In Boarding Action by Angela Benedetti, Cam's friend Ted comes up with a plan to scare their mutual friend Marcia. Pirates have been preying on the expensive yachts in the local bay, and Ted thinks they should dress up as pirates and pretend to raid Marcia's family's yacht. The plan goes wrong when Marcia's hot older brother Markus appears with a gun. Cam's friends abandon him, and Cam is forced to face the guy he's been carrying a torch for. Markus thinks of a way to punish Cam, but then they're interrupted by the real pirates. Can the boys turn the tables on their attackers?

P D Singer introduces us to Captain John Bull in Cannons and Honor, an ex-Royal Navy officer turned pirate. When he takes a Dutch ship en route to India, his attention is caught by two passengers, a brother and sister. He summons Jess to his cabin, but her brother Leigh insists on taking her place to spare her honour. Leigh is surprised to discover that Captain Bull is not the vile rogue he pretends to be, and comes to understand why the captain behaves the way he does.

Finally, Life on the Ocean Wave by Mara Ismine is about a sex-crazed gang of ninja pirates led by their shy captain, Lethal-elegance. Floats-like-a-butterfly ponders on the bedroom skills of each of his colleagues before having fun with his lover Hits-like-a-falling-mountain. It seems that everyone, apart from the captain, is involved, but fortunately there's one unattached member of the crew who's happy to help Lethal-elegance in his plight.

Walk the Plank is a fun collection of short stories of mixed quality. Angela Benedetti's story was excellent with the way the plot turned back on itself to make heroes into zeroes and back into heroes. P D Singer's tale is written in the authentic-sounding Age of Sail style that should appeal to many readers of this genre, though I found it a bit too much 'tell' rather than 'show' in places. Mara Ismine's story was a bit odd-I appreciate that the names were meant to be funny translations of Asian names but it started to annoy me after a page and my attention wandered. The first story is by far the best, Age of Sail fans will enjoy the second, and maybe people who like knockabout humour will appreciate the third.

Reviewed by: Maija