HNF Companion Books
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Anthologies : Companion Books : Related Books : Short Stories : Other Naval & Nautical Genres
For some of the major and popular historic naval fiction series a companion book that explains detail of the author or his work has been written. This section lists these books
The Fletcher Companion
- Details
- By: John Drake
- HNF Companion Books
A guide to the career of Sir Jacob Fletcher (1775-1875) the only hero of Nelson’s navy who never wanted to go to sea, but only to go ashore and prosper in trade.
The ships, the lovers, the outlandish characters, the battles, storms and adventures from Canada to Africa, and from the Baltic to Japan, served up with as much hilarious humour as furious action.
A guide to eight books and more coming, each verbatim from Fletcher’s memoirs, transcribed by an unfortunate clergyman whom Fletcher threatened to ‘gut and fillet’ if he did not take down every lurid word. The result is a vision of Georgian life on land and sea, plus the high tech of its day: steam, submarines and flying machines.
Read the books to see if he survives.
- Title: The Fletcher Companion
- Series: Jacob Fletcher
- First Published by: Lume Books
- First Published Format: Kindle
- First Published Date: 10 August 2022
Patrick O'Brian Codebook
- Details
- By: Brian Fowler
- HNF Companion Books
| Literati accolades aside, Patrick O'Brian is no easy read. The 21 Aubrey-Maturin books are packed with words and minutia that are historically accurate but mostly lost on a 21st-century readership. Naval jargon and period vernacular can stymie the seasoned fan and discourage the uninitiated: cross-trees, trestle-trees, drowned baby, and treacle-dowdy. The "Patrick O'Brian Codebook" illuminates O'Brian's writings in 350 pages with 700 images and 100 custom illustrations, a lexicon with 12,000 entries, and supporting information to clarify the political and cultural landscape during the Napoleonic Wars |  |
Patrick O'Brian: A Life Revealed
- Details
- By: Dean King
- HNF Companion Books
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Dean King unveils the story of Richard Patrick Russ, a writer and intellectual who emerged from the Second World War as Patrick O'Brian, a persona created in his own imagination and later refined by decades of rumour and speculation. |
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Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World
- Details
- By: Richard O'Neill
- HNF Companion Books
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From the moment that Master and Commander, the first of Patrick O'Brian's sequence of 20 novels about the 19th century British Royal Navy officer Jack Aubrey and his surgeon colleague Stephen Maturin, was published in 1970, critics hailed his work as a masterpiece of historical recreation. Called "the best historical novels ever written" by the New York Times, the books have sold millions of copies. This first full-color illustrated companion to the Aubrey-Maturin series, timed to coincide with the release of the blockbuster Twentieth-Century Fox film adaptation starring Russell Crowe, explains the fascinating physical details of Jack Aubrey's fictional world. An in-depth historical reference, it brings to life the political, cultural, and physical setting of O'Brian's novels. Annotated drawings, paintings, and diagrams reveal the complex parts of a ship and its rigging, weaponry, crew quarters and duties, below-deck conditions, and fighting tactics, while maps illustrate the location featured in each novel. |
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A Sea of Words: Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brian's Seafaring Tales
- Details
- By: Dean King
- HNF Companion Books
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A new edition of the classic companion to Patrick O'Brian's sea loving novels, updated to include the final novel in the series. This comprehensive lexicon provides definitions of nautical terms, historical entries describing the people and political events that shaped the period, and detailed explanations of the scientific, medical, and biblical references that appear in the novels. |
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Harbors and High Seas: An Atlas and Geographical Guide to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian
- Details
- By: Dean King
- HNF Companion Books
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Third Edition: - A new edition of the classic companion to Patrick O'Brian's seafaring novels, updated to include the final novel in the series. This indispensable guide to navigating the well-loved Aubrey-Maturin novels has been updated, with new chapters devoted to the final books in the series. Harbors and High Seas includes maps created exclusively for each of the novels in this world-renowned series. |
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Novelist & Storyteller: The Life of C. S. Forester
- Details
- By: John Forester
- HNF Companion Books
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Containing previously unknown facts, this new two volume biography of C. S. Forester by his son, John Forester offers a fresh look at this prolific writer. Most may expect this telling of a writer's life by that writer's son to be a puff-piece but this unique effort may reflect more an honest evaluation of a parent by a son trying to understand a father in that son's more mature years. The author shares with us his sometimes stormy relationship with his father and this may help us better understand the father. But just as important as the story of two men developing their own characters is the story of a masterful novelist developing his talent over a lifetime and the story of the many unforgettable characters Forester's special mind created for us. Of course, most readers will want to learn about Hornblower (one of the few fictional characters with a biography), where that name came from, and what mechanism the father used to develop the many characters in his novels. Did C. S. Forester use history to assist the accuracy of his scenes and plots? I heard Patrick O'Brian praised the manner in which Forester described his battle scenes and discussed admiringly his sources. The biography provides much information about the development of Forester's characters and plots as only a son could who watched the work develop and who was able to ask questions as the work progressed. And only a son would know the intimate details of, for example, why Forester left Hollywood and why his pre-war work never appeared on film. Many will find interesting yet more information about the early days of Hollywood when many writers, like Faulkner, Nathaniel West, and Hemingway were drawn to the salaries paid by the movies. Others may be startled to learn that Forester played an important role in the propaganda used by the UK to encourage the US’s entrance into WW2 . Several photographs from the family album illustrate the books. |
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