Buccaneer Blood: The Adventures of Denis Burke

by H. Bedford-Jones

Fate leads Denis Burke, buccaneer-turned Irish soldier-of-fortune, from the intrigues of the Sun King’s Court to the distant shores of the Caribbean. Dramatic sea battles with crashing broadsides, exciting swordfights with traitorous villains, the hunt for treasure ships and lovely ladies are just some of the ingredients of this classic pulp era swashbuckler series.

248 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2014

About the author

Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (1887–1949) was a Canadian historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a naturalized United States citizen in 1908. After being encouraged to try writing by his friend, writer William Wallace Cook, Bedford-Jones began writing dime novels and pulp magazine stories. Bedford-Jones was an enormously prolific writer; the pulp editor Harold Hersey once recalled meeting Bedford-Jones in Paris, where he was working on two novels simultaneously, each story on its own separate typewriter. Bedford-Jones cited Alexandre Dumas as his main influence, and wrote a sequel to Dumas' The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan (1928). He wrote over 100 novels, earning the nickname "King of the Pulps". His works appeared in a number of pulp magazines. Bedford-Jones' main publisher was Blue Book magazine; he also appeared in Adventure, All-Story Weekly, Argosy, Short Stories, Top-Notch Magazine, The Magic Carpet, Golden Fleece, Ace-High Magazine, People's Story Magazine, Hutchinson's Adventure-Story Magazine, Detective Fiction Weekly, Western Story Magazine, and Weird Tales.

In addition to writing fiction, Bedford-Jones also worked as a journalist for the Boston Globe, and wrote poetry. Bedford-Jones was a friend of Erle Stanley Gardner and Vincent Starrett.

Reviews

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable pulp yarn about Buccaneer Denis Burke. Well written, action packed and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Michael Hill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did give the book a try and got nearly half way through it, but I could not connect with the book so gave it up.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of rollicking pirate adventures with just enough history in them to feel Bedford-Jones is writing about an actual historical figure.

Denis Burke is one of those noble pirates, a crafty man, but with a code of honor.
On the sea, no man can out think or out fight him.
On land, he tends to get himself in trouble, which causes him to immediately attempt to flee back to the ocean.
He and the few of his crew that get dialogue/personalities are likable.
Bedford-Jones was adept at capturing place, time and mood within the confines of a pulp magazine word count.

This collection can get little formulaic ( How many times is Denis not going to notice that the obviously up to something guy is up to something...?) but a fun read.

Only recently discovered Bedford-Jones, but have quickly become obsessed with his historical adventures.