There are two stories that I remember reading as a child and I'd like to look them up. Unfortunately the intervening decades have cleared my memory of the titles and no amount of googling for the things I remember can locate them. Any ideas about how I can get my hands on these again would be much appreciated.
First, a short story. The basic premise is that the main character was the second mate on a pirate ship whose captain was known for intricate plans. After drinking too much, the captain slips and dies hitting his head in an alleyway. The first mate has to keep pretending that the captain is alive while trying to figure out his plan. They are on an island and the plan involves the governor, a sea witch, a cart, and a parrot. The first mate barely manages to keep things together until the plan works out and he finally figures out what everything was for except for the parrot. He ends up married to the sea witch at the end of the story. I keep thinking the name of the story was 'The last dance of captain jack' or something to that effect, but all that comes up nowadays when googling for pirates and captain jack is references to The Pirates of the Caribbean which this long predates.
Second, a book that takes place in the far future. The main character is the last child born in a decaying society. People rarely interact anymore and live scattered around the globe in floating houses jaded by everything as all their whims are provided to them by a mechanized utopia. People sometimes do crazy things like radical surgery to enable flight. The main character is somehow caught up in a plot to bring down this decadent society. I remember that his birth wasn't known generally and at some point he tries to notify the news service of some threat and they are more interested in him as the actual last person born than the threat to their society.
Any ideas about either of these stories would be much appreciated!
First, a short story. The basic premise is that the main character was the second mate on a pirate ship whose captain was known for intricate plans. After drinking too much, the captain slips and dies hitting his head in an alleyway. The first mate has to keep pretending that the captain is alive while trying to figure out his plan. They are on an island and the plan involves the governor, a sea witch, a cart, and a parrot. The first mate barely manages to keep things together until the plan works out and he finally figures out what everything was for except for the parrot. He ends up married to the sea witch at the end of the story. I keep thinking the name of the story was 'The last dance of captain jack' or something to that effect, but all that comes up nowadays when googling for pirates and captain jack is references to The Pirates of the Caribbean which this long predates.
Second, a book that takes place in the far future. The main character is the last child born in a decaying society. People rarely interact anymore and live scattered around the globe in floating houses jaded by everything as all their whims are provided to them by a mechanized utopia. People sometimes do crazy things like radical surgery to enable flight. The main character is somehow caught up in a plot to bring down this decadent society. I remember that his birth wasn't known generally and at some point he tries to notify the news service of some threat and they are more interested in him as the actual last person born than the threat to their society.
Any ideas about either of these stories would be much appreciated!
