Sailor imagines an impassioned, bittersweet backstory for Walt Whitman's most crucial, but most mysterious, lover: Frederick B. Vaughan. Inspired by the novels of Herman Melville,...

Sailor imagines an impassioned, bittersweet backstory for Walt Whitman's most crucial, but most mysterious, lover: Frederick B. Vaughan. Inspired by the novels of Herman Melville, Sailor portrays a sensitive young man whose vices alienate him from society. After a disastrous experience as a sailor, he joins the brotherhood of omnibus drivers in Manhattan. Determined to reform his reputation, he resists Walt Whitman's seductions until their encounters at an opera, a monumental fire, and a play bring him repeatedly into Walt's arms.

Inspired by actual events, Sailor (Book One of the Kelson of the Creation trilogy) introduces the tragic love story behind Leaves of Grass. It plays out against the backdrop of America's original Summer of Love: the repressive, mystical, eloquent, radical, manic, rebellious period which culminated in the Civil War. The trilogy draws upon half a lifetime of bleeding-edge historical discoveries by its author.