Читать книгу The Pirate Story Megapack - R.M. Ballantyne - Страница 3

A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

I love pirates. There, I’ve said it. It’s a secret, guilty pleasure no more.

I was raised on the swashbuckling exploits of Captain Blood, Burt Lancaster as The Crimson Pirate, Errol Flynn’s The Sea Hawk, and so many more. They really don’t make them like that anymore.

And so I’ve been writing about pirates (in various guises) for most of my career as a writer. I’ve written several novels (including the novelization of the modern swashbuckler Cutthroat Island, plus fantasy novels like Rogue Pirate [a.k.a. Master of Dragons,) and quite a few short stories. I’m including two of those short stories at the rear of the book, in the “fantasy pirates” section, where you’ll also find classics by Robert E. Howard and William Hope Hodgson, plus another modern tale by Cindy Ward, who’s a terrific writer you really need to discover.

And, of course, I’ve included a bunch of older classics, plus quite a few you may never have encountered before. Pulp writer J. Allan Dunn, who must have been just as pirate-obsessed as I was as a child, is represented with three great stories.

Enjoy!

—John Betancourt

Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

www.wildsidepress.com

ABOUT THE MEGAPACKS

Over the last few years, our “Megapack” series of ebook anthologies has grown to be among our most popular endeavors. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

The Megapacks (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

A NOTE FOR KINDLE READERS

The Kindle versions of our Megapacks employ active tables of contents for easy navigation…please look for one before writing reviews on Amazon that complain about the lack! (They are sometimes at the ends of ebooks, depending on your reader.)

RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the Megapack series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

TYPOS

Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at wildsidepress@yahoo.com or use the message boards above.