COPYRIGHT INFO
The Pirate Story Megapack is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved. Cover by Andrea Dante / Fotolia.
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“The Golden Dolphin,” by J. Allan Dunn, originally appeared in Short Stories, Dec. 10, 1921.
“The Offshore Pirate,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is taken from Flappers and Philosophers (1922).
“The Merchantman and the Pirate,” by Charles Reade, originally appeared in Hard Cash.
The Treasure of the Seas, by James De Mille, originally appeared in 1879.
The Pirate Woman, by Captain Dingle, originally appeared as a 4-part serial in All-Story Weekly magazine from November 2, 1918, to November 23, 1918.
“The Marooner,” by J. Allan Dunn, originally appeared in Adventure. August 3, 1918.
“Black Vulmea’s Vengeance,” by Robert E. Howard, originally appeared in Golden Fleece, November, 1938.
“Forced Luck,” by J. Allan Dunn, originally appeared in Adventure, February 10, 1922.
The Pirate Shark, by Elliot Whiney, originally appeared in 1914.
“The Pirates of Caluur,” by John Gregory Betancourt, originally appeared, in slightly different form, in Fantasy Book, December 1986. Copyright © 1986 by John Gregory Betancourt. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Brothers Lammiat,” by John Gregory Betancourt, originally appeared in Amazing Stories, July 1986. Copyright © 1986 by John Gregory Betancourt. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Sea Child,” by Cynthia Ward, originally appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress XXIV. Copyright © 2009 by Cynthia Ward. Reprinted by permission of the author.
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 [email protected] or use the message boards above.
THE MEGAPACK SERIES
MYSTERY
The Achmed Abdullah Megapack
The Charlie Chan Megapack*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective Megapack
The Detective Megapack
The Father Brown Megapack
The Girl Detective Megapack
The First R. Austin Freeman Megapack
The Second R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Third R. Austin Freeman Megapack*
The Jacques Futrelle Megapack
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery Megapack
The First Mystery Megapack
The Second Mystery Megapack
The Penny Parker Megapack
The Philo Vance Megapack*
The Pulp Fiction Megapack
The Raffles Megapack
The Sherlock Holmes Megapack
The Victorian Mystery Megapack
The Wilkie Collins Megapack
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure Megapack
The Baseball Megapack
The Cat Story Megapack
The Second Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Third Cat Story Megapack
The Christmas Megapack
The Second Christmas Megapack
The Classic American Short Stories Megapack, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor Megapack
The Dog Story Megapack
The Doll Story Megapack
The Horse Story Megapack
The Military Megapack
The Sea-Story Megapack
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The Edward Bellamy Megapack
The First Reginald Bretnor Megapack
The Fredric Brown Megapack
The Ray Cummings Megapack
The Philip K. Dick Megapack
The Dragon Megapack
The Randall Garrett Megapack
The Second Randall Garrett Megapack
The Edmond Hamilton Megapack
The C.J.