Caribbee (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction

The latest novel in Julian Stockwin’s Kydd series is now available for pre-order in hardcover, Caribbee. It is due for release in the UK on 24 October 2013 and in the US on 1 November 2013.

More than a decade ago, Thomas Kydd and Nicholas Renzi were in the Caribbean as sailors before the mast in the old Trajan. Now Kydd, a storied hero of Trafalgar, holds the glory of being Post-captain of the 32-gun frigate, L’Aurore. His almost unbelievable feat of self-advancement is the toast of his own crew… but the envy of others less blessed than he.

After unremitting war a Caribbean posting seems a welcome respite. But, in addition to the balmy warmth and turquoise waters, Kydd and Renzi find themselves facing a familiar threat as the French imperil Britain’s vital sugar trade.

When more and more merchantmen begin vanishing from the sea, fear spreads. Before long, the sugar ships refuse to set sail at all. Now Kydd and Renzi must embark on a dangerous game of espionage, seamanship and breath-taking action in order to destroy this new and terrible danger to the Empire.

Read More Caribbee (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction.

The King’s Chameleon (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction

The latest novel in Richard Woodman’s Kit Faulkner series, The King’s Chameleon, is now available for pre-order in hardcover. It will be released in the UK on 25 July 2013 and in the US on 1 November 2013.

England, 1659. Captain Kit Faulkner’s house is prospering; his eldest son, Nathaniel, has recently returned from a profitable trip to Jamaica in the good ship Faithful, and his daughter, Hannah, has made a suitable match with a young sailor. But the resignation of the Lord Protector, Richard Cromwell, throws England into uncertainty. Will the republic flourish, or will a King return to the throne? Kit is content to let matters take their natural course, but his younger son, Henry, is an idealist with political ambitions. It soon becomes clear that Henry is in much deeper than Kit first realised, and Henry’s actions may threaten everything that Kit holds dear…

via The King’s Chameleon (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction.

Hunting the Essex (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction

The epic chase of the Essex by HMS Phoebe during the War of 1812 inspired Patrick O’Brian and the movie Master and Commander. Aboard Phoebe was a young Midshipman Allen Gardiner who recorded the events. These have been edited by John S Rieske into a new book Hunting the Essex: A Journal of the Voyage of HMS Phoebe 1813-1814 which is now available for pre-order in hardcover worldwide. It will be released on 30 June 2013.

In February 1813 the British frigate Phoebe set out on a secret mission that would involve sailing halfway around the world to attack American settlements in the Pacific Northwest. The United States, frustrated at the treatment of its shipping by the combatants in the Napoleonic Wars, had finally opened hostilities against the British in the previous June. From the American perspective the War of 1812 began with disasters in its invasion of Canada, but against all expectations the infant US Navy had scored significant victories at sea. The most strategically significant of these was the campaign by the frigate USS Essex, which had almost annihilated the lucrative British whaling trade in the south Pacific. Therefore, Phoebe was diverted to hunt down and destroy this highly successful commerce-raider.

Read More Hunting the Essex (HC) – Historic Naval Fiction.