Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "anthologies"

Tales From The Pirate's Cove: Twelve tall tales of piracy and plunder
Rob Edwards et al
August 14, 2020
Inklings Press (August 14, 2020
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Pirates-...

Whenever I review an anthology with contributions by a variety of writers, I usually fear I'm not going to be able to offer much in the way of overarching observations. The quality, styles, and approaches are usually uneven with some yarns appealing to me more than others.

But, in this case, I can indeed point out some aspects that do keep a sort of consistency bonding all these imaginative short stories. And I promise to do so without overmuch reliance on cliche's that seem irresistible when writing about pirates. For one thing, every story is at least partially set on one kind of ship or another; some are set on old-fashioned wooden sailing ships on earth's seven seas, some are spaceships voyaging out in the cosmos. Most pirates wield swords or other hand-held weapons making the frequent battle scenes bloody and deadly. In every case, readers should expect extremely surprising twists. After all, this is a sci-fi collection, not historical fiction.

For example, Lawrence Harding's “For Love of the Sea” is perhaps the most allegorical of the adventures with two leaders from two different species clashing over misunderstandings with ecological consequences. The trope of religious zealots in overkill mode is in "The Mouth of the Wicked" by Bob Finegold. We get time pirates in "Iris, Like the Song" by Jennifer Lee Rossman and "Lost Treasure" by Brian A. Harris where pirates not only steal precious moments but one entire year, namely 1998. Yep, an entire year.

Many stories are more horror than sci-fi like “Xibalba’s Curse” by Ricardo Victoria with a new take on menacing fogs or “The Black Spots” by Pat Woods in which pirates are infected by disease that turns them into deadly monsters. There are many chilling moments in Tom Jolly's “De Leon’s Fountain” where water has rejuvenation powers with frightening and almost Faustian results. I especially liked Leo McBride's “To the End of the World” with its demonic climax turning all romance stories on their heads.

To add a few more overall comments: it's hard to imagine any reader not finding at least one tale an entertaining read for the coming winter months and beyond. Most of us will find many more excursions into the weird a lot of fun. And every writer represented here knows what he or she is doing. The same can be said of Inklings Press which, once again, excels with another of their theme-based anthologies.

In short, Tales from the Pirate's Cove are well worth the deep dive into the strange, surprising, stunning, and startling. There, I knew I could do it. A review on pirate stories without a shiver me timbers, yo ho ho, pieces of eight, or "A-r-r-g!" Well, till the finish line . . .


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Dec. 18, 2020:



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