A Tall Ship, A Star, and Plunder!

A review of the anthology

A Tall Ship, a Star, and Plunder

 

 

Edited by Robert Krog

Dark Oak Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-937035-65-4, $14.95

Also available in eBook (ISBN 978-1-937035-67-9, $2.99) and hard cover (ISBN 978-1-937035-66-2, $29.95) formats

This anthology, edited by Robert Krog, has twenty-four tales going back in time to the Vikings and forward to “Future Space.” Encountered along the way are a dragon, ghosts, princes and princesses, a Kraken, and all kinds of pirates.

One story features a Flying Dutchman kind of ghost ship, but seeing this one does not portend a shipwreck. The other ghost story is more topical since it features Blackbeard and the crew of the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

In “Fireflies on the Water” by Michael Krog, we meet a sometime pirate, who drowns his sorrows and becomes an alcoholic. The effect on his spouse and the way she combats his affliction draws to an exciting and dramatic climax.

Another story deals with a sailor whose last horrific experience at sea has him staring into the “Bottom of the Mug” by S. P. Dorning. This tale has definite nightmare potential so beware!

"Mercator" style ship

As a former avid reader of science-fiction, I always enjoy any stories involving time travel. Laura Nelson’s “Rosa and the Pirate,” the one with this element, is also the most piratical tale, in my opinion. Actual pirates on wooden ships attacking and plundering any vessel they can chase down. Altogether a great story I’m sure most will love.

Science-fiction stories about airships, space ships, time travel, and even some “deep” sci-fi was difficult to read, yet entertaining at the same time. It’s refreshing to read a bunch of stories that didn’t all start and finish on a wooden ship, although I was disappointed that only a handful of stories included any plunder-taking or pirates acting like pirates.

If, in fact, the editor’s mission was to find stories by new authors that were in some way “piratical,” I would say he did a great job.