John Richard Stephens

A collection of short stories and poems that marry tales of the sea with the spooky and deadly. The editor has an extensive introduction that explains piracy, phantom ships, funerals at sea, sea monsters and just about anything dangerous or disturbing that is rumored to happen at sea. It's a very interesting discussion on its own, but then the reader then gets the spooky sea stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, F. Marion Crawford, Bram Stoker, and many others, but best of all, several from William Hope Hodgson. His stories are 'The Voice in the Night', 'The Thing in the Weeds' (in my Top Ten for story titles), and 'The Derelict', a story first published in 1912 that must have been read by the screenwriters of The Blob because the creature found aboard the seemingly abandoned ship is so similar.
This book has a fabric cover with an inset showing a skeleton pirate, which you'll find plenty of in the stories. The paper is thick with an aged appearance and there are some illustration and woodcuts throughout. Highly recommended if the subject interests you.… (more)

Going into this book, my only knowledge about Wyatt Earp came from Hollywood and film such as Tombstone and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. I'm sure Earp aficionados are able to appreciate some of the subtleties of the book more, nonetheless, a novice like myself was able to get into the book and I did come away with a greater understanding of the scope of the legend of Earp and the famous shoot-out in Tombstone. The book's greatest appeal I feel lies in its wonderful presentation, a real testament to the publisher Fall River Press. Everything from the use of fonts, to the pictures, and the footnotes and sidebar quotations are very easy to follow and presents a modernly stylish look to an old subject. Although most of the book focuses on the Tombstone events, quite a bit illustrates later events in Earp's life such as his boxing referee days and his association with early motion picture star Tom Mix. Reading the primary sources really gives the reader a feel for how people spoke in the late 1880s and 90s, making the story come alive in a unique way. Its always fascinating to see how misinformation and lies spread so quickly through the press and defamation of character was as widespread as the lawlessness one sees depicted in old westerns. This book provides a very vivid portrait of the 'Old West' as it really was.… (more)

Twenty-two accounts of people, mostly professional seamen, who were captured by pirates. Most of the accounts span across 100 years, from the early 1700's to the early 1800's, and cover a wide variance of pirate behavior. Some crews were of the gentlemanly sort, who kept violence to a minimum and were only interested in the cargo, while others were barbaric, such as in one account when a man was forced to watch as his captain's arm were chopped off and others of the crew were tortured to death.

For anyone who doubts that meeting with pirates could be really scary, this is proof that surviving often came down to pure luck.… (more)