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Cutthroats & Curses: An Anthology of Pirates
A rousing collection of 11 wind-powered, piratical short stories from 11 different authors. Join us on the high seas for almost a dozen tales of ribald adventure - many with just a hint of fantasy.
Contributing Michael Wombat, Lisa Shambrook, Boyd Miles, Marissa Ames, Bryan Taylor, Beth Avery, Matt Jameson, Eric Martell, Michael Walker, Stephen Coltrane, and Alex Brightsmith.
Contributing Michael Wombat, Lisa Shambrook, Boyd Miles, Marissa Ames, Bryan Taylor, Beth Avery, Matt Jameson, Eric Martell, Michael Walker, Stephen Coltrane, and Alex Brightsmith.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 21, 2014
About the author
Michael Wombat
41 books76 followersA Yorkshireman living in the rural green hills of Lancashire, Michael Wombat is a man of huge beard. He has a penchant for good single-malts, inept football teams, big daft dogs and the diary of Mr. Samuel Pepys. Abducted by pirates at the age of twelve he quickly rose to captain the feared privateer ‘The Mrs. Nesbitt’ and terrorised the Skull Coast throughout his early twenties. Narrowly escaping the Revenue men by dressing as a burlesque dancer, he went on to work successively and successfully as a burlesque dancer, a forester, a busker, and a magic carpet salesman. The fact that he was once one of that forgotten company, the bus conductors, will immediately tell you that he is as old as the hills in which he lives. Nowadays he spends his time writing and pretending to take good photographs. You can have a good laugh at his pathetic blog or his photographs, but most of all please go and mock him mercilessly on Twitter or Facebook. Michael Wombat has published over one book. Other authors are available.
Click here for the "Ask Michael Wombat" discussion group.
Click here for the "Ask Michael Wombat" discussion group.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 28, 2014
A really rousing collection of action packed stories of piracy and adventure aboard the villainous vessels that roamed the skies and seven seas of yesteryear; everything from unicorns with wonky horns stuck on with sticky tape to majestic airborne battles between sky sailing ships and ancient dragons. Anyone expecting little more than the usual Long John Silver stereotypical wooden legs and eye patches will be treated to so much more - yes there are indeed characters among these eleven short stories who possess such attributes, just as you would expect among any self-respecting collection of buccaneering cutthroats, but beyond that there are bar room brawls, brutal battles aboard land and sea and in the skies, tales of treasure maps won in tavern card games, pirate crews who tun out be something quite different from what you’d expect, and several tales with unexpected twist like endings.
This is a collection that slightly older children, and adults who enjoy a healthy does of adventurous escapism will enjoy immensely. Although the central theme is of course piracy, there is more than enough variety of setting and story lines from the different authors to hold the reader’s attention throughout. Many of the stories retained the more traditional elements of the pirate theme as personified by Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, whilst others took unexpected directions toward sci-fi and fantasy. Strange esoteric names, places, and language are in abundance among these stories, although there were occasional moments when I found the strange and alternate spellings a little distracting at times; the dialogue and descriptive passages are robustly authentic but the stories still retain a wholesome entertainment value reminiscent of the likes of Robert Louise Stevenson.
It’s always a little difficult commenting on short story anthologies, and even more so when the individual stories are by different authors, but fortunately in this case, the standard of writing and entertainment value were uniformly high. Three stories that particularly stood out for me were: Crow and the Unicorn, by Michael Wombat, Paroxysm, by Lisa Shambrook, and Roaring Dan Seavey.. by Beth Avery.
A good and varied collection of escapist buccaneering villainy and adventure. Very enjoyable...
This is a collection that slightly older children, and adults who enjoy a healthy does of adventurous escapism will enjoy immensely. Although the central theme is of course piracy, there is more than enough variety of setting and story lines from the different authors to hold the reader’s attention throughout. Many of the stories retained the more traditional elements of the pirate theme as personified by Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, whilst others took unexpected directions toward sci-fi and fantasy. Strange esoteric names, places, and language are in abundance among these stories, although there were occasional moments when I found the strange and alternate spellings a little distracting at times; the dialogue and descriptive passages are robustly authentic but the stories still retain a wholesome entertainment value reminiscent of the likes of Robert Louise Stevenson.
It’s always a little difficult commenting on short story anthologies, and even more so when the individual stories are by different authors, but fortunately in this case, the standard of writing and entertainment value were uniformly high. Three stories that particularly stood out for me were: Crow and the Unicorn, by Michael Wombat, Paroxysm, by Lisa Shambrook, and Roaring Dan Seavey.. by Beth Avery.
A good and varied collection of escapist buccaneering villainy and adventure. Very enjoyable...
Read
December 18, 2014The Anthology Club presents its second collection. This time it’s pirates, and this time I’m on board. I always feel a little uneasy assigning a star rating to a book that I have a stake in, so: just words, and you must consider this a review of the ten elevenths of this anthology that have nothing to do with me.
It seems invidious to single out only a few of the tales for comment, but there are so many, and anyone who can lay claim to love them equally (except for their obviously biased editors) is an even more eclectic reader than I am. Here we have, not only mongrel pirates of the Spanish main, but steampunk pirates of the air, dimension hopping pirates in time, demon-fighting fantasy pirates, and even one pirate whose rash decision leads him into the paths of classic gothic horror. My gems, then, are these.
Marissa Ames returns to the richly imagined world of Tir Athair and its neighbouring lands with Katra, in which one man’s curse is another man’s gift.
Beth Avery takes us to the Great Lakes in the perfectly constructed Roaring Dan Seavey Proves He Ain't the Man Some Folk Think Him to Be. To produce an ending that no one could see coming is one thing, but here everything clicks perfectly into place for a reveal that is inevitable only once it is known.
Eric Martell introduces us to The Queen of the Dead Seas in a roistering good yarn, but he gives us much more than that. Many of these stories show us good people in bad places, driven to piracy by circumstances beyond their control. In this piece we see, more than ever, the way that circumstances mould, not character, but the expression of character, and the late blossoming still possible when a man written off by his contemporaries falls into the world he belongs to.
The collection is capped, fore and aft, by the joyful irreverence of editor Michael Wombat’s own Mr Crow and wrapped up, once more, in glorious cover art from Kit Cooper – of whom, more here. Go and look, do. I shan’t hold it against you if you blow your month’s extravagances budget on Kit Cooper tote bags and haven’t any spare for the anthology. At least, not much.
It seems invidious to single out only a few of the tales for comment, but there are so many, and anyone who can lay claim to love them equally (except for their obviously biased editors) is an even more eclectic reader than I am. Here we have, not only mongrel pirates of the Spanish main, but steampunk pirates of the air, dimension hopping pirates in time, demon-fighting fantasy pirates, and even one pirate whose rash decision leads him into the paths of classic gothic horror. My gems, then, are these.
Marissa Ames returns to the richly imagined world of Tir Athair and its neighbouring lands with Katra, in which one man’s curse is another man’s gift.
Beth Avery takes us to the Great Lakes in the perfectly constructed Roaring Dan Seavey Proves He Ain't the Man Some Folk Think Him to Be. To produce an ending that no one could see coming is one thing, but here everything clicks perfectly into place for a reveal that is inevitable only once it is known.
Eric Martell introduces us to The Queen of the Dead Seas in a roistering good yarn, but he gives us much more than that. Many of these stories show us good people in bad places, driven to piracy by circumstances beyond their control. In this piece we see, more than ever, the way that circumstances mould, not character, but the expression of character, and the late blossoming still possible when a man written off by his contemporaries falls into the world he belongs to.
The collection is capped, fore and aft, by the joyful irreverence of editor Michael Wombat’s own Mr Crow and wrapped up, once more, in glorious cover art from Kit Cooper – of whom, more here. Go and look, do. I shan’t hold it against you if you blow your month’s extravagances budget on Kit Cooper tote bags and haven’t any spare for the anthology. At least, not much.
February 18, 2015
I must first say that this is possibly the greatest assortment of pirate stories that you might expect to find anywhere. Buccaneers, cannons, peg-legs and cutlasses are found in scenes with dragons, unicorns, flying pirate ships and bloodthirsty maidens of the seas and skies.
It is extremely difficult as a writer of short stories to read such work without finding myself registering issues as they appear. Try as I did to enjoy each story, it struck me that the majority are too long. Yes, a strange thing to say I’m sure, and it may be a personal failing, but to my way of thinking, we have flash fiction, short stories, novellas and novels. By the nature of their word count and character numbers, these stories do not come under any of those headings, at least in my humble opinion.
To give the editor and the authors due respect, the anthology is not referred to as a collection of short stories, but as ‘an anthology of pirates’, so it is only in the opinion of somebody like me who might expect anything of particular length.
The writing for the most part is of a high standard, so it was easy to overlook the extra quotation marks when they appeared, which sadly was on several occasions. The writer’s voice in some of the tales was outstanding and made me wonder if those particular writers might consider producing an anthology of their own. Two tales that stood out for me were ‘Paroxysm’ by Lisa Shambrook, and ‘Adventures in Foreign Climes’ by Matt Jameson.
If you like more than four or five characters in a tale and you prefer your short stories to be just a little bit longer, then this is the collection for you. There is an abundance of variety, in characters, settings and plots so the tales will take you to faraway places.
It is extremely difficult as a writer of short stories to read such work without finding myself registering issues as they appear. Try as I did to enjoy each story, it struck me that the majority are too long. Yes, a strange thing to say I’m sure, and it may be a personal failing, but to my way of thinking, we have flash fiction, short stories, novellas and novels. By the nature of their word count and character numbers, these stories do not come under any of those headings, at least in my humble opinion.
To give the editor and the authors due respect, the anthology is not referred to as a collection of short stories, but as ‘an anthology of pirates’, so it is only in the opinion of somebody like me who might expect anything of particular length.
The writing for the most part is of a high standard, so it was easy to overlook the extra quotation marks when they appeared, which sadly was on several occasions. The writer’s voice in some of the tales was outstanding and made me wonder if those particular writers might consider producing an anthology of their own. Two tales that stood out for me were ‘Paroxysm’ by Lisa Shambrook, and ‘Adventures in Foreign Climes’ by Matt Jameson.
If you like more than four or five characters in a tale and you prefer your short stories to be just a little bit longer, then this is the collection for you. There is an abundance of variety, in characters, settings and plots so the tales will take you to faraway places.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews