Pirate Rule Cameo
Posted October 24th, 2007 by Howard Tayler
If you’ve got an eBook subscription over at Baen, then you may have already read Manxome Foe by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor. If not, then you’ll have to subscribe, or wait until it comes out in hardback in February of ‘08.
Either way, the “enemy of my enemy” rule gets mentioned in Chapter 13. Apparently I will finally get around to publishing Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates (and all the concomitant rules), because Lt. Fey is familiar with the book.
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October 24th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Heck, I just started reading “Vorpal Blade”… “Manxome Foe” can wait.
I swear I can tell which parts Ringo wrote and which parts Taylor wrote, though. Having made the error of reading the two books that Taylor allegedly wrote himself (actually, I can well believe that he wrote them himself, as the hero was [if his jacket-flap biography is to be believed] a thinly-disguised version of himself), his style is unmistakable.
Ringo, meanwhile. rocks. and given his known fondness for Sluggy Freelance I suspect that he may also be responsible for Schlock references.
October 24th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
axolotl9 – Also given the fact that he wrote the foreword to “Under New Management”… :)
I’m not a big fan of all of Ringo’s work (I’ll skip on the Paladin of Shadows series, thanks…), but when he hits right, he hits VERY right.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:19 am
This past Pennsic, I was walking back to my camp. Going up the road, I heard someone say, “Rule 37: There is no overkill”. I responded, “There is only ‘Open Fire’, and ‘I need to reload’.” This, among 11,000 people camping out in medieval costumes.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:39 am
so … 3fgburner … walking past *that* booth were you?
October 25th, 2007 at 7:04 am
I’m obviously going to need to attend Pennsic at some point.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Please print a pocket size reference of “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates” so I can scare my coworkers.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:30 am
You totally need to publish that, because I need to buy several.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
I’ve been waiting for a published version for some time now… but what I really want is a T-shirt with the rules posted on the back.
I know shirts are a low margin item, but think of them as a low-cost advertisement instead :)
October 26th, 2007 at 4:46 am
By the way, rule 37 gets quoted in two different forms. Searching the archives I found several partial (i.e. interrupted) quotations of rule 37, but the two complete quotations of it differ.
Jevee says I need to reload, whereas Kerchak says time to reload.
Howard, would you care to tell us who’s misquoting? Or are they quoting different editions?
Oh, and as for rule 29: What do you think the word “ally” means? It doesn’t mean “friend”.
October 26th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Howard,
Yes…yes you do need to attend Pennsic.
@ 3fgburner : I remember overhearing that!
@ hswoolve : to which booth were you refering? (I work for the Badger Blades guys.)
BTW : I SO want the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates”
I bet we could write the whole thing in a couple months on the forums.
October 27th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Howard, you mean you weren’t planning to write and publish that book anyway?
October 28th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Just finished reading that chapter, and i was cracking up when I saw the reference. Gotta love the tribute to your maniacal genius, Howard.
October 28th, 2007 at 2:58 am
Howard, thanks for posting this. Didn’t realize that John had published another book, and was working on another. Right now reading Vorpal Blade and trying to decide if I want to pick up this one right away or not. I might take a break… I found the Wake scene very powerful, maybe a bit too much so…
October 28th, 2007 at 6:25 am
Yes, YES! You MUST publish the book.
Just think how much easier it is to do text rather than all the tedious drawing.
Of course if you leave out illustrations as well, I will be forced to kneecap you.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:03 am
@ PStryder: oh ghu, there’s more than one? (friends with Cloak & Dagger, myself)
I’d suggest attending a local event before Pennsic though … there’s the potential for some serious culture shock with Pennsic as a First Event.