Books: The Pirates! in an Adventure with Napoleon by Gideon DeFoe

The Pirate Captain returns in the fourth installment of Gideon Defoe's loony pirate yarns (The Pirates! In and Adventure with Scientists, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Ahab, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Communists). Convinced he’s a shoe-in for the Pirate of the Year awards, if only because his beard is “fantastically glossy and luxuriant”, he’s shocked when he loses. Dejected, the Pirate Captain decides to give up pirating. His archenemy, Black Bellamy gives his deeds to an island called St. Helena. Unfortunately, the Pirate Captain should have known never believe an arch enemy. Still, he captains on, taking up bee husbandry - much to the chagrin of his crew, including the pirate with hook for a hand, and the pirate who liked kittens and sunsets. That is until a certain exiled military leader named Napoleon Bonaparte shows up and threatens the Pirate Captains new way of life.

Once again, Defoe delivers a hugely funny book in a small package, and taking on a very silly, very Monty Python-like style. There’s a lot to like about this series, as time and place mean nothing, along with many anachronistic phrases and objects existing in where they should not. Lite and quick read, these series of books are cool for some cleansing of ones readers pallet after a long weeks of studying for finals or reading anything written by James Joyce.

Aardman Animation, home of Wallce and Gromit, to bring Gideon Defoe's Pirate Captain to the screen

Sony Pictures and stop-frame animation house Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit) have announced plans to adapt the Gideon DeFoe novel The Pirates! (in an Adventure with Scientists).

I love this series of humorous novels, that include The Pirates! (In an Adventure with Ahab),The Pirates! in an Adventure with Communists and the upcoming The Pirates! in an Adventure with Napoleon.

This first book in the series is set in 1837, and follows the adventures of The Pirate Captain (that is the only name he's called. His crew have names like the Pirate Who Wore Red and so on...) and his crew of non-orthodox pirates. They meet a young Charles Darwin and Mister Bobo, a highly trained and sophisticated "man-panzee".

The Pirate Captain doesn't really know what he is doing, but is very much respected by his crew. He has a full luxuriant beard. His arch nemesis is Black Bellamy, a pirate with a beard that goes all the way up to his eyes, who often outsmarts the pirate captain.

Ham is very important to the pirates and is taken very seriously. The Captain has a prize honey-glazed ham which he keeps in a glass display-case, with a silk bow tied around it.

The book is not aimed at children, as much of the humor relies on an adult appreciation of the cliché and irony, and resembles, sometimes, British shows Monty Python, Dave Allen and The Two Ronnies.