'The location: a taverna on the Greek island of Corfu. The time: late afternoon in September 1990. Kári Gíslason is 18, travelling through Europe, broke, and about to meet the titular pirate of his memoir Running with Pirates: “the sliding glass door rumbled open. ‘What is it?’ The Pirate’s head appeared while his body stayed behind the door, in the dark. ‘I’m not open,’ he said. ‘Fuck off.’ ”'