicous rapists and murderers and I am sorry to say it was a man's world.

Criticised by a reader for including characters who are 'unrealistic stereotypes of political correctness' – the reader objected in particular to the character Zamira, a middle-aged pirate mother – Lynch went to town. Anyway, I'm rambling on about Lynch because I was reminded again how much I like him by a pointer from the (always excellent) MobyLives blog.

The lies of locke