"The Sweet Trade"

[warrenpeace]

Am in the middle of yet another inspirational book for Swashbucklers, "The Sweet Trade" by Elizabeth Garrett, a work of historical fiction about the lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackham, published in 2000.  That author's name is itself fiction.  The author is James L. Nelson, trying to pass himself off as a female writer of the bodice ripper type.  He had the book republished 4 years later under his real name under the title, "The Only Life That Mattered: The Short and Merry Lives of Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Calico Jack Rackam."

Since this book aimed at the bodice ripper readership, it's quite a bit more pornographic than the adventure books I'm used to reading, and the episodes of violence are a bit less frequent in the text.  I don't know that the author succeeded in fooling the readers of the bodice ripper genre into thinking that the author was really female, as I've seen some complaint that the "voices" of Bonny and Read aren't authentically female.  However, the more sedate pace of the book, which spends a lot more time on the psychological drama than on the action, is actually a bearable change of pace from the non-stop action books.  A great read?  Can't say that it is so far, and it took me a little while to get into the story.  However, it's got me hooked now, and it's nice to have another pirate themed book to read, especially one about historical pirates.

[W.B.Kurgan]

I'm reading The Blackbirder at the moment, (I finished The Guardship late last year) and I have The Pirate Round waiting for when I'm done. So while Mr Nelson is very much on my radar at the moment, I wasn't aware of this one.

So thanks! I'll see if eBay have it cheep. 

[richarDISNEY]

So....  How would you handle "bodice ripping" on the gaming table?