Virtue at Market Price by M.E. Meegs

In April 1924, airship pirates descend on the luxury liner S.S. Paris and make off with a bounty of feminine booty. When the various authorities appear powerless to act, one man steps forward, pledging himself to recover said booty and thereby render American womanhood secure.

Unfortunately for all concerned, that man is E. Pluribus Van Slyke….

Motivated by his twin appetites for personal enrichment and female companionship, this trans-oceanic con man and cashiered naval officer deftly persuades a succession of equally ignoble characters of his suitability for the task. Then, given command of a decrepit airship, Van Slyke heads into the empyrean with a crew of halfwits, misfits, and felons, determined to secure all the American womanhood he can get ahold of—including the one instance who may or may not be his own wife.

Category: Fantasy – Alternative History