Sea Fiction

Over the years, thousands of tales both true and fantastic have been told about the dastardly thievery of pirates. Their rum-drunk exploits and high-seas violence never fail to delight. Now in a brand new series collection, The Best Pirate Stories Ever Told includes many of the very best pirate yarns ever created on history’s most debaucherous scalawags. Anyone who loves a good story full of excitement, adventure, thrills, and laughs will find this collection irresistible.

At the opening of a voyage filled with disaster and delight, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are in pursuit of a privateer sailing under American colours through the Great South Sea. Stephen's objective is to set the revolutionary tinder of South America ablaze to relieve the pressure on the British government which has blundered into war with the young and uncomfortably vigorous United States. The shock and barbarity of hand-to-hand fighting are sharpened by O'Brian's exact sense of period, his eye for landscape and his feel for a ship under sail.

Marina Fae never considered herself a powerful witch or dreamed that she would one day be a warrior fighting to save her people. Her life changes when the Sea Witch's dark magic sweeps across the Isle of Magic, turning those who resist or cannot escape to stone. Finding refuge in the dense mountain forest, Marina fights to protect the children left behind by Magna's wave of destruction. Detective Mike Hallbrook's search for two women who disappeared in Yachats State Park takes an unexpected turn. He soon finds himself on an unfamiliar beach after rescuing a woman being attacked.

There was once a village off the coast of Cornwall, England where people were so poor that they prayed for shipwrecks. They made their living by salvaging food and clothing from the wreckage. Some of them lit fires during a storm to lure ships onto the rocks. Then these "wreckers" made sure that no one survived the wrecks, so there would be no witnesses to their crimes. One stormy night in 1799, 14-year-old John Spencer was unfortunate enough to be on his father's ship when the wreckers did their worst.

Ten-year-old Floriana is captivated by the magnificent Tuscan villa near her village. When the owner’s son invites her inside, Floriana knows that her destiny is there, with him. But as they grow up, things begin to change. Miles away on the Devon coastline, Marina’s hotel has fallen on hard times. The arrival of Rafael Santoro, artist-in-residence, seems to bring peace in Marina’s family. But Rafa is not who he seems....

Labeled variously a realistic story of whaling, a romance of unusual adventure and eccentric characters, a symbolic allegory, and a drama of heroic conflict, Moby Dick is first and foremost a great story. It has both the humor and poignancy of a simple sea ballad, as well as the depth and universality of a grand odyssey.

Nazafareen lives for revenge. A girl of the isolated Four-Legs Clan, all she knows about the King's elite Water Dogs is that they bind wicked creatures called daevas to protect the empire from the Undead. But when scouts arrive to recruit young people with the gift, she leaps at the chance to join their ranks. To hunt the monsters that killed her sister. Scarred by grief, she's willing to pay any price, even if it requires linking with a daeva named Darius.

Each of the three Schuyler sisters has her own world-class problems, but in the autumn of 1966, Pepper Schuyler's problems are in a class of their own. When Pepper fixes up a beautiful and rare vintage Mercedes and sells it at auction, she thinks she's finally found a way to take care of herself and the baby she carries, the result of an affair with a married, legendary politician.

A private investigator chases a missing East India Company man. Down to his last lead, the investigator stumbles upon a sailor telling the tale of a ship lost at sea with dwindling supplies, a tyrannical captain, a false holy man, and a silver-tongued first mate. The solitary ship is a brutal and political place, where morals are tested, alliances forged, and lives lost. Could this have been the fate of the missing man?

Prince Roger MacClintock, Tertiary Heir to the Throne of Man, was a spoiled rotten, arrogant, whiny, thoroughly useless young pain in the butt. But that was before an assassination attempt marooned the Royal Brat and his bodyguards on the planet Marduk, and before they had to march half way around the entire planet, through 120-degree heat and five-hour rainstorms in jungles full of damnbeasts, capetoads, killerpillars, and atul-grak, not to mention hostile peoples, to make their way back to port.

The author of Drowning Erin and Waking Olivia presents her latest novel.

On a cold January day in 1851, twelve-year-old Patrick O’Connell huddles on the deck of the Robert Peel. He is leaving his impoverished home behind in Ireland, while in America, his father is waiting with the promise of a new life. But as Patrick watches the shoreline fade from view, he feels torn with worry. His new friend Laurence Kirkle, who is running away from home, waits for food in the ship’s hold. If the captain finds the young stowaways, both boys will be arrested.

While renovating an old beach house, Ivy and her sister, Shelly, suddenly have full occupancy after fire forces Summer Beach residents from their homes. Even the mayor, Bennett Dylan, who was Ivy’s high school crush, moves in. As the summer heats up, attractions simmer and feuds erupt. Living in the house Bennett had hoped could be a community center, he finds himself at odds with Ivy’s campaign for a bed-and-breakfast zoning change. And when valuable items disappear from the inn, Bennett’s friend Mitch, who owns the popular Java Beach coffee shop, is the prime suspect.

After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking, and she might be able to go back to a normal life. Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder takes place on the ship.

Jack, his genius siblings Ava and Matt, and inventor Dr. Hank Witherspoon travel to the Hawaiian island home of Ashley Hawking, a technology billionaire. Hawking and engineer Rosa Morris have built a revolutionary electricity plant that harvests energy from the deep ocean, but someone has been sabotaging the project. In their search for the culprit, Jack and crew navigate an unusual world of characters and suspects, including Hawking and her obnoxiously intelligent son.

Beloved literature teacher Maggie Adair loves her life at the prestigious Downey House boarding school on the gloriously sunny, windy English coast. It was there that she found her footing as a teacher and fell in love with her colleague David—the two great anchors of her life. But these days Maggie’s feeling restless, lured by the promise of a different life back in her Scottish hometown. How can you follow your heart when it seems to be taking you in two directions at once?

How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity. Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others' ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.

My life as I know it is over. And no, I'm not being dramatic. I've been living as a human, but now I have to return to my mermaid roots because my dad is the new king of Valora. As soon as we arrive, he sends me to the Dark Sea Academy. Whispers and glares greet me at every turn. Students accuse my dad of killing the previous king, his brother. My first night, the most popular girl tries to kill me. I barely escape, only to run into Bash. He's older and one wrong move from being expelled. Also as gorgeous as he is arrogant.

Young Trot and the old captain, peg-legged Cap'n Bill, might seem like odd friends, but they are constant companions and Cap'n Bill taught her to love and appreciate the ocean. Trot was especially fascinated by the idea of mermaids and talked about them often with Cap'n Bill, who warned that no one who had met a mermaid had ever lived to tell the tale. One day while out sailing around, the pair is greeted by a beautiful mermaid who extends an invitation for them to come and visit their underwater kingdom and even become mermaids themselves for the adventure.

Successful but shy, Seattle art dealer Mattie Sharpe fell hard for handsome, outspoken, professional adventurer Hugh Abbott. When he broke her heart and returned to his South Sea island home, Mattie vowed she'd only meet him again over her - or better, his - dead body. When they do meet again, it's over someone else's dead body - and now they're running for their lives through a tropical paradise. Hugh's talking fast to make up for his mistake. Mattie's not listening...until his gentle touch ignites a white-hot fusion, and she gives in. But Hugh's past is catching up with them.