Dudley Pope discussion

Found the Ramage novels years ago and enjoyed them, although I found the way he always finds a way round with a few men against overwhelming odds a bit unrealistic at times. No one on his side ever seems to get hurt. When I discovered Buccaneer I was hooked on the Yorke series, I just love the humour in it, particularly when Ned and Whetstone are baiting the governor.

I'm rather surprised that the Ramage books are not more popularly discussed here; rip-roaring, fast-moving stories that they are!

Barry

beejay wrote:I'm rather surprised that the Ramage books are not more popularly discussed here; rip-roaring, fast-moving stories that they are!

They do seem to be mentioned quite a lot in comparison threads but oddly enough not discussed in their own right.

Perhaps it’s because everybody reads Ramage when they’re first attracted to sea adventures, but after they discover the Naval pulp fiction aspect of them they go on to something more refined.

That’s not to say I didn’t like them; they’re fast-moving action packed light entertainment; still good for a great read.

Barry

I read the Ramage series "early on" as my interest turned to HNF and so with "unrefined tastes" I read the complete series, one after the other and throughly enjoyed the non-stop action and maximum "bang for my buck".

Though my tastes became (arguably) just alittle more refined after reading HNF for several years, I picked up Ramage about a year ago and read it again.......for just what it was, "a fast moving swashbuckler". They're in my library in paperback (can't find a reason to buy them in HB).

Incidently, the Ramage series has been translated into more than a dozen languages and sold several million copies........seems Dudley "gave 'em what they wanted."

A good read.. And enabled me to learn about the men, places and times. Not great fiction, but worthy of solid recognition.

As my first reads in this area were Forrester then O'Brian, I guess I was a little more refined to start off with.

But, I do have them on my list to get to.

I thought I would do a little survey of the 18 books in the Ramage series and the 4 Ned Yorke books to find out how many are available in 'Kindle' and 'Audio' formats.

As of June 2012 this is what my survey showed - that all are available in hardback and paperback.

In Kindle format is:
1. Ramage
6. Ramage and the Guillotine
7. Ramage's Diamond
8. Ramage's Mutiny
9. Ramage and the Rebels
11. Ramage's Signal
13. Ramage's Devil
14. Ramage's Trail
15. Ramage's Challenge
16. Ramage at Trafalgar
17. Ramage and the Saracens

3. Ned Yorke's 'Galleon'
4. Ned Yorke's 'Corsair'



In Audio format is:
1. Ramage
3. Ramage and the Freebooters

1. Ned Yorke's 'Buccaneer'

Today is Dudley Pope's birthday (1925-1997). As I said above, I enjoyed his writings as the 'fast moving swashbucklers' that they were' and I was ready to read more of them had he been able to place them before me.

May Dudley and an SV Ramage II sail on out there in 'Fiddler's Green'.

Hi folks -- I've been hoping to find some discussion of the Ramage books and here it is. I've not read a lot of Dudley Pope yet -- Decoy and Convoy, his WWII Yorke-descendent novels, and found them thoroughly engrossing.

A few years ago I encountered the website of a maritime publisher who was in the process of re-releasing the Ramage series in trade size paperback and using the gorgeous covers from about twenty years ago. I subsequently lost track of the company and can no longer remember their name! Does anyone have any idea who they were??? I would love to order up the new edition!

Cheers, FJ

There was a paperback release in 2000/2001 by House of Stratus in the UK, McBooks Press in the US and Redwood in Australia

I have a few of the Australian edition, but they were actually rather hard to find... Hmm, I wish I could remember that publisher, they had a long list of reprints they had picked up, I remember at the time being dismayed that CS Forester was not among them...

The only other paperback editions I know of are:
Fontana Press UK 1979
Pocket USA 1977 US 1971
Quartet Books UK 1975
Ullstein Taschenbuchverlag Germany 1990
Edhasa Spain? 2002
Arrow UK 1987

Thanks for the info! Interesting... I'm wondering if the proposed re-release maybe didn't happen. It was probably not more than five years ago, maybe less, and the first two volumes were in preparation at the time. Hmmm! Confounding...

I would guess you must be thinking of the McBooks Press editions...in trade paperback with (in some cases) the original covers. All 18 titles are now in print, according to their website. As you noted, they have a long list of reprints of AOS authors.

Ah! Thanks! That must be the one -- I'll go have a look!

Cheers, FJ

i wonder if people know that the ramage series where nearly all written aboard his wooden yacht, yes you have guest it named RAMAGE. and most of the novels were based on real events. I have not got round to reading any of his yorke series yet must find time soon. trouble is to many books not enough time.

Been reading the series from 1 to 15 so far and ran into this anomaly. In my 1982 mass market paperback edition of Ramage and the Renegades published by Avon, Ramage rescues "Lady Diana" and other passengers from merchant ships captured by pirates. In the next novel in the series, Ramage's Devil, he is married to the same woman but her name is "Lady Sarah" in a trade paperback edition published by McBooks (2002). At which point in the series publishing history did this change of character name occur and was it related to Lady Di ( Lady Diana Spencer)?

My Collins/Fontana 1982 paperback copy of "Renegades" names her as Lady Sarah. It would seem strange if Pope (or his American editor) forgot the name of his heroine! If you are interested, there is a "Ramage Companion" published by Tom Grundner in 2007, which however focuses more on the historical context than the actual content of the books, and so does not address your question.

Thanks. Diana Spencer became the Princess of Wales in 1982, so I'm guessing that's why the 1981 editions, both US and UK were still having a Lady Diana and subsequent editions beginning in 1982 have her as Sarah.