 First edition | |
| Author | George MacDonald Fraser |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 2015 |
Captain in Calico is a 2015 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It was published seven years after his death in 2008 and is about the pirate Jack Rackham. Mary Read and Anne Bonny also appear as characters in this novel.
Jack Rackham asks the governor of the Bahamas, Woodes Rogers, for a royal pardon. Rogers agrees for his own reasons.
The novel was written in 1959 and was heavily influenced by authors Fraser long admired, such as Rafael Sabatini, PC Wren, GA Henty and Sir Walter Scott, along with pirate films like Captain Blood. [1]
The manuscript was found by Fraser’s three children when they cleared out their parents’ home following the death of their mother. According to Fraser's daughter Caro:
In the last room, right in the corner, in what had been my father’s old study, was a fireproof safe which we had forgotten about. It took us a while to get the combination. And in there was this manuscript which he'd clearly put away hoping, I think, it would be found. If he had plans for another Flashman novel, he didn't leave any trace behind, because I don't think he wanted anyone to use material that he had half-prepared. But this was on its own, and in the safe. [2]
They were eventually persuaded to publish by HarperCollins, Fraser's publisher. Caro:
The publication has come about because we had to sell all those books in my father’s library, and we went through my father’s favourite bookshop, Heywood Hill, in Mayfair, who wanted something original like a pamphlet he had written, to help publicise the sale. So we thought, what about the first chapter of this book he'd written. Would that do? And Heywood Hill said, ‘Are you crazy? You've got an unpublished novel by George MacDonald Fraser?’ And the ball just kept rolling from there. [1]
According to Caro Fraser:
Captain in Calico would probably be even less likely to find a publisher today than 60 years ago, and we do not want readers to be deceived into thinking it is vintage George MacDonald Fraser, and of the standard of the Flashman novels, or the McAuslan short stories. Indeed, we thought long and hard before allowing it to be published, and are only doing so because we believe that, as an early work, Captain in Calico is a delightful curiosity, one which we hope will provide fans of GMF with a fascinating insight into the inspirations and creative impulses that turned him into such a fine novelist. [2]
Sir Harry Paget Flashman is a fictional character created by Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) in the semi-autobiographical Tom Brown's School Days (1857) and later developed by George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008). Harry Flashman appears in a series of 12 of Fraser's books, collectively known as The Flashman Papers, with covers illustrated by Arthur Barbosa and Gino D’Achille. Flashman was played by Malcolm McDowell in the Richard Lester 1975 film Royal Flash.
John Rackham, commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and in Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for "John".
George MacDonald Fraser was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Flashman.
Anne Bonny, sometimes Anne Bonney, was an Irish pirate operating in the Caribbean, and one of the few female pirates in recorded history. What little that is known of her life comes largely from Captain Charles Johnson's 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates.
Royal Flash is a 1975 British adventure film based on the second Flashman novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It stars Malcolm McDowell as Flashman. Additionally, Oliver Reed appeared in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan played Lola Montez. Fraser wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Richard Lester.
The Three Musketeers is a 1973 swashbuckler film based on the 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is directed by Richard Lester from a screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser, and produced by Ilya Salkind. It stars Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, and Richard Chamberlain as the titular musketeers, with Raquel Welch, Geraldine Chaplin, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Ward, Georges Wilson and Spike Milligan.
Flashman is a 1969 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the first of the Flashman novels.
Royal Flash is a 1970 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the second of the Flashman novels. It was made into the film Royal Flash in 1975 and remains the only Flashman novel to be filmed.
Flash for Freedom! is a 1971 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the third of the Flashman novels.
Flashman at the Charge is a 1973 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the fourth of the Flashman novels. Playboy magazine serialised Flashman at the Charge in 1973 in their April, May and June issues. The serialisation is unabridged, including most of the notes and appendixes and features a few illustrations, collages from various paintings and pictures to depict a period montage of the Charge and Crimea.
Flashman's Lady is a 1977 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the sixth of the Flashman novels.
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pen name for one of London's writer-publishers. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. The book also contains the name of the pirate flag the Jolly Roger and shows the skull and bones design.
The Pyrates is a comic novel by George MacDonald Fraser, published in 1983. Fraser called it "a burlesque fantasy on every swashbuckler I ever read or saw".
Caroline Georgiana ("Caro") Fraser (1953-2020) was a British novelist, and the daughter of writer George MacDonald Fraser, author of The Flashman Papers books.
The Capture of the sloop William refers to a small single ship action fought between John "Calico Jack" Rackham and English privateer Jonathan Barnet. The battle was fought in the vicinity of Negril, Jamaica and ended with the capture of Rackham and his crew.
Black Ajax is a historical novel by George MacDonald Fraser based on the career of Tom Molineaux.
The Candlemass Road is a historical novel from George MacDonald Fraser set in the time of the Border Reivers, a period Fraser had earlier written about in The Steel Bonnets and would later return to in The Reavers.
The Flashman Papers is a series of novels and short stories written by George MacDonald Fraser, the first of which was published in 1969. The books centre on the exploits of the fictional protagonist Harry Flashman. He is a cowardly British soldier, rake and cad who is placed in a series of real historical incidents between 1839 and 1894. While the incidents and much of the detail in the novels have a factual background, Flashman's actions in the stories are either fictional, or Fraser uses the actions of unidentified individuals and assigns them to Flashman. Flashman is a character in the 1857 novel by Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days; Hughes' version of the character is a bully at Rugby School who is expelled for drunkenness. The character was then developed by Fraser, and appeared in the 1969 novel Flashman. Fraser went on to write a total of eleven novels and one collection of short stories featuring the character.
The Flying Gang was an 18th-century group of pirates who established themselves in Nassau, New Providence in The Bahamas after the destruction of Port Royal in Jamaica. The gang consisted of the most notorious and cunning pirates of the time, buccaneers who terrorized and pillaged the Caribbean until the Royal Navy and infighting brought them to justice. They achieved great fame and wealth by raiding salvagers attempting to recover gold from the sunken Spanish treasure fleet. They established their own codes and governed themselves independent from any of the colonial powers of the time. Nassau was deemed the Republic of Pirates as it attracted many former privateers looking for work to its shores. The Governor of Bermuda stated that there were over 1000 pirates in Nassau at that time and that they outnumbered the mere hundred inhabitants in the town.
Major Penner was a pirate captain active in the Caribbean.