Here is a list of the best Swashbuckling books, some I have read myself, some that I did research on, and all have great reviews!
1. Swashbuckling: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Art of Stage Combat & Theatrical Swordplay (Limelight) (2004)
The ultimate guide to stage fighting technique and basic swordplay, this book covers everything an actor must do to give a dynamic and convincing performance as a stage combatant. “âThis bookã is more than a manual… A necessity! Richard Lane’s concepts are vital…’Why’ and ‘When’ are explained and make ‘How’ easier to understand and execute…Read this, pay heed and you will avoid sin and suffering…I raise my sword on high and salute you, Richard. Well done!” –Oscar F. Kolombatovich, former Fencing Master, Metropolitan Opera, New York, and Executive Secretary, Historical…
2. The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure: Classic Tales of Dashing Heroes, Dastardly Villains, and Daring Escapes (2014)
“A delicious, pulse-quickening compendium of thrilling rescues, daring escapes, dreadful peril, and glorious adventure, masterfully curated by an editor who wields his pen as skillfully as any swashbuckler ever swung a sword.”―Charles Ardai, Edgar Award-winning author and publisher of Hard Case Crime The word “swashbuckler” conjures up an indelible image: a hero who’s a bit of a rogue but has his own code of honor, an adventurer with laughter on his lips and a flashing sword in his hand. This larger-than-life figure is regularly declared passé, but the swashbuckler is too…
3. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom–and Revenge (2009)
In this lively debut work of history, Edward Kritzler tells the tale of an unlikely group of swashbuckling Jews who ransacked the high seas in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition. At the end of the fifteenth century, many Jews had to flee Spain and Portugal. The most adventurous among them took to the seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding. Filled with…
4. Pyrates: A Swashbuckling Comic Novel By The Creator Of Flashman (2011)
In THE PYRATES, the author of the celebrated Flashman novels pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the swashbuckling books and movies that have always stirred his imagination. In these rollicking pages you’ll find tall ships and desert islands; impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines; devilishly sinister cads and ghastly dungeons; improbably acrobatic duels and hair’s-breadth escapes; and more plot twists than you can shake a rapier at. A deliriously entertaining combination of Errol Flynn action-adventure and Naked Gun pastiche, in a new package…
5. En Garde!: Swashbuckling Skirmish Wargames Rules (Osprey Wargames) (2016)
En Garde! is a small-scale skirmish game based on the successful Ronin rules, in which small groups of warriors fight each other for honour or riches. Rather than just rolling a few dice, the rules allow players to make tactical decisions about how the models that they control will fight – offensively, defensively, or by applying special skills and abilities. En Garde! covers the conflicts of the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, when black-powder weapons started to become common in battle but martial prowess still determined the outcome.Play as Border Reivers, Conquistadors, Landsknechts, Aztecs, French Musketeers, Caribbean Pirates…
6. Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism (2008)
For those who think that travel guidebooks are the gospel truth. Travel Writer for Brazil the ability to desert your entire previous life–including well-salaried office job, attractive girlfriend, and basic sanity for less than minimum wage the skill to research northeastern Brazil, including transportation, restaurants, hotels, culture, customs, and language, while juggling sleep deprivation, nonstop nightlife, and excessive alcohol consumption the imagination to write about places you never actually visit utilizing persuasion, seduction, and threats, when necessary, to secure a place to…
7. Peter Powers and the Swashbuckling Sky Pirates! (2017)
Everyone in Peter Powers’s family has super awesome superpowers. His dad controls fire with his mind, and his mom can fly. His big brother makes copies of himself, and his little sister is super-strong. And his baby brother even turns invisible! But all Peter can do is–this is really embarrassing–make ice cubes with his fingertips. That’s why Peter’s been working hard to improve his ice talents and is more powerful than ever. But when a group of sky pirates come to town, they steal everyone’s abilities-including Peter’s. Without superpowers, Peter is about…
8. Crossbones & Crosses: An Anthology of Heroic Swashbuckling Adventure (2019)
Pirates & Crusaders, ahoy! Hoist your banners, unsheathe your blades, kiss your crosses, and search for booty across the seas and the sands! More of the age of steel than shot and no fantastical elements, this is a lineup of the strongest of swashbuckling historical adventures. Gritty, dangerous, and bloody tales of the past, realistic without being nihilistic. The anthology kicks off with a rousing foreword by swashbuckling and sword-and-sorcery guru Howard Andrew Jones. This is followed by 3 sections of adventure: 7 tales each of pirates and crusaders, and 3 tales combining the two. Sections contain stories by current…
9. On the Account (The Sea Witch Voyages) (Volume 5) (2016)
Captain Jesamiah Acorne is in trouble. Again. Arrested for treason and smuggling, believing his beloved ship, Sea Witch, lies wrecked on England’s North Devon coast, his only hope of escaping the noose is for someone to quash the charges. That someone turns out to be his ex-lover – but there’s a price to pay. He needs to find a boy who has disappeared, and a valuable casket that more than one person wants to get their hands on. When people start getting murdered and Barbary pirates kidnap his wife, Tiola, his priorities rapidly change – but who is lying about what? Is returning to piracy a wise idea?…
10. The Sun God’s Heir: Return Book One (2017)
For three thousand years a hatred burns. Two ancient brothers reincarnate in 17th century Bordeaux. One is born the child of a prosperous merchant, the other, determined to continue a brutal lifetime begun long ago barters his way into incarnation. One remembers, one does not.The year is 1671. René Gilbert's destiny balances on the blade of a slashing rapier. The only way he can protect those he loves is to regain the power and knowledge of a life long buried beneath the sands of time. From Bordeaux to Spain to Morocco, René is tested. At each turn of fate he gathers enemies and allies, slowly reclaiming the knowledge and power…
11. Jack Absolute: A Novel (2013)
“An absolute delight! …one of the most appealing military gentlemen ever to wear a sword.” ― Diana Gabaldon, Author of OutlanderThe year is 1777. As the American Revolutionary War rages across the sea, London is swept off its feet by Jack Absolute, the dashing rogue in Richard Sheridan’s comedy The Rivals. When the real Jack Absolute, former captain of the 16th Light Dragoons, returns after years abroad he is immediately embroiled in an illegal duel over a backstage tryst at the Drury Lane theatre. Jack escapes with his life, only to find himself pressed again into the King’s service as a spy for the British in the…
12. The Drowned Kingdom: The Dire Wars Volume 2 (2019)
This is the story of Iliea, the Queen of Thieves, and Seeker, the warrior-monk, immediately following their exploits in “The Darkcaster, The Dire Wars. Volume One.” A lengthy journey across a vast grassland full of strange and dangerous wildlife, an encounter with a race of even more dangerous nomads, and an eventful sea voyage are only preface to the danger that awaits their homecoming in Mohlkar. An enormous army lays siege to the city’s mighty walls while a catastrophic flood within is avenue to invasion by bizarre and savage aquatic humanoids. The emperor and his…
While man-at-arms and sellswords of the era usually wore armor of necessity, their counterparts in later romantic literature and film (see below) often did not, and the term evolved to denote a daring, devil-may-care demeanor rather than brandishment of accoutrements of war, and modern “swashbuckling” heroes might not carry swords at all. He began his career as a writer at TSR Hobbies, where he was instrumental in the early popularity of the role-playing game “Dungeons & Dragons.” An authority on historical adventure fiction, Ellsworth is the editor of The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure as well as the translator of Alexandre Dumas’s The Red Sphinx and The Three Musketeers Swashbuckling genre: new releases and popular books, including Tremontaine: The Complete Season One by Ellen Kushner, Doré’s Illustrations for Don Quixot Books shelved as swashbuckling: The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas,
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some swashbuckling books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Pirates and Privateers: Swashbuckling Stories from the East Coast
Author(s): Joyce Glasner
Publisher: Amazing Stories, Year: 2013, Size: 2 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2335100
Furry Pirates Swashbuckling Adventure in the Furry Age of Piracy
Author(s): Lise Breakey and Bruce Thomas
Publisher: , Year: 1999, Size: 5 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 542121
The King's Gambit: A Modern View of a Swashbuckling Opening
Author(s): Neil McDonald
Publisher: Batsford, Year: 1998, Size: 11 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 893377
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are absolutely best-sellers according to The Wall Street Journal, others are drafted by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant resources you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.