I've just finished Gideon Defoe's book "The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists," which is billed as "a Blackadder for the high seas." It's a very funny little hardcover — about an hour's read, that tells a pirate adventure story in mock-kid's-book style that reads like a cross between Monty Python and the Hardy Boys. Great stocking stuffer!
'Listen, why don't I sing you a song?' said the Elephant Man, obviously desperate to try to change the subject. He even got up and did an ungainly jig as he sang,
I look like some ex-pe-ri-ment!
But please believe me I'm a proper gent!
I seem like a monster, but whatcha don't know is,
I got a scorching case of neurofibromatosis19Jennifer and the pirate with a scarf gave up on getting a straight answer, and went off to search for any clues that might be evident at the other exhibits. But they had no more luck with the Man Who Could Eat A Bicycle, or the Lady Who Had Had Hiccups For Forty Years, or even with the Girl From Chesterfield Who Would Repeatedly Go Out With Idiots When She Could DO A Great Deal Better For Herself. The pea-soup fog was starting to make their eyes sting, so Jennifer and the pirate ducked inside a tent that was simply marked 'A Special Exhibit For The Ladies'. It didn't seem very special, it was just an empty and badly lit tent as far as the pirate with a scarf could make out.
19 Or possibly Proteus Syndrome. There is still some debate in medical circles. Contrary to popular belief, Michael Jackson never did purchase the Elephant Man's skeleton from the Royal Hospital. This is a good example of how you shouldn't believe everything that people tell you.
Update: Ben sez, "The book's Pirate Captain hero has his own blog on Livejournal. According to the user info, the blog is 'a presentation of a ship's log discovered at a car boot sale in Botley, Oxfordshire in 1997' and is 'intended primarily for maritime historians and business leaders with an interest in inspirational management techniques'".
