Here is my website full of things that are not quite good enough to be put into books and sold for actual money. You will see that I have cleverly given the site a serious looking title, so you can re

July 5, 2006 3:47 PM

Pirates! in an Adventure With The InternetAuthor Gideon Defoe offers the missing link between ham and piracy in his hilarious Pirates! novels. Feel free to thrill at the marvelously dry NPR interview
posted by drezdn (12 comments total)

I read Pirates! in an Adventure with Captain Ahab a couple months ago. Easily the funniest and most ridiculous thing I've read. Good to see that there's another (third) in the series.
posted by hopeless romantique at 4:31 PM on July 5, 2006

This looks pretty darn funny, I'll have to pick one of them up. Thanks!
posted by Malor at 4:40 PM on July 5, 2006

I've read the first book, but have yet to pick up the second. And even as much as the whole "aren't pirates funny?" thing is a bit played out, it truly was one of the funniest things I've ever read.

Mainly, though, for the ham.
posted by Robot Johnny at 4:42 PM on July 5, 2006

The Guardian article last year about Defoe and the process of making his book totally put me off reading it, actually, and his website isn't helping either. A bit cloying. But hopeless, that is a pretty strong recommendation, so maybe I'll give it a chance.
posted by Flashman at 4:45 PM on July 5, 2006

I read both last weekend and am waiting impatiently for the third (The Pirates! In An Adventure with Communists) in October. Seriously laugh out loud funny and smart to boot.
posted by ltracey at 4:48 PM on July 5, 2006

I read the first one (I forget who the Pirates! were in an adventure with) and was distinctly underwhelmed. It was funny, but it was not funny enough to carry a whole book. By halfway through the jokes had worn very thin.
posted by hattifattener at 6:22 PM on July 5, 2006

I never finished Defoe’s Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, which I began soon after reading The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. In short, he’s no Chris Moore.
posted by ijoshua at 6:39 PM on July 5, 2006

Judging by the extracts, his work looks like an insipid clone, minus all the erudition and vigour, of George MacDonald Fraser's The Pyrates.
posted by raygirvan at 6:43 PM on July 5, 2006

I enjoyed both Pirates! books immensely, especially for the minor factual asides. The second one was slightly better than the first, and with luck this will continue into the third one. I thought they were like a fun children's book for adults.
posted by drezdn at 8:07 PM on July 5, 2006

I've read both "Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists" and "Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab," and although I liked both I found "Ahab" to be much better than the first. Those of you who hated "Scientists" should give the second book a shot. Hopefully the series will keep improving, and the third will be even better.
posted by christinetheslp at 8:09 PM on July 5, 2006

Um. Wow. Not very clear on what a paragraph is for, is he? In the space of a single paragraph he'll skip back and forward through time, describe the room, present the character's present thoughts, quote past speech by another character not present in the room, synopsize other past speech by that same character without quotes, make generalizations about the the present character's attitudes, describe the attitudes of other characters not present. All with weird changes of tense and perspective. I mean, yeah, it's supposed to be a lark and not literature I suppose, but one still feels like one's in the hands of a reasonably skilled storyteller.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:43 AM on July 6, 2006

Arrgh. I mean one still likes to feel one's in the hands of a reasonably skilled storyteller.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:44 AM on July 6, 2006