Tag Archives: pirates

Spider John is Back in A Bottle of Rum

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A Bottle of Rum
Steve Goble
Seventh Street
Paper $15.95
ebook $9.99

I became a fan of Steve Goble’s Spider John mysteries from the first book. The idea of a pirate solving mysteries is one of the freshest I’ve come across in a long time. The current installment in the series is no exception.

Before I get to the review, I would like to thank Samantha Lien from Seventh Street Books for providing me with a PDF review copy. I have been spending so much time staring at a screen the last couple of months that I went ahead and bought a print copy to save strain on my eyes.  It was money well spent. Continue reading →

Crossbones and Crosses Debuts at Howard Days

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Crossbones and Crosses
Jason M Waltz, ed.
Rogue Blades Entertainment
trade paper $17.00
ebook $5.00

Jason M. Waltz, publisher of Rogue Blades Entertainment, has just published a new anthology, and it’s one you’re going to want to get.  The hardcopy has been available for a few days now, and the electronic version has just gone live in time for Howard Days.  Crossbones and Crosses harkens back to the days of Raphael Sabatini, Talbot Mundy, Robert E. Howard, and Harold Lamb. These are the adventure stories we’ve needed. When too many anthologies are full of message fiction, RBE has given us something different. Adventure, Excitement, and most importantly, fun.  Make that Fun with a capital “F”. Continue reading →

Sail Before The Devil’s Wind

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The Devil’s Wind
Steve Goble
Seventh Street Books
print $15.99
ebook $9.99

I’d like to thank Seventh Street Books for sending me the review copy of this novel.

About this time last year, Steve Goble’s first novel, The Bloody Black Flag, hit shelves.  I loved it.  Spider John is back, and if anything, The Devil’s Wind is better than The Bloody Black Flag.

Here’s the setup.  Spider John and the few surviving members of the crew we met in The Bloody Flag are trying to escape Jamaica. Spider John just wants to return to Nantuckett and his wife and son, whom he hasn’t seen in about eight years.  (I have to wonder what he will find if/when he manages to make it back.  Will she have been faithfully waiting for him to return, or will she have assumed he either died at sea or abandoned them and consequently remarried?  We’ll have to wait and see.)

Spider John and his friends sign on to a merchant ship heading where they want to go.  He thinks he’s through with life on the account.  Sadly, life on the account isn’t through with him.  It isn’t long before trouble rears its head. Continue reading →

Under The Bloody Black Flag

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The Bloody Black Flag
Steve Goble
Seventh Street Books
Trade Paper $15.99
ebook $9.99

The Bloody Black Flag is both a murder mystery as well as rousing pirate adventure. I’ll look at the historical adventure aspect of the novel here. The mystery component I review at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams.

The story opens in October 1722. Spider John and his friend Ezra, fleeing from the British Navy, have given up their attempt to establish honest lives on shore and are returning to a life of piracy, or going back on the account as they would say.  They sign up with Plymouth Dream, a pirate ship captained by the despotic Captain Barlow. Unlike most ships, where the crew votes on all decisions except during combat, when the captain has absolute authority, Barlow rules with an iron hand at all times.

Barlow is sailing for Jamaica, which suits Spider and Ezra just fine.  Trouble comes during the first night, when one of the crew murders Ezra.  Spider John swears to find the murderer and kill him, but he has more immediate problems, such as staying alive himself.  Before his death, Ezra was recognized by one of the crew and accused of having witchblood because of his family history.  The same accusation could be made against Spider, so he has to keep a low profile while he pursues his investigation, pirates being a superstitious lot. Fortunately, his role as the ship’s carpenter gives him a reason to move about and talk to the other pirates.

It doesn’t take Spider long to figure out that Plymouth Dream is not your typical pirate ship, and not just because of the way things are run.  Barlow, the first mate Addison, and the second mate are hiding secrets.  They have a small item they intend to sell in Jamaica to an agent of the French crown.  When the item goes missing, Spider finds he’s shipped out on the pirate ship from Hell. Continue reading →