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Fox #2
Prize Money
FOX AT WARGeorge Abercrombie Fox was a penniless and friendless lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1798. His only real hope of advancement was through battle and the opportunity to seize his share of prize money.Without promotion in rank for more years than he wished to think about, and bored by the stultifying routine of blockade duty, Fox was ready and eager for the first smell of action. And it came — quickly and savagely. For some it was horrible maiming or death on blood-slicked decks. For others it was all the gold and glory they could carry. Fox was determined that his future would be golden. No man and no ship would stand in his way.FOX IS NOT THE NOBLE HERO OF TRADITIONAL FICTION. FOX IS A FIGHTING MAN WHO TRANSCENDS HEROISM — HE DOESN’T CARE HOW HE WINS AS LONG AS HE WINS. HE’S MEAN, CUNNING AND MOST VICIOUS WHEN TRAPPED. THERE’S NO WAY TO OUTFOX FOX!Adam Hardy was a pen name used by Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005). A prolific writer, Bulmer wrote over 160 novels and many short stories, both under his real name and various pen names. He is best known for science fiction, including his long-running Dray Prescot series of planetary romances, but he wrote in many genres.
142 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1973
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34 people want to read
About the author
Adam Hardy
41 books4 followersAdam Hardy is a pseudonym used by Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005).
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 27, 2024
As always Fox wanted his gun deck to be absolutely perfect and condition ready for the possibility of sudden and immediate action as he was the gunners officer. His men resented, despised him but they were 1000 times more ready. A time of Buonaparte and his ugly whore Josephine and her ugly teeth as the papers said. Now under attack from the French. One of the sailors body looked like an obscene spider crushed beneath a foot, blood, bones, intestines smeared across the deck. All in a days work for Fox. Fox gets invited to the Admiral's table. If he ate like this all the time he would be a fat bastard. Fox balls deep in the Captain's mistress. Lucly he wasn't killed but was transferred off this ship, a lesser one and with a tyrant of a Captain. The Captain would send sailors to the topmask to feed an imaginary pigeon. The sailor dizzy now dead. Discharged in the registry fell to his death due to the insane Captain. Fox despised the French but loved their playwrights. A gale, one of the worst, sailors ribs smashed, thrown around. Fox fought the gale and won. A mention of New South Wales of prisoners sent. Fox has a lady of who wants to marry him and Fox might become an Earl.
December 6, 2017
Most lovers of Age of Sail naval fiction have never even heard of this fourteen-book series. Some may have come across one or two paperback titles at a used-book sale. In the entire world, according to OCLC’s WorldCat database, most of the books have three or fewer copies scattered among every public library in the world. Although actually written by Kenneth Bulmer, under one of his many pseudonyms, the books never received any critical acclaim. One reason for this lack of praise is the length of each book, at only 118 to 160 pages each.
Most likely, it is a result of the main character’s fictional pedigree and uncouth behavior. Despised by most of the senior and wardroom officers George Fox encounters, he is clearly not Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey or Alexander Kent’s Richard Bolitho. Although Fox comes through the hawsehole to the quarterdeck he is, if anything, the antithesis of Julian Stockwin’s Thomas Kydd. Instead of meeting The Admiral’s Daughter (Kydd Sea Adventures, book 8), Fox has an illicit affair with the Captain’s wife (Prize Money, book 3) who’s living aboard their ship!
But one thing that’s clear from the onset is that every book in this series is a great read. If you like action you, won’t be disappointed because Fox is a fighter! Whether he’s bullied as a Powder Monkey or commanding from the quarterdeck, he is as brilliant a tactician as he is when aiming or commanding the great guns, or repelling boarders with unrivalled intensity.
He starts life by being born in the gutter when the excitement surrounding his uncle Abercrombie’s hanging becomes too much for his mother. Hence his fancy middle name. He is raised as a Thames marsh boy, learning to hunt birds using a pebble in a sling. With too many children to raise and not enough work, Fox is sent to live with Uncle Ebeneezer and hears his stories of being in the Royal Navy and earning “prize money.” Soon Fox realizes joining the Royal Navy offers him the best chance to help his family to survive.
As a Powder Monkey he is given the worst jobs, ordered about by anyone on the lower deck, and bullied by the Midshipmen, especially the one who is a member of the nobility. The only way Fox has to end this harassment, as well as the rough life everyone has while serving on the lower deck, is to advance all the way to the quarterdeck. He despises all gentlemen and isn’t interested in emulating them, but that isn’t going to stop him from achieving his goal.
In spite of his origins, he is smart and has an excellent memory. He learns everything about his ship and tries to be the best at his duties. But he comes to understand that none of this matters without “interest.”
His opportunity for patronage comes when he saves the life of another ship’s Captain. That Captain has Fox transferred to his own ship where Fox becomes a Midshipman and later passes the test to become a commissioned Lieutenant. Shortly afterwards his Captain dies in battle and Fox loses the only “interest” he has.
With his country at war he stays employed. Magnificent in battle, he never receives the credit he deserves, which is the only way he will ever be advanced to Post-Captain. Achieving that promotion will drastically increase his share of the prize money for his family.
His career places him in a number of battles, including single-ship actions and fleet battles. He is also with Sir William Sidney Smith at the Siege of Acre, which costs Napoleon so many lives and months that the French never invade the Ottoman Empire or India.
Now Amazon has made the entire series available in correct chronological order for $7.99 each in paperback or $2.99 each on Kindle. So if you’re looking for much more intense and realistic action sequences, and won’t really miss reading the daily life details that add hundreds of pages to other nautical fiction books, Fox is ready to lead you into battle!
Just look at these titles if you’re still not convinced there’s enough action packed into less than 200 pages:
1. Powder Monkey
2. Press Gang
3. Prize Money
4. Siege
5. Treasure Map (sometimes entitled Treasure)
6. Blood for Breakfast
7. Court Martial
8. Battle Smoke
9. Cut and Thrust
10. Boarders Away
11. Fireship
12. Blood Beach
13. Sea Flame
14. Close Quarters
Book review Copyrighted © 2016 by Irwin Bryan
Pirates & Privateers www.cindyvallar.com/pirates.html
Most likely, it is a result of the main character’s fictional pedigree and uncouth behavior. Despised by most of the senior and wardroom officers George Fox encounters, he is clearly not Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey or Alexander Kent’s Richard Bolitho. Although Fox comes through the hawsehole to the quarterdeck he is, if anything, the antithesis of Julian Stockwin’s Thomas Kydd. Instead of meeting The Admiral’s Daughter (Kydd Sea Adventures, book 8), Fox has an illicit affair with the Captain’s wife (Prize Money, book 3) who’s living aboard their ship!
But one thing that’s clear from the onset is that every book in this series is a great read. If you like action you, won’t be disappointed because Fox is a fighter! Whether he’s bullied as a Powder Monkey or commanding from the quarterdeck, he is as brilliant a tactician as he is when aiming or commanding the great guns, or repelling boarders with unrivalled intensity.
He starts life by being born in the gutter when the excitement surrounding his uncle Abercrombie’s hanging becomes too much for his mother. Hence his fancy middle name. He is raised as a Thames marsh boy, learning to hunt birds using a pebble in a sling. With too many children to raise and not enough work, Fox is sent to live with Uncle Ebeneezer and hears his stories of being in the Royal Navy and earning “prize money.” Soon Fox realizes joining the Royal Navy offers him the best chance to help his family to survive.
As a Powder Monkey he is given the worst jobs, ordered about by anyone on the lower deck, and bullied by the Midshipmen, especially the one who is a member of the nobility. The only way Fox has to end this harassment, as well as the rough life everyone has while serving on the lower deck, is to advance all the way to the quarterdeck. He despises all gentlemen and isn’t interested in emulating them, but that isn’t going to stop him from achieving his goal.
In spite of his origins, he is smart and has an excellent memory. He learns everything about his ship and tries to be the best at his duties. But he comes to understand that none of this matters without “interest.”
His opportunity for patronage comes when he saves the life of another ship’s Captain. That Captain has Fox transferred to his own ship where Fox becomes a Midshipman and later passes the test to become a commissioned Lieutenant. Shortly afterwards his Captain dies in battle and Fox loses the only “interest” he has.
With his country at war he stays employed. Magnificent in battle, he never receives the credit he deserves, which is the only way he will ever be advanced to Post-Captain. Achieving that promotion will drastically increase his share of the prize money for his family.
His career places him in a number of battles, including single-ship actions and fleet battles. He is also with Sir William Sidney Smith at the Siege of Acre, which costs Napoleon so many lives and months that the French never invade the Ottoman Empire or India.
Now Amazon has made the entire series available in correct chronological order for $7.99 each in paperback or $2.99 each on Kindle. So if you’re looking for much more intense and realistic action sequences, and won’t really miss reading the daily life details that add hundreds of pages to other nautical fiction books, Fox is ready to lead you into battle!
Just look at these titles if you’re still not convinced there’s enough action packed into less than 200 pages:
1. Powder Monkey
2. Press Gang
3. Prize Money
4. Siege
5. Treasure Map (sometimes entitled Treasure)
6. Blood for Breakfast
7. Court Martial
8. Battle Smoke
9. Cut and Thrust
10. Boarders Away
11. Fireship
12. Blood Beach
13. Sea Flame
14. Close Quarters
Book review Copyrighted © 2016 by Irwin Bryan
Pirates & Privateers www.cindyvallar.com/pirates.html
December 9, 2018
I stumbled on a Fox book in a bookstore in Lincoln Oregon years ago and have been struggling to get more of them as they are somewhat forgotten and lost. Amazon now has them all available for ebook and I've slowly been getting books there to fill in my collection.
Fox was literally born in a gutter as a slum dwelling poor child that managed to make it to sea as a powder monkey, the lowest of the low positions on a ship. By this novel he's scratched and clawed his way to Lieutenant, but without any interest or patron, he's stayed there for years longer than those his age.
Prize Money is the story of Fox finally finding a chance at some real money aboard the brig Raccoon in the Mediterranean after some misadventures and possibly finding a patron -- but is it worth the price? Overall the fine storytelling continues and Fox is showing signs of education and growth. He's still very anti-authority and still despises nobility, but is becoming well read, speaks several languages, and can when he needs to speak and act the gentleman. He's still showing the cleverness and quick mind established early, and his skill with a ship is growing greatly over the years.
Overall a fine but forgotten series of sea novels with a protagonist very different from the usual.
Fox was literally born in a gutter as a slum dwelling poor child that managed to make it to sea as a powder monkey, the lowest of the low positions on a ship. By this novel he's scratched and clawed his way to Lieutenant, but without any interest or patron, he's stayed there for years longer than those his age.
Prize Money is the story of Fox finally finding a chance at some real money aboard the brig Raccoon in the Mediterranean after some misadventures and possibly finding a patron -- but is it worth the price? Overall the fine storytelling continues and Fox is showing signs of education and growth. He's still very anti-authority and still despises nobility, but is becoming well read, speaks several languages, and can when he needs to speak and act the gentleman. He's still showing the cleverness and quick mind established early, and his skill with a ship is growing greatly over the years.
Overall a fine but forgotten series of sea novels with a protagonist very different from the usual.
August 8, 2023
Quite a bit better than "The Press Gang," which was the first book in this series I read. There's definitely some confusion about the order of books here. On the original paperback series this one was listed on the cover as #2 in the series, and "The Press Gang" was listed as #1. However, in reprints of these books they are listed as #3 and #2 respectively, with "Powder Monkey" listed as #1.
All in all, this is not a great book, however, because there's no real through-line of story. It's various incidents in Fox's early career as a British naval officer (George Abercrombi Fox) during the time of Nelson. None of them are really connected to each other in meaningful fashion. There's quite a bit of action but some opportunities for action were left hanging, as when Fox's ship hits a sandbar just before a big battle. The book does end with a twist on the title of "Prize Money."
At the same time, however, Bulmer's powerful prose is certainly on display here, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of naval warfare at that time. The prose reminded me quite a bit of the Dray Prescot stories by Bulmer under the Alan Burt Akers name.
All in all, this is not a great book, however, because there's no real through-line of story. It's various incidents in Fox's early career as a British naval officer (George Abercrombi Fox) during the time of Nelson. None of them are really connected to each other in meaningful fashion. There's quite a bit of action but some opportunities for action were left hanging, as when Fox's ship hits a sandbar just before a big battle. The book does end with a twist on the title of "Prize Money."
At the same time, however, Bulmer's powerful prose is certainly on display here, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of naval warfare at that time. The prose reminded me quite a bit of the Dray Prescot stories by Bulmer under the Alan Burt Akers name.
January 22, 2015
The 2nd book in a series written about the same time as Patrick O'Brian began writing his Aubrey/Maturin series this is a very quick read that entails some of the same time pieces as O'Brian but is done on a coarser level. The main character is not of the nobility or anything close and his obsession is to make enough money to support his family at home in England. A good swarthy tale with few surprises but overall an entertaining story.
January 9, 2012
An interesting nautical war adventure series set during the Napoleonic Wars and featuring an antihero who is mistakenly picked up by the pressgang and enrolled in the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman; this despite the fact that he is actually already an officer in His Majesty's Navy. The fact that George Abercrombie Fox is more than a bit of a neer-do-well and reprobate is his saving grace.
October 13, 2016
Good read
Mr Hardy has an excellent understanding of British navy customs of the 1700's. With his excellent command of language his storytelling is outstanding. I shall continue the series to the end!!
Mr Hardy has an excellent understanding of British navy customs of the 1700's. With his excellent command of language his storytelling is outstanding. I shall continue the series to the end!!
October 25, 2016
Prize Money
Fox is a likeable hero. He has his weaknesses but he always seems to come through. I will be interested to learn if Sophie is in the next book.
Fox is a likeable hero. He has his weaknesses but he always seems to come through. I will be interested to learn if Sophie is in the next book.
February 4, 2018
Entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews