Teakh, the protagonist of The Fisherman and the Gene Thief, first appeared in my imagination as Robin Hood, surely a pirate. I took his name from Blackbeard (Edward Teach) with the pronunciation and spelling modified. I thought of Teakh as a pirate teacher, a combination of Robin Hood and Fagan with nine boys raised aboard a sailing boat. He had been a stud for hire and then kidnapped his sons. My first try at telling his story followed the traditional heroic outlaw pattern b