Oh No! I Missed “Talk Like A Pirate” Day! But There’s Still Great Pirate Tales of SFF …
Avast thar me ‘earties—I can’t believe I’ve missed International Talk Like A Pirate Day! September 19 was “the day” and of course that was when I was reflecting on the joys of spring equinox and looking ahead—and so completely missed this Very Important Annual Event.
So I’ve decided to celebrate it to today, anyway! 😉
Last year I celebrated by listing some favourite pirate reads, including Margaret Mahy’s The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate, Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island, and Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood.
Today—and in the spirit of NZ Speculative Fiction Blogging Week—I thought I’d talk specifically about pirate tales in the SFF genre.
First off the blocks is easy-peasy: it has to be William Goldman’s The Princess Bride!
And then there’s Tom Powers’ On Stranger Tides, which is being used as the basis for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie. (More Captain Jack Sparrow—not to be confused with the Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood fame—yes, please! Actually, that would be “yes, please” to both!)
And the classic kids’ story, JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. And more recently, Kage Baker’s The Hotel Under the Sand. (Both of which I mentioned last year—how not?)
But you know, after that I kind of got to scratching my head, trying to think of SFF books that were specifically about pirates, or featured a main pirate character—not just with a background mention of pirates, as with the Blackbeard incident in Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver, but actually, specifically, about pirates.
I did think about CJ Cherryh’s Rimrunners, where former space marine Bet Yeager falls in with a “spook” ship, but that is not quite the same thing as pirates—and although the Earth fleet in Cherryh’s “Downbelow” ‘verse has effectively taken to behaving like pirates, they don’t see themselves as such …
So you might have to help me out here—what are some other great SFF novels either based specifically around pirates, or featuring a pirate as a major character?
You missed ‘Talk like a pirate day?” Quelle horreur!! Mon dieu!!
Robin
“I know”—and I love ‘talk like a pirate day!’ How could I? 😉
I missed it too! But thanks for the great reading suggestions. 😀
I have this pirate book that I love called Chase the Morning by Michael Scott Rohan.
I have read MSR’s “Winter of the World” series, but not Chase the Morning … I shall have to find me a copy.:) Thank you for the suggestion.
I also forgot all about Talk like a pirates day as well! And it was a school day as well. I could have done my annual pirate grammar, story and quiz lesson. Doh! (or rather arrrrr!)
The Princess Bride is one of my favourites from my childhood. I haven’t read ‘The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate’, I’ll have to hunt down a copy.
Debbie, I imagine the kids could have a lot of fun with it … ‘The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate’ is for young readers, but I still love it. I love the rhythm of the prose and the sense of fun in the story, as well as the ‘joyous’ illustrations.