Red Bess

Capt. Grey, my sentiments exactly! Maybe it's just the pre-menopausal hormones talking, but I feel smarter, sexier and more creative at age 45 than I did at age 25. I think it's the confidence that comes with wisdom and experience. Or I may just be losing my marbles.

Either History Channel or Discovery Channel is showing a program on the Salem witchhunts on Sunday night -- that's what I'll be watching. History is often much scarier than fiction. :)

Some of my favorites that I don't think have been mentioned yet: The Changeling Rosemary's Baby What Lies Beneath The Birds

Aye, I'm wantin' ta see the finished product, too! The very sweet and enormously talented Lorelei is doing me the honor of illustrating "Anne of the High Seas". Her work provides great inspiration! :angry: BTW, Poisson Volant is the name of the ship (not the pirate :angry: )

Joe - congrats on your beautiful 2nd edition. I just finished reading my signed copy of your 1st edition and all I can say is: when is that second book coming out? Because I'll want a signed copy of that one, too! Keep up the good work, mate. To Nathan Beauchamp!

Ya know, this is the reason I love reading and posting on this forum -- this has to be a collection of some of the most reasonable, intelligent people I've met. I guess I pretty much agree with all of you. We all are concerned that about the quality of discussions, but we certainly don't want to discourage anyone with a genuine interest in our main topic - pirates. Sometimes we are "playing" pirates, sometime we are talking about historical pirates, sometimes were just sharing our lives in Beyond Piracy. Many will join, few will stay on account. "Adult" behavior is in the eye of the beholder. If you become annoying here, someone will call you on it, no matter what your age. If you make friends here, you'll have lots to talk about. My soapbox, however: rank, smank. I'd rather those rankings didn't even exist. I remember the fuss when the criteria changed when Bloody Buckets took over -- people took it as "demoted". Honestly! (Not to take away anything from you "Legends", mind you. Royaliste, Merry -- it isn't the number of posts that has made you "Legends" ) OK, I'm off the soapbox now. But I mean what I said about the population of this Pub. Always good dialog, even on controversial subjects.:)

On Account Sailing 'cross the Main Look to the horizon, mate Our prize is at hand :angry:

Yaaarrrr! We be off to the Minnesota Twins/Baltimore Orioles baseball game, dressed as pirates an' carryin' signs! Hopin' ta get our message across on Fox Sports (in Minneapolis, anyway). Wish us well, mateys! Shiver me timbers! Arrrrgggg!!

"Ah, again, Dr. Jones, what was yours is now mine." --Raiders of the Lost Arc

I work in CD and DVD duplication, and (ironically) anti-piracy is a big part of my job. Going back to my earliest days in videotape duplication (1984) I learned that, no matter what, you don't mess with Disney copyright. Ever. No matter who asks you to make copies. They will find you. They will sue you. And they will win. It is now virtually impossible to get pirated CDs and DVDs made with a commerical duplication house. However, the Internet is a whole new ballgame. Sure, we've seen some folks going overboard "protecting" intellectual properties. I hardly think that those pirated films on the Internet are "hurting" Disney. But, believe me, I wouldn't dare download one!! And anyone uploading them does so at their own risk! Not worth it, I'd say.

Zorg, I'm glad you came out of it in one piece -- no matter how "period" missing limbs are! Faire winds and fast healing, mate.

Raise a glass in honor of our mate, Captain Tito! Happy Natal Day, lad!

Ahoy, Dream Wench -- good ta hear from ye! Thanks fer the drink, lass, an' tell us the tales of yer travels!

Ahoy, lad! Good ta see ya -- was just thinkin' about ye the other mornin'- -- wonderin' how yer son was? By all accounts, it looks like yer in good form an' ready fer action. I'll join in that toast

I don't really know what Sjöröveren is worried about -- it's Minnesota. As they say, if you don't like the weather here, just wait a few minutes. It will be warming up all week --- and we leave for our North Shore camping trip in the morning. And if it gets cold at night, it's my job to keep me matey warm. Duluth is awesome. I can't wait to get up there!

What the.....? It's Legos, fer crying out loud! Hope no one writes rules fer playing with the Playskool Pirate Island!

My personal vote for best pirate movie, after POTC, and Tim Curry is me favorite Long John. A family favorite at our house. Speaking of family programing -- Iron Bess, any comment on Disney's "Treasure Planet"?

I don't know much about Scottish pirates, per se, but I'm keenly interested in believeable women pirates. The story I'm working on is about Anne Bonny (OK, she's Irish....). I've read a couple fiction books based on Anne Bonny's life (Sea Star, a romance novel, and Mistress of the Seas, more a fictionalized biography) and they have believable and not-so-believable moments. Both books are well researched, that's apparent. But they both have a pat ending, with Anne finding true love and settling down. Now, the premise of my story is that, after she disappeared from a Jamaican prison around 1721, she did not go back to the colonies or Ireland and live a low-key life. She found her own crew (consisting of several women) and went back to a life of piracy under an alias. So I need to create a somewhat new Anne Bonny, perhaps a wee bit older and wiser and certainly more in control of her destiny than she was when she sailed with Jack Rackham. And the women she finds for her crew -- I need to make their stories believable, too. So I ask: why would an early 18th-century women take to a life of piracy?

Anything new from Paisley? Glad to hear you're OK, KW. Been thinkin' about all of you on the southern east coast. I was at our lake place in central Minnesota this weekend. Last week, straight-line winds took out trees, docks and turned over some trailers up there. We lost 3 trees, the pontoon canopy, some lawn chairs and the kid's wooden swing set. It's a bit of a mess, but really pretty minor stuff compared to hurricanes -- I guess I'll stay in the Midwest after all.

Ahoy! Me good friend Lorelei (Darla Ecklund Out of the Myst) was at Wizard World in Chicago last weekend. Her booth was in the Artists Alley and she said there was a booth of pirates directly behind her. I was wondering if it was any of me mateys from the Pub. Were any of you there?

So true! And while pirate & sailing research is important, don't overlook getting in touch with some other books aimed at teens & pre-teens. Typically, young people want to read about characters about 2-3 years older than themselves. If your story is about 13-14 year olds, it will be of interest to 10-12 year old readers. Read some other adventure books aimed at this age group (which I am assuming is what you already do) to get a feel for the approach. Your plot sounds wonderful. Draw on your own experience to keep your characters sounding like real teens. And I read good advice here once: someone said don't worry about historical accuracy as much as historical plausability. As a story about time-travel, you have already crossed into a sort of fantasy relm. So let your imagination drive the action, and you can always verify any details later. After all, there's a whole pub of "experts" you can ask anytime, day or night. Good luck - keep at it!

Ahoy, MerryD! Sjöröveren and I can be there on Sunday, August 29! We would LOVE to meet up with ye! We'll be in touch! Anybody else?

Arrgh! Rumba! I missed yer party. Happy Belated Birthday, lass!

Happy Natal Day, Cap'n. But watch out fer them candles on the rum cake -- those things can go up in a hurry!

Very nice, Charity! Lovely shelf of treasures. Those little houses are way cool. My "pirate shelf" is a mess right now, or I'd take a pic and post it, too. I keep adding stuff (my friends and family always give me little pirate toys) and it's a bit overloaded. Maybe when I get it more organized... So much plunder, so little space!