Pirate Latitudes

[Gibbet Jones]

Apparently Michael Crichton (the genius behind Jurassic Park) wrote a pirate book whilst he was still alive. Just recently released, it was discovered on his computer by a friend after his death. Steven Speilberg has expressed intense interest in making this book into a film, he said he always wanted to do a pirate movie but the right story hadn't come along before. I'll have to read this book as soon as it comes out. Thought I'd give a heads up.

[Blackbead]

I've received a copy from Amazon - I plan on reading it this weekend. More to follow.

Blackbead

[Pew]

Sounds interesting and in a different vein from POTC, should the movie come to fruition.

A synopsis for those interested:

"The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses.

In this steamy climate there's a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease—or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.

Word in port is that the galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in a nearby harbor. Heavily fortified, the impregnable harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of the Spanish king himself. With backing from a powerful ally, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy outpost and commandeer El Trinidad, along with its fortune in Spanish gold. The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of island legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he even sets foot on foreign shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure. . . ."

[Gunpowder Gertie]

Just picked it up as a Yule gift for a friend!

[Mission]

I read this over the PiP weekend, what with all the flying and stuff and talked about it in the What are you reading right now? thread in Beyond. What I said there was,

"I was actually a bit disappointed with Pirate Latitudes. It read like a pretty standard fictional pirate story until the end when a little bit of the old Crichton page turning magic appeared. I believe I see why he didn't publish it right away when he finished it. He did a pretty nice job eschewing the movie conventions...well, for the most part. Could someone explain the factual construct behind the Kraken to me? Usually Crichton is pretty meticulous in the science part of his science fiction."

It wasn't bad, I was just expecting something a little less typical. Maybe it will seem less typical to folks used to the movie pirates and POTC. I'm so used to the period details that I may be a bit innured to them. But even the style was a bit pedestrian IMO.

I think what I was really hoping for was the kind of inter-cutting stories, taut situations and explanations of details and ideas that you find in other Crichton works like JP, Rising Sun, Timeline, State of Fear and other such books. Part of the problem is that he didn't have a modern character to comment on the historical aspects in the way he does in those other books, so the history really was being 'lived' rather than explained. But that stuff is so easy to skim and ignore without an explanation of why it is the way it is when you're searching for the storyline that I think it will be lost on most people.

[Blackbead]

I finished Latitudes over the weekend and couldn't agree with Mission more on this one. This HAD to be a first draft and not something that Mr. Crichton would have wanted to publish without significant rewrite. There were several "Oh, come ON!" moments and even a couple of "Wait a minute; didn't you JUST say?" events. In some ways, I wonder if Mr. Crichton didn't intend this to be a film script from the very beginning. There are plenty of examples of things that we let a creator get away with in movies that we wouldn't sit still for in a novel.

I agree with you, Mission, regarding that explanatory aspect of the book. There wasn't a character sitting "outside the plot flow" telling us what was going on and giving the factual basis for some of the events which occurred.

Read it; but don't expect a typical Michael Crichton novel.

[Captain McCool]

Bummer to hear, really. I've loved Crichton novels for years, ever since first reading Jurassic Park and Eaters of the Dead. I was really hoping for something on par with the others. I'm still extremely sad about his death in general, and maybe if he had been able to stick around a little longer the book bight have been a little more polished. It's especially a shame, because Piracy was really the last subject Crichton had to tackle. I mean, he'd done Vikings, dinasaurs (twice), aliens, time travel, knights in shining armor, westerns, robots... um... gorillas... pretty much everything you could think of, except pirates.

I saw the book at the grocery store the other day and it was 40% off. But even so, since it's a hard cover, it still comes to almost $20. I wonder if it's worth buying, or if I should rent it from the Library first and consider buying it when it comes out in paperback...

[Mary Diamond]

I read this over the PiP weekend, what with all the flying and stuff and talked about it in the What are you reading right now? thread in Beyond.

What a funny coincidence!! Mark (hubby) was also reading it while at PiP...

[Blackbead]

"I saw the book at the grocery store the other day and it was 40% off. But even so, since it's a hard cover, it still comes to almost $20. I wonder if it's worth buying, or if I should rent it from the Library first and consider buying it when it comes out in paperback..."

Cap'n McCool - Check it out on Amazon; you can get it for $14 plus shipping. Or, would you be interested in buying my copy?

Blackbead

[Captain McCool]

Heh, well the fact that you're interested in selling your copy doesn't exactly speak in its favor. However, I may be interested. I'd certainly like to read it. I have a feeling, after reading all the posts here, that my favorite modern pirate novel will continue to be The Guardship, by James L. Nelson, for a long while to come.

[Mission]

It's not a bad book; it's really a fine traditional pirate story (very much like a screenplay as Blackbead suggests). It's just not a great Crichton story. If you like Crichton books you start reading them with a certain expectation.

Wait until post-Christmas and you'll probably be able to pick up for cheap on Amazon used. That's how I buy most of my books.

[LadyBarbossa]

Hmmm... sounds interesting enough. Shall look forward to it if it comes out on film. Otherwise, if time allows... I MIGHT read it. Again, Might being IF time allows.

Post yo'r reviews of this book, mates, if ye've read it. Please?

~Lady B

[Blackbead]

Hmm, m'Lady? How did you get that picture of Miz Peabody in front of your Christmas tree? Did she visit . . .

Wait, wait, that can't be her.

Not fat enough.

Never mind.

Blackbead

[John Maddox Roberts]

I just read "Pirate Latitudes," and I'm certain that this was the first draft of a novel. Not only that, but I am sure that it was to be followed by a story taking place in modern times. Remember the pirate co-captain who took half the loot and disappeared and the medallion thought to have a treasure map had simply "a series of small triangles"? somebody in modern times would have found that medallion and interpreted it. Remember the chest of "silver" that turned out to be platinum, "a worthless metal"? It would be worth a stupendous fortune now. (Reason: right up until the late 19th century platinum was used as a cheap substitute for silver. Then along came electricity and platinum is the best electrical conductor in the world. Now almost all of it goes into the electric and electronic industries and the little left over for jewelry is fantastically expensive.)Too bad Chrichton didn't live long enough to finish this project.

[Captain McCool]

I just read "Pirate Latitudes," and I'm certain that this was the first draft of a novel. Not only that, but I am sure that it was to be followed by a story taking place in modern times. Remember the pirate co-captain who took half the loot and disappeared and the medallion thought to have a treasure map had simply "a series of small triangles"? somebody in modern times would have found that medallion and interpreted it. Remember the chest of "silver" that turned out to be platinum, "a worthless metal"? It would be worth a stupendous fortune now. (Reason: right up until the late 19th century platinum was used as a cheap substitute for silver. Then along came electricity and platinum is the best electrical conductor in the world. Now almost all of it goes into the electric and electronic industries and the little left over for jewelry is fantastically expensive.)Too bad Chrichton didn't live long enough to finish this project.

I agree with absolutely everything you wrote here! I just finished this one today, and I had some of the exact same thoughts. And it's a classic Crichton move to have a modern story following the period one in some way (think Timeline), and I really think this would have completed what otherwise felt like only part of a larger picture. And yes, definitely a rough draft. I kept seeing phrases like: "they returned to the ship without incident," and thinking how much they sounded like filler for when Crichton came back through and replaced them with something more interesting.

[Jib]

Did I hear rumors of a film version?

[Blackbead]

Aye; the film rights were bought even before the book went on sale. Spielberg has even been mentioned. We'll see . . .

[madPete]

I got this for Christmas and thought it was a decent book. And that without having read a Crichton novel prior.

maybe that's a good thing? The next one will be better!

[hurricane]

I kind of gave up on it after he lifted the whole part about Mary Read and Anne Bonny, using different characters. It's as if he put in some placeholders from lore and history, figuring he would rewrite it later. It's a pretty common technique, but obviously he never got the chance.

It's back on the shelf, awaiting a revisit, but Jonathan Dickson's Journal has me mesmerized, since I live on the beach he and his part walked on during their travels from their wreck to St. Augustine. Very fun retracing his steps.

-- Hurricane

[Sloop62]

Found this while searching Amazon for Pirate books.

http://2penniesworth...g-film-project/

[Mission]

[i'm gonna combine this with the other topic on Pirate Latitudes since we've already been talking about this there - no sense having two topics on the same thing so close together...]

Well, we know the movie rights have been purchased, which really doesn't mean much. Hollyweird buys and lets lapse movie rights to books all the time. I've read rumblings about Spielburg, but if you read this closely there really isn't anything definite in it other than someone is writing a script treatment.

As for the gushing review on the site...

"Pirate Latitudes is not only a page-turner, but touches on a genre that is sorely overlooked in the world of fiction. Combine the page-turning ride that James Patterson delivers, with lure of adventure and plotting climaxes of Clive Cussler, with the sheer brilliance of Crichton’s prose and you get the idea of the mastery of this novel."

Uh...right. I don't know if the reviewer has read Crichton's other novels, but this read like an unfinished TV movie script for me. There were parts near the end that touched on his usual exciting page-turning writing, but the first 2/3 of it read like every other pirate story, albeit with some nice PC touches. As John Maddox Roberts said above:

"...I'm certain that this was the first draft of a novel. Not only that, but I am sure that it was to be followed by a story taking place in modern times."

That sounds right to me, given Crichton's body of work touching on historical subjects.

OTOH, it would be interesting to see what Speilburg might do with a pirate story. (I doubt he'd follow this book overmuch, because the story is so pedestrian.) He's usually a smart director. Recent history suggests that it is really tough to make a pirate movie in the mold of the classics - which was the way it seemed to me that this story is written. It was tried over and over again in the 20 years preceding POTC and failed at the Box Office.) In fact, I'd guess that if they had made POTC the way it was originally written (without Depp's bizarre take on Captain Jack), it wouldn't have been quite the success that it was.

Well, that's my 2 pennies worth, anyhow.

[AlexRoberts]

I hope it turns out good.

[MarkG]

OTOH, it would be interesting to see what Speilburg might do with a pirate story. (I doubt he'd follow this book overmuch, because the story is so pedestrian.) He's usually a smart director. Recent history suggests that it is really tough to make a pirate movie in the mold of the classics - which was the way it seemed to me that this story is written. It was tried over and over again in the 20 years preceding POTC and failed at the Box Office.) In fact, I'd guess that if they had made POTC the way it was originally written (without Depp's bizarre take on Captain Jack), it wouldn't have been quite the success that it was.

Well, that's my 2 pennies worth, anyhow.

Speilburg had pirates in Hook. They were boring. In fact the whole movie was boring.

I remember looking at the pirates and the lost boys and realizing which group I would be with (not the annoying kids).

The ship was ok.

If you think about it, you can picture a tall, hansom actor as Jack Sparrow in the first movie. If you've seen Kevin Klein in Pirates of Penzance, the part was probably written for that type of character - heroic but every now and then he would trip and fall.

Mark

Edited August 6, 2010 by MarkG

[Mission]

That's true. However, I've always sort of thought of Peter Pan as a kid's story, not a pirate story. (I know, I know. I'm splitting hairs.)

[MarkG]

That's true. However, I've always sort of thought of Peter Pan as a kid's story, not a pirate story. (I know, I know. I'm splitting hairs.)

Funny thing about Peter Pan - that's where the idea that pirates made people walk the plank came from. Yes, I know that there are a few historic instances but it didn't hit the public consciousness until Peter Pan. Just like buried treasure came from Treasure Island.

Mark