Pirate fiction - recommended reading?

[Cap'n Toast]

Hi all,

After reading Treasure Island and Captain Blood, I have gotten in the mood for some good pirate related fiction. Unfortunately, there seems to be not much of it. Or at least I can't find it. Plenty of pirate related romance novels though, not my cup of tea.

Anyone got any suggestions? I don't want any of the Obrien stuff - too late in history. Would love something Spanish Main related. Thanks in advance.

 

[SirChristopherMings]

Cap'n Toast,
I'm sort of hesitant to make a recommendation cause I'm concerned I lead you astray with my POTC recommendation, are you enjoying the game at all? I hate giving people bad advice... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="ops" border="0" alt="blush.gif" />:

I started a thread a little while back called A Merry Read an Bonney (bad pun <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blah:" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /> ) and members have been listing books, mostly on piracy, both fiction and `non-fiction`, that they have enjoyed. The link is down below in the Blind Parrot forum, but here is a link:

<a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net/ftopic1660.php" target="_blank">http://forum.piratesahoy.net/ftopic1660.php</a>

You can either read all of the postings, or I put at the end of the thread a posting with links to various books that are on line. That way you can sample the book before you go out and buy a copy. If you find a book that you think others would like, please don't hesitate to post a review there.

If you can find a copy, there's "The Further Adventures of Captain Blood" (I don't remember the exact title,) a good library should have a copy, this has a number of shorter adventure stories about Captain Blood that I think were serialized. They're very good and I think Blood stole a chapter from Henry Morgan in some of his adventures.

Hope this helps! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />

 

[Mad_Jack]

It's on me list, so I can't attest to it's worth yet, but you might want to look at Wilbur Smith's "Birds of Prey". It's well reviewed, and I'm looking forward to reading it meself.

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

I read that Smith book, it's pretty good! It's Southern Africa, but it's very nautical and piratical... 1667, English against the Dutch.

 

[Mad_Jack]

English against the Dutch? Why, that's the very war I managed to start within the game! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> I need to read that next, after Capt. Johnson's tome.

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

I think you'll like it... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" /> <Catalina now wonders in which box she packed that book, because she hasn't seen it in some time now> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

 

[Captain_Python]

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" /> I suggest you continue reading books by the man who wrote Captain Blood (his name escapes me). He wrote more than one Pirate Book I believe. The one thing about Pirate Fiction is that, it is mainly stuck in the realm of being in Romantic Tales Children's Stories. It is actually hard to write a Pirate book, due to research for that time period is hard to get a accurate book. Without the historical accuracies, it sounds too much like a children's book or a romantic book. I personally avoid the Pirate Fiction realm, due to it is very hard to find a book that is historically correct. If you dig deep enough, you might find something. If you want some interesting stories, go with those books written within 1600 to 1800 that are supposed "Histories of Piracy."

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" /> Rafael Sabatini is the author of <i>Captain Blood.</i> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" />

 

[CapitainDams]

Benchley, Peter
The Island

1st ed. Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1979.
302 p. ; 22 cm.



Goofy little story about modern day pirates, uh buccaneers



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gooch, Steve
The Women Pirates, Ann Bonney and Mary Read

London : Pluto Press, 1978.
74 p.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stevenson, Robert Louis, `1850-1894`
Treasure Island ;

edited, with notes and an introduction by Hiram Albert Vance. New York ; Macmillan, 1911, c1902.
xxix, 229 p., (2) leaves of plates : map, port.
(Macmillan's pocket American and English classics.)
Bibliography : p. `xxviii-xxix`.
Bibliographical references included in "Notes" p. `219-229`.
plus many other editions



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pyle, Howard, `1853-1911`.; Johnson, Merle De Vore,

Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates
fiction, fact & fancy concerning the buccaneers & marooners of the Spanish Main:



New York, London, Harper & Brothers, 1921
Fiction : Juvenile audience

While listed as Fiction by the Library of Congress, the book indeed contains quite a few facts on Piracy. And it has the wonderful illustrations of Howard Pyle. A must have!

Smollett, Tobias George, `1721-1771`,
The Adventures of Roderick Random


Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1979
Fiction

Actually it was written around 1747! One of the earliest, if not the earliest Nautical novel around. It is a story of young man who ships off as a surgeon in the War of Jacob's Ear. Even in 1747, people called sailors "swabs" and "lubbers"

Sabatini, Rafael, `1875-1950`
Captain Blood, his odyssey,

Publication: Boston, Houghton Mifflin 1950
--

Yes that Captain Blood! If you have seen the movie and not read the book, then it is time to get literate.









I found this here:
<a href="http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/pirates/pirbibl.html" target="_blank">http://blindkat.hegewisch.net/pirates/pirbibl.html</a>

Very good site!

 

[SirChristopherMings]

Cool link, Captain Dams! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />