Live the Adventure!

yankee mission

Out Now!
cover for thomas kydd novels
The Thomas Kydd Novels – Click to download a complete listing


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481 Comments on “Live the Adventure!”

  1. I loved the movie MASTER AND COMMANDER and wish there were more tales of the sea of that era. I’m wondering if a series — a mini-series — on TV of Kydd’s adventures would attract a wide enough audience to tempt the TV networks. Or a series of Kydd movies, even better on the big screen, IMAX maybe.

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  2. Youre are wrong in the following: “One could be forgiven for thinking that the inhabitants of this charming city, which endured twice at the hands of the British, might set their face against an Englishman, but my experiences when researching this book and in quite another role as a naval liaison officer during the Cold War have been nothing but warm and friendly”

    Most danes today still hate the english and we all cheared when London got a taste of its own medicine when Adolf Hitler bombed it in 1940 & 41 – Deserved payback for the terror bombing of copenhagen – and afterwards you cowardly britsh again went and terror bombed a new city – Dresden – Its a jolly good thing that you are out of EU … France, Germany and Denmark finally defeated you fish and chip eating loosers.

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    • hmmm war is a horrible thing but to comment like this Gaius show’s me you are a tainted person …… we are here to commend a top rate author NOT your crap

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    • What an asinine and most likely inaccurate comment. One might just as well complain about the Vikings raiding the British Isles. Total loser.

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      • My comments is ourse highly provocative – but then again was so was the sneaky cowardly bombardment of an innocent city and it people – if one wants to write “faction” do it right and descripe correct, dont try to be proud of it.

        (Its hurt when your past is compared to the warcrimes of the nazis – n’est pas?)

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  3. Julian – thank you for this informative site. After reading literally dozens of sea novels regarding the early US Navy, and particularly those of the Napoleonic Wars from approx 1790-1815 I finally found your excellent series on Thomas Paine Kydd. I’ve read Kydd, Artemis, and Seaflower so far but am hopelessly hooked and will begin Mutiny later today. While my home is in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee, my heart has been at sea since I can remember. Your use of period language, phrasing and phonetic spelling is especially appreciated, if tedious to type. Kydd, Renzi, Doud, Stirk and all the other characters believably come alive through your writing. Somehow, though, it is wished good soul Bowyer hadn’t fallen from the yards and died. But he certainly was the early salvation of Tom. Looking forward to Mutiny and all that follow in its wake. Thankee, Mate.

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    • Apologies re this; negotiations are still ongoing with various parties. I regret I have no further news on when Tyger might be available on Audible.

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  5. Hi Julian,

    As I said before I love listening to your books on the way to work. I finished Tyger last trip and am now in limbo awaiting Inferno to be released on audio book!

    I know that it is available through Audible, but I am an old fashioned 36 year old Captain who likes cds! Do you know when audiobooks retailers will have copies in physical cd form? I am going gaga here!

    Again best wishes on all your future works,

    James Kitney

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    • Regret I don’t have a publishing date yet for CD release of INFERNO but will announce it on my website etc. when I do. Apologies for the wait!

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      • Hi Julian,

        I have spoken to the company I buy audio cds from and have been inform that Inferno will be out in September on CD and Persephone will be October…2 good months ahead I feel!

        Regards
        James

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  6. Hi Julian.

    Thanks so much again for your wonderful books about Thomas Kydd. I have really enjoyed the construction of the character himself and the surrounding structure of all the supporting characters in his life – one might say a complex structure of masts, stays and yards all-a-taunto. I particularly like it when you include factual scenarios into your stories, cementing them in their place in history. From your stories I enjoy branching out, via Mr Google, to learn so much more about naval, British and world history and it is my Mum (1923 – 2008) for whom I must thank for my love of history.

    I particularly enjoyed “Tyger” because my Great, Great Grandfather – John Dennison, born in Northumberland in 1801 – was a ship owner living later in Aberdeen. Part of his trade was conducted between Aberdeen and Archangel and his son, my Great Grandfather, – Thomas Leys Hadden Dennison – was born in 1846 at sea between Archangel and Aberdeen.

    Thomas went to sea himself and sailed aboard the tea clipper Teaping when she beat Aeriel to London in 1866 and was later Purser on board the immigrant ship Wild Deer when she arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand in the early 1880’s, one of many trips The Wild Deer made out here. Because of failing eyesight Thomas nominated to remain in Dunedin (the Aberdeen of the south) and of course, as Renzi might say, the rest is history. Thomas was known throughout the rest of his life in New Zealand as “Hadden Dennison”.

    In writing this and getting my facts straight I have just realised that the builder of the clipper Ariel was Robert Steele and that my Great, Great, Great Grandfather (Thomas’ Great Grandfather) was also Robert Steele, ship owner. It has left me something to explore re family history so becomes a worthy by-product of one of your wonderful novels.

    Thank you once again.

    Peter Wells
    Waikanae, Kapiti Coast
    New Zealand

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    • Peter – thank you for your kind words about the Kydd series. You certainly have a fascinating family maritime history – well worth exploring more! All best wishes for the Festive Season.

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  7. Julian – I am retired military officer and absolutely love the Thomas Kydd series. Thank you for many, many hours of solitary enjoyment. I look forward to sharing the books with my two sons! ST

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  8. Dear Julian,

    I am a Merchant Navy Master, and I have been listened to your entire Kydd series on audio books (twice) whilst travelling to work. I have just ordered Tyger and am looking forward to hearing it in due course (probably a month away still).

    I just wanted to say how wonderfully you have brought the world of the sea to life and I hope those who are not seafarers can gleam some of the beauty of the waves from your works.

    Oh and Christian Rodska is a wonderful narrator!

    Best wishes for all your future work.

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    • I hope to see them published in French at some time in the future but at the moment French translation rights for THE SILK TREE and THE POWDER OF DEATH are still open.

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    • Have just learned that there are some rights complications. I regret that at the moment TYGER audiobook is not available in the States. My agent is hoping that this will be resolved in the future, we’ll update when there is news.

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      • Hello Jules,
        Using your link, Tyger did show up. I clicked Add to Cart and it was unable to complete the transaction. I talked to Audible Customer Service and they said Tyger was not geographically available in my area. – Roger

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        • Roger – it seems TYGER audiobook is still not available in the States due to rights complications. My agent is pursuing this and hopefully the matter will be rectified in the future but I regret I do not have a release date yet.

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    • Roger – I have finally been able to clarify that TYGER audiobook is not currently available in the States. My agent is hoping to rectify this in the future but at the moment I don’t have a date for release. Apologies for the disappointment and I hope you won’t have to wait too long…

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  11. Hello Jules
    I would like to purchase a signed copy of The Powder of Death, I hope it is not too late for you to accommodate my wish.
    Warmest regards
    Norman Redmond

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  12. Just finished reading Invasion, It was a really good read and I shall be reading more. I too was put on a boys training ship called Arethusa that was in the River Medway, she is now in Southport Sea Museum in New York under her old original name of Peking. She was a four masted barque and carried nitrates to Europe from South America. I live in Queensland Australia with my wife and am still involved with tall ships. I currently sail on Queensland’s only tall ship called South Passage we take school children to sea for a few days at a time, dragging them away from mobile phones!
    Coincidently my first sea training ship in the RN was HMS Teazer out of Portland learning Torpedo and Anti Submarine training. That shows my age!
    Finally to stop me rambling on I must thank you once again for a really good read and keeping me from chores around the house.
    Martin

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  13. will we get a teaser from your latest book due out this Oct (2016)
    regards mark melb Australia

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    • 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd’s famous sea action aboard Tyger in the Baltic has snatched his reputation from ignominy. He is the hero of the hour. But though Britain’s Navy remains imperious at sea, a succession of battles has seen Napoleon Bonaparte victorious on mainland Europe. His enemies have sued for peace and the Emperor’s Continental System, establishing a European blockade, will mean that Britain will be cut off from her economic lifeblood. But one small link in this ring of steel is still free of French control: the neutral state of Denmark, which controls the straits through which the entire Baltic Trade passes. The French army are already mustering at her borders. If her navy falls into French hands all Europe will have fallen. Thomas Kydd’s great friend, Nicholas Renzi, now the Lord Farndon, is sent on a desperate diplomatic mission to persuade the Danes to give up their fleet to Britain. But the Danes are caught between two implacable forces and will not yield, opting instead for the inferno of battle. Kydd sails with a combined navy and ground force. Soon a bloody and fiery battle for Copenhagen is raging. Mariners, soldiers and civilians are all caught up in a conflict in which the stakes could not be higher.

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      • Can’t wait. Sound’s like it will be a good one (not that I had any doubts it wouldn’t be). It’s also nice to hear we will be hearing more from Renzi too.

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      • Iv just finished tyger and am looking forward with great anticipation to the next installment of the kydd series, and reading this overview makes it seem that it will not disappoint.
        Mr stockwin you are a fine author

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      • I picked up the first novel in the series, Kydd, at a used book sale so long ago. Have followed Kydd’s adventures off and on ever since.

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        • Here’s the publisher’s blurb for PERSEPHONE

          November 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd must sail to Lisbon to aid the Portuguese Royal Family’s evacuation in the face of Napoleon’s ruthless advance through Iberia. In the chaos of the threatened city an old passion is reawakened when he meets Persephone Lockwood, a beautiful and determined admiral’s daughter from his past.

          But the Royal Family’s destination is Brazil, Perspehone’s England, and it seems Kydd’s chance has gone again. Only later he discovers Persephone has another suitor – and that, if he wants to win her hand, he must enter the highest echelons of London society.

          Mixing with aristocracy and royalty brings other responsibilities. The Prince of Wales asks him to take temporary command of the Royal Yacht. Sailing to Yarmouth, Kydd realises they are being stalked by French privateers. The terrible threat of a prince of the blood being captured sees Kydd call on daring seamanship of the highest order.

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      • I too am waiting for Tyger to be recordrd for Audible. Christian Rodska does a FABULOUS job on your books.
        I think audio books are an Internet phenomenon that will continue to grow. I am a busy dentist, grandfather, photographer, road cyclist, Christian apologist,etc. I had averaged maybe 2 to 3 books a year until I discovered Audible. Now I average 2 books a month!
        Thanks for providing such interesting and fun tales that make history come alive.
        Charlie Wilson

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  15. I came across Kydd’s life story by accident via our online County library. I regret that I didn’t realise at first that it was a series of books but that is a shortcoming of the way that books are made available online. If only I had known from the outset, I wouldn’t have been hopping backwards and forwards in time through Kydd’s life. Every book has had me enthralled and I’ve always been unableto stop listening. You and Mr Rodska have taken over my life at times when I should have been otherwise engaged! Thank you.

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  16. I’ve just finished Tyger and I’m left with mixed emotions. I found this novel to be absolutely satisfying, yet way too brief. I wanted it to last at least another 300 pages so I could savour it for a few more days.

    Tyger is the best Kydd book in an age. Julian Stockwin’s skill has reached a level of virtual perfection that transcends the Ramage, Bolitho, and Hornblower novels and at least equals those of Jack Aubrey.

    Julian Stockwin’s plot invention, coupled with the historical and technical accuracy that interlaces the Kydd yarns, makes the read even more enjoyable.

    The thought that I have to wait almost a year before reading the next Kydd book is daunting.

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  17. Hi, I’m just writing to say how much I enjoy your books. I’m blind and so read using the audio-books. You have a fine narrator and the fact the book and audiobook come out on the same day is something of a rarity. I’m already looking forward to Kydd’s next adventure, whatever it happens to be.

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    • Hi, delighted you’re enjoying the Kydd audiobooks. You are right about the narrator, to my mind Rodska is one of the best! The next book is INFERNO, out in October.

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  18. Rattling good reads Old Trout!!! I’m a truck driver and listen to audio books when I’m driving. I’ve just finished listening to the whole of the Kydd series for the second time. I’m certainly looking forward to whatever comes next.

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  19. Amazon keeps sending details of the electronic version of ‘Kydd collection 4’ ,but as someone who detests kindles, I don’t seem to be able to buy a softback or hardback version. Do you know where I can obtain one – otherwise I’ll buy the books separately

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    • The Kydd Collection is bundles of ebooks but at the moment the physical copies are only sold separately, hardback or paperback.

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  20. Sir,

    Have just finished Kydd, Artemis,Quarterdeck and Seaflower and half way into Chapter 1 of Mutiny. Have a question: Seems names can make or break a story. With so many stories in the series, how do you come up with believeable names? As I read a book, any book, I make notes as to the quality of the writing and I rate the overall book with a number from 1 to 10, 10 being near perfection in my way of seeing it. I have read a goodly quantity of 4 ratings, even though the authors are famous. Each of your books to date have, in my humble opinion, rated a 10. I can’t wait to get to the next story except I am afraid I will get to the end of the string, and then what shall I do? Thank you for your good work. I am 88 years old and you have and are providing me with hours and hours of great fun.

    Bernard Killinger bkdata@sbcglobal.net

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    • Bernard – appreciate your kind words, especially your ratings of 10 for each of my books! On the question of the name of a book – I do give this a great deal of thought. Ideally, it should reflect the book’s main theme in some way and be a strong one-word title that will grab readers’ attention. (THE ADMIRAL’S DAUGHTER was the exception to this one-word format.) As you have just started MUTINY you still have a few titles to go and I am certainly not at the end of the series yet…

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  21. Kydd Series:-

    Fantastic series, very accurate detail.
    I know the trials & tribulations that Tom Kydd goes through to be in command.
    I feel like I’m there!
    Excellent.

    Regards,

    Capt.Tim Schofield

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  23. Dear Mr Stockwin

    I wandered into Waterstones before Christmas looking for inspiration and saw a copy of Tyger on display. The cover immediately caught my interest and I am afraid that I memorised the title and author to investigate when I returned home. I could not believe that Tyger was number 16 in your series – why had I not come across the eponymous Mr Tom Kydd before?
    Needless to say I am hooked and am about to begin Victory on my kindle! My husband is now an ardent follower – and my eldest son – an ex-RN Lieutenant has succumbed to my enthusiasm too.
    Thank you so much for giving us your wonderfully exciting and fact filled stories that are filled with such amazing characters and that are so readable. I am particularly fond of Renzi who is surely Tom’s conscience and, of course, Toby Stirk. I do hope he survives!
    Marvellous stuff and the first seafaring yarns that I have read since CS Forester’s Hornblower series when I was much, much younger.
    I am only sorry that at the rate I read I will have finished Tyger before your next instalment appears and then I will have to wait for a whole year. Whatever will i do!
    Kind regards
    Elizabeth Goodrich

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    • Elizabeth I too felt such sadness when I read of Toby Stirk’s injury in Tyger. It would not be the same without him! Was pleased to hear the old reprobate survived to fight another day.

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  24. I am just finishing up Seaflower. I was drawn to your writing because of my own seafaring experiences, and seeking seaworthy novels came upon your Thomas Kydd series. I sailed across the Atlantic in a 1922 gaff-rigged Baltic Trader schooner. We nearly sank in a vicious storm off the coast of Spain, and barely made it in to a Cadiz boatyard for repairs to make us seaworthy again. I signed on to crew as far as English Harbour, Antigua, so its fun to be in the later chapters of Seaflower and her West Indies visits. From English Harbour I crewed for a contemporary sailboat cruise to New Zealand. Quite an experience for a Montana “cowboy at sea.”

    I would be honoured to join your Shipmates Network.

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  25. In the past two weeks read both Tyger and Silk Tree with great interest. On Tyger, I was delighted to see you follow through with Popham. As you well know, he was later to prove invaluable in controlling the Basque coast of Spain and resupplying the British Army once Wellington broke out of Portugal in 1813. As to the northern operations, you may have missed one important point in Baltic operations. In any of the warmer months the winds more often than not proved light and unsettled. The Danish frigates were built with strange looking stern-cabins that allowed cannons to shoot out over the stern corners, to combat rowed boats with single cannons attacking at the stern quarters.
    That aside, I was impressed with your development of the battle scenes, and the general structure of the novel.
    I look forward to further developments in the career of Thomas Kydd.

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    • Yes, was aware of these things but have reserved some of these for future stories where they may well prove battle winning/losing… Delighted you’re enjoying my books!

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