Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie Series

I have not read this series. The publicity and review text for these novels seems to give nearly equal prominenece to the fact he is a rake so I wonder how many chapters are devoted to that subject as opposed to HNF. I assume they are a popular read as there are 14 books out in the series with another, working title the Baltic Gambit, due out in February next year.

I've read them all (just finished Troubled Waters).
The early ones dwelled on his rakish aspects much more than the later ones (no sex at all in Troubled Waters - frankly I did not miss it), but there was definitely enough nautical activity to hold my interest, as Lewrie makes the climb from unwilling middie to post captain despite his character flaws.

At the beginning I was worried that he would be a completely anoral character like Flashman, but fortunately this turned out not to be the case so i stuck with the series.

I, too, have read the entire series and give it an unreserved thumbs up. I was really OK with the early rakehell persona ("Ramcat Lewrie," indeed). It was a refreshing change from the usual earnest and serious trajectory from midshipman (or pressed sailor in the case of Julian Stockwin) to admiral.

In any case, with command comes responsibility and Lewrie grows convincingly into maturity. In the later books rutting gives way to grand passions (after all, Nelson is his hero) much to the fury of his unforgiving wife. But this "shore business" doesn't take much away from cracking HNF, certainly no more than with, say, Hornblower or Aubry.

BTW, there is a new volume, The Baltic Gambit, due to be released next month (February 17, 2009).

Paul

Looking forward to HMS Cockerell being re-published. Hopefully before I go away on my summer holidays. I havent read the latest one but apart from that it is the only one I have yet to read. I 've really enjoyed them up to now but I think that missing out on HMS Cockerell means that some of the later stories are not holding together so well.

The Baltic Gambit is now available for advanced order at Amazon UK and [url=a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312348061?ie=UTF8&tag=astrodene-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312348061]Amazon US[/url]

I have just finished reading the entire series and thought it throughly entertaining. Lambdin has a fine sense of humor and his characters, at least to me, seem more like real human beings in contrast with the crew of some other writers.

Great series, although a little overdone on poonts, quim, chids and lanthorns. Looking forward to King, Ship and Sword in 2010

King, Ship and Sword expected in February 2010, from what I understand.

I had the opportunity to exchange letters with Mr. Lambdin this past spring. He doesn't do emails or digital things, but I noticed in an interview appearing in a past issue of the Quarterdeck newsletter (McBooks Press), he said he enjoyed hearing from fans. The article listed his home address in Nashville.

So I wrote a "keep up the good work" letter. A week after mailing it, he wrote back. He's hard at work finishing up another Capt. Lewrie adventure, pounding it out on an old IBM selectric.

For those of us who may have dreamed about being an irascible rogue in a previous life, the overdone re the above may, in fact, be part of the attraction of Mr. Lambdin's entertainments.

Cheers.

Just as an aside, I used to dream about owning an IBM selectric...

Ah, yes. In college I had a Corona portable typewriter. When I graduated and entered the workforce, an IBM selectric was cutting-edge technology!

I've just finished listening to the first book in the series "The King's Coat" which was read by John Lee. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be working my way through the series as and when I can source them from the library. I quite liked the reluctant hero type approach and appreciated the action both at sea and on land (not always in bed). I think the pace of the story and character development worked well. Alan Lewrie is still a midshipman at the end of the book and, I understand at the beginning of the next. So, hopefully he won't rise to Post too soon.

I have read and enjoyed the first eleven of the Alan Lewrie series by Dewey Lambdin, and have requested a "hold" on the 12th, The Captain's Vengeance, from the public library. Mr. Lambdin is not only very knowledgeable about the sea and HNF, he is also very prolific, churning out these novels quite frequently, yet still maintaining a high quality. I look forward to reading the rest of the series in the next few months.

I have read the entire series. My observations are based on the fact that I have been a Napoleonic Naval war for many, many years. Starting with Hornblower as a small boy I moved thru Dudley Pope, Alexander Kent, Julian Stockwin, Peter Smalley and of course Patrick O"Brian.
I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh approach made by Dewey Lambdin but after a half dozen installments things went pear shape.
The plots began to run out of steam, the constant use of "americanism" wording like "drapes" and that dreadful word, "gotten" (which is not an english word, and certainly not a 19th century word) suddenly made me question Mr Lambdin's approach to the period.
The stories located on his domestic doorstep are probably historically correct and the geography is possibly sound but the further we go east, so the accuracy slips. I finally vowed to give up on the series after the dreadful King, Ship and Sword.
This book is no more a Naval saga than Winnie the Pooh. I have a feeling that readers were being subjected to a time filler riding on previous successes. A silly story, totally improbable, and a tedious tour of North west France countryside.
I know I will ruffle feathers here, especially those of an American species, but I'm afraid Mr Dewey needs a refresher course on 19th Century English
and credible plot.

Don't forget that Lewrie spent quite a while on our side of the pond, thus allowing some americanisms into his speech.

And I do believe that the replacement of "gotten" with "got" is a modernism: "gotten" would have been quite acceptable in that time*. As an aside: do you say I have forgot the last time I used "forgotten"?

As for tours of NW France, I think you have forgotten certain episodes in the Aubrey and Horlblower canons.

Nonetheless, despite my enjoyment of the series, I do find myself a bit in agreement with you.

* Here is a quote from Shakespeare: "Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge"

I can't comment as I haven't read them, however I got the firdt in the series for xmas so when it reaches the top of that very large 'to read' pile we'll see