Excerpt Day: Cannons and Honor by P.D. Singer
Taste Test: Walk the Plank edited by Lorna Hinson with stories by Angela Benedetti, Mara Ismine, and PD Singer
Release Date: 07/2009
Publisher: Torquere Books
ISBN-13: 978-1-60370-764-0
ISBN-10: 1-60370-764-6
Publisher Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2076
Blurb: Arr! Pirates abound in the Walk the Plank Taste Test. From Boarding Action by Angela Benedetti, where a prank pirate attack on a friend's yacht goes horribly wrong for Cam, at least until he gets matey with his high school crush Markus. In Cannons and Honor, by P.D. Singer, Captain John Bull rules the seas, and he rules young Leigh Westman, who offers himself as a captive to save his sister's honor. Finally, in Mara Ismine's Life on the Ocean Wave, ninja ballet pirates flourish after a successful raid, when Floats-like-a-butterfly shows Hits-like-a-falling mountain all about the pleasures of booty. See what pirates get up to below decks in Walk the Plank!
Excerpt:
From “Cannons and Honor” by PD Singer
Captain Bull turned to address his crew, who were engaged in removing trunks and boxes from below decks and stowing them in the sloop or guarding the passengers and officers. “This pair is under my especial protection,” he shouted in a voice that carried over the light breeze to all who stood on board ship. The other pirates touched their foreheads in acknowledgement and a few laughed. He returned his gaze to the two, who stood bravely under that wilting regard. “That means none will touch you save for myself,” the Captain informed them. “It does not mean that you retain any of the lovely baubles Major Rotherby-Sims has decorated you with. Drop them in here, please.”
He held out a silk bag into which she reluctantly slipped her ring. “Earrings, Miss Westman, and the necklace.” Those, too, fell into the little bag. “Mr. Westman, the watch.”
“That was given to me by my late father, sir.”
“And taken from you by the wicked pirate. Now, please.” That valuable disappeared into the bag. The young man gave the captain a very sour look, matched by the other passengers as they yielded up the various treasures from pockets, hands, and ears during the captain’s slow progress down the line of prisoners.
An enormous emerald ring went from a middle-aged woman’s hand to the bag. “You are no gentleman,” she dared accuse him, bringing laughter from two pirates who were passing behind her with a barrel of the brigantine’s gunpowder stores.
“Certainly not, Madame,” Captain Bull replied gravely. “Gentlemen do not commit their crimes so openly and efficiently- they require lawyers and paperwork. It is not nearly so satisfactory nor quick, though it may be a great deal more profitable. Good day to you.” He reached for a stickpin that she had not removed from her bosom; she shivered when he plucked it from her bodice. The captain was a handsome man- more than one reaction might have prompted that shiver.