"Under the Black Ensign" by L. Ron Hubbard

"Under the Black Ensign"
by L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast performance
Produced by Galaxy Audio (2008)
Approx 2 hours.

Back when I first started listening to these audio book productions of tales from the days of Pulp Fiction, or Stories from the Golden Age, I was only interested in the Science Fiction and Fantasy tales, but soon I was curious to hear some of the other genres because of the high quality of performance and production put into these books.

Galaxy Audio produces each story from the days of pulp fiction magazine into phenomenal performances that will remind you of the early days of radio. The characters created by Hubbard are already well rounded and over the top and the voice actors bring each character to life, each one sounding like a character from the mid-20th century, just like the high drama and suspense stories that were on the radio at the time. The vocalizations, the sound effects and the original music all come together to bring you a true theater of the mind performance.

Once I had listened to all the sci-fi and fantasy stories I started then listening to the back issues of these audio pulps, and no matter what genre I heard, I was entertained and enjoyed the great story. Hubbard wrote many stories during the time of the pulp magazines and in many genres. This time around we dive into a sea adventure, but even more exciting (I was especially looking forward to listening to this one) a pirate adventure.

Originally published in "Five Novels Monthly" August, 1935, "Under the Black Ensign" could be called the perfect swashbuckler romance. Set in the Caribbean of the 17th century this story blends piracy, British men-of-war, a girl of aristocratic birth disguised as a boy, and an officer unjustly stripped of rank.

Tom Bristol's career as first mate of the Maryland bark Randolph abruptly ends during shore leave when he is press-ganged into serving aboard the British HMS Terror. Back in the day the crews of naval vessels were the underlings and treated as such. One day onboard the Terror Bristol drops his marlin spike while working aloft and it nearly falls on a Lord who is on his way to take over a fort and prison in the Caribbean. The Lord, being the hoity toity well-to-do royalty type, thinks Bristol was attempting to assassinate him orders Bristol to be given 100 lashes (a punishment that would bring death.

Just as Bristol is about to receive his lashes, the vessel is overtaken by pirates and after the melee Bristol is seen to be tied to the mast and given the opportunity to join the pirates. Bristol is one of the valuable few that understand navigation on the high seas.

When Bristol is confronted by another pirate that wants to commit mutiny he kills the mutinous scalawag. His new pirate mates desert him quickly after he's found guilty of killing a mutinous pirate and unwittingly harboring a woman on board. The woman was actually Lady Catherine who escaped the Spanish by disguising herself as a boy. Bristol is then marooned on a deserted island, with nothing but a small supply of water, a gun and just enough bullets to kill himself.

The woman is put off toward more civilized confines but she steers her boat toward the island where Bristol is alone and they set up camp to decide what to do. As fate would have it Bristol watches a Spanish ship battle a Dutch slave ship and abandon the Dutch ship and its cargo. Bristol and the lady row out to the ship and free the slaves, who are sailing men themselves. Bristol now has a crew and they manage to seize a ship through trickery and he sets out for revenge against the pirates and the British on his own vessel sailing under the black ensign.

Great swashbuckling, pirates, battles, and dames what more could you ask for. This story beats any Pirates of the Caribbean story you'll find.

"The Code of the Zombie Pirate" by Scott Kenemore

"The Code of the Zombie Pirate"
by Scott Kenemore
Published by Skyhorse Publishing (2010)
248 pages

Okay to be honest, I've never really been a fan of pirates, however, give me a good zombie apocalypse and I can't refuse, but having read a couple of other books by Scott Kenemore, I saw no harm in reading this, in fact I knew I was going to have some fun. That's exactly what I got some fun and some zombies and you will to if you pick up this fun handbook on how to sail the seas pillaging with a crew of zombies.

Scott Kenemore taught us how to get ahead in the business world in "Z.E.O," how to win a war with "The Art of Zombie Warfare" and has a novel about what it's like to be a zombie during a zombie apocalypse called, "Zombie, Ohio." So Scott knows what he's talking about when it comes to zombies.

Scott gives you the secrets to selecting, customizing and managing a crew of zombie pirates, including such important decisions like how to find the right vessel, where treasure chests are buried, how to create your pirate zombie flag and when to fly it. Taking the various assortment of zombies; fast, slow, voodoo created, brain eating and others, he plunks them down in the Caribbean during the 1700s hey day of piracy. You would think that placing the zombies in that era would hinder some of the arrangements and motivations but that just makes it more fun.

So whether you are a fan of pirates or a fan of zombies or both Scott Kenemore will tell you how to combine the two and be successful at your plunders and be able to retire to your own desert isle when all is said and done.

This book is full of some supernatural undead fun so check it out.

"Golden Hell" By L. Ron Hubbard

"Golden Hell"
By L. Ron Hubbard
Multicast Performance
Produced 2010 by Galaxy Audio
Approx 2 Hours.

Normally when I sit down to write a review on one of these outstanding audio book productions by Galaxy Audio I harp on the fact that they are superb audio productions that go beyond the measure of your typical audio book. These audio pulps, as I like to call them, since they bring the pulp fiction feel to audio books, contain some of the best vocal acting, great sound effects and the most perfectly written original music. This time around I thought I'd speak more about the author, L. Ron Hubbard. Galaxy Audio and Galaxy Press are re-releasing Hubbard's stories from the Golden age of Stories, when writers of all genres submitted short stories to the pulp magazines for massive distribution. These re-releases cover a variety of genres that demonstrate how prolific a writer Hubbard was.

L. Ron Hubbard's legendary writing career spanned more than half a century when he wrote more than 250 published novels, novelettes, short stories and screenplays in every major genre. During the mid-20th Century Hubbard wrote the bulk of these stories for the pulp magazines. Hubbard was a master of narrative prose, his life experiences and travels in all corners of the globe were wide and diverse and show up in all his stories to give each story that feeling of realism. He was also an explorer, ethnologist, mariner and pilot, filmmaker and photographer, philosopher and educator, composer and musician. Basically being a jack-of-all-trades, Hubbard used his life experiences to create some excellent stories. Hubbard passed away in 1986, but his literary legacy lives on indelibly in works that continue to reverberate down through generations and millions of readers, making him one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed writers of our time, especially now that Galaxy Audio & Galaxy Press have been re-issuing these great stories.

Let's now talk about this audio book which features two stories from the "Tales of the Orient" genre of Hubbard's works.

The first story is the title story, "Golden Hell" originally published in "Thrilling Adventures" in September, 1936 and tells the tale of an American mining engineer, Captain Humbert Reynolds,who has gold fever. Reynolds has decided that the Gobi Desert is hiding a large amount of gold and travels to the far east in search of his riches. He contacts one of the local princes to purchase his way through, and seeing the chance to fill his coffers also the prince sends one of his own to assist Reynolds on his trek. Reynolds is captured by bandits and thrown to an enclave of Machiavellian monks nestled deep inside a cavernous mountain, Reynolds finds a scene that resembles the horrors of Dante's hell. And though he does find his much-desired gold, Reynolds also discovers that the price he has to pay for it just may lead to his doom. Told in first person, this story has that great "film noir" feel.

"Pearl Pirate" originally published in "Thrilling Adventures" May, 1934 is a great action story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last word. This is a nautical tale of deceit and treachery, set in the pre-World War II Coral Sea, in which a schooner skipper makes a deal to bring back about half a million dollars worth of black pearls from a pirate. Upon completion of his task he will receive $10,000 cash and will be forgiven the loan on his ship. He meets up with the pirate and a great battle ensues, but just when you think it's over, good ole L. Ron Hubbard throws in a few more twists that will keep you guessing.

Two more great stories from L. Ron Hubbard. There are many more to come and I plan on listening to them all.

"Treasure Island" By Robert Louis Stevenson

"Treasure Island"
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Read By Alfred Molina
produced by Listening Library, 2007
Approx 7.5 hours

I've been on a "revisiting the classics" kick lately and I realized I had never read "Treasure Island." How could I have missed that? Wasn't it assigned in school? Maybe that's why, but anyway, now i have the chance and finding it in audiobook form was a Treasure.

This audiobook version has Alfred Molina doing the reading, and I say any guy that pulls off Doc Ock in the "Spider-Man" movie, has to be able to read a book. Well, not only yes, but aaarrrgggh, yes. Molina does a great job creating the complete ambiance of the story by creating different voices for each character. Molina's Long John Silver, was captivating.

As for the story itself, it's almost a coming of age story, but with pirates and treasure. Young Jim Hawkins, lives with his mom, who runs the Admiral Benbow Inn. A mysterious man of the sea takes up residence at the Inn and is constantly looking out for a one legged man. He even pays Jim to keep an eye out. The one-legged man never shows up at the Inn but other pirates do and eventually Billy Bones, or "the captain" as he is known to Jim, meets his end. Upon his death Jim and his mother seek to find the captain's secrets and discover a treasure map. The local magistrate and squire then set off to find this Treasure Island and put together a crew to sail the seas, bringing along Jim.

While they tried diligently to keep any questionable sailors from joining, it happens the ship's cook, Long John Silver, a one-legged man, has placed his men among the crew and are geared up to take over the ship when they arrive at the island.

Jim warns the captain and the "honest" men, but to no avail, Silver manages to take over the ship and seeks out the treasure. Jim soon discovers on the island a maroon who he brings back to the honest members of the crew, who have holed up in a stockade on the island. Jim also manages to recapture the ship and land her on the island where only he can find her.

Now to get back to the stockade. Once Jim arrives at the stockade, he finds Silver and his men. All the pirates will be hung for mutiny if caught and Jim uses this to get Silver back on the good side and they all eventually battle it out in the search of treasure.

Jim Hawkins seems the hero, after all he single-handedly gets the ship back and "converts" Silver, but Jim is just a young lad, so he has done some growing up fast. Learning the ways of men and the world.

In a classic adventure of piracy, treasure, the high seas and true humanity, "Treasure Island" definitely keeps you hanging on till the very end. So with a hearty "aaarrghh" I say, grab this book in either audiobook or whatever format you choose, and give it a good read.

"Bloody Jack" by L.A. Meyer

"Bloody Jack"
by L.A. Meyer
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Produced by Listen & Live Audio, 2007
Approx 7.5 hours


So do you like pirates, street urchins and love stories? I think I may have found the perfect audiobook for you. This time around I listened to another young adult novel, and had a grand adventure from the streets of London to fighting pirates on the high seas. This adventure novel is also a nice historical novel. The story takes place during the 18th century when his majesty's navy was battling pirates and preparing for war against France.

The story is told through the voice of Mary "Bloody Jack" Faber as she lives out these adventures. It all begins with her as a young orphan on the streets of London trying to survive. Mary takes up with "Rooster" Charlie, the leader of a gang of orphans who beg on the streets to survive. Charlie takes care of his gang and Mary looks up to him as a brother. When Mary discovers Charlie dead on the dark backstreets of London, she no longer has someone to take care of her so she decides to be her on person. She takes Charlies clothes and the persona of Jack, she soon learns that as a boy things are a bit easier in the street life.

Now living as Jack, she finds her way to the docks, where Navy ships are looking for ship boys, these are the boys that do the grunt work on board the ship, Jack gets on board the H.M.S. Dolphin as a ship boy and maintains her secret of being a girl. She soon boards with 3 other boys taken on at the same time and leads a life as a Navy ship boy. After a year or so on-board she finds it harder and harder to maintain the secret because her body is betraying her. Not sure what all the changes of puberty will bring, since she never had any parents to tell her, she strikes out on the next port call to a bordello to ask one of the women there what she needs to know. Upon leaving the bordello the other boys see "Jack" and add to to the myth of her being a boy, after some teasing. During this same port call the 4 ship-boys have created a pact among each other to always be true. To prove this they get tattoos and whenever a secret must be kept they swear upon their tattoos.

Jack gains her nickname "Bloody Jack" after the crew of the HMS Dolphin boards a ship and she, still only about thirteen years old, shoots a plundered pistol to kill a pirate who is about to stab one of her fellow shipmates, Jaimy, who is paralyzed with fright. She comes back to the Dolphin covered in blood, and her proud shipmates nickname the little "boy" Bloody Jack.

During a battle with a pirate ship in the Caribbean the HMS Dolphin is damaged and takes on water. The ship is forced to seek shelter in the cove of a small island until repairs can be made. On this island there is no wood of use to repair the ship so one of the crew members, who has been experimenting with kites, puts Jack on the kite and flies her high to scout for land. During the "flight" the kite breaks free flying Jack 30 miles or so from the Island to be marooned on another Island by herself.

Growing up alone and trying to maintain a major secret create a great adventure in "Bloody Jack." Basically start out with a little "Oliver Twist' throw in some "Treasure Island" with a dash of "Robinson Crusoe" and you have this fun adventure.

Katherin Kellgren does a wonderful job voicing this book. From the cockney accent of the street kids to the distinguished officers on-board the HMS Dolphin, she delivers the book with realism.