Marlin Bree has a new book out and this one is totally different -- 96 pages of nautical humor and cartoons. Where else can you read pithy passages like: I went to the head/ and nearly fell in./ Why wasn't the seat down/ Like it shoulda been? -- Small Craft Advisor magazine
Campy crusing comedy
Those looking for some offbeat reading to bring aboard this summer should look no further than The Dangerous Book for Boaters ($9.95, Marlor Press, 2009), a collection of fortune-cookie sized bits of boating wisdom by award-winning writer Marlin Bree.
Not for the faint of heart, this book explores the rough and seedy side of boating, covering the downwind rail's importance in cases of mal de mer, successful navigation of the head, and one-finger salutes -- among other topics. The majority of the book, however, is dedicated to the humorous treatment of marine relationships -- captain and crew, crew and captain, captain and boat, boater and other boaters, spouse and spouse, etc.
Marlin Bree is the author of Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivor's Tale, and is the recipient of more than 50 writing and editing awards, including the West Marine Writer's Award.
--Esther Pope, Soundings
Bree's Breezy Humor Book
Rated 4 out of 5 Stars
There are all sorts of life-jackets designed to keep the needy sailor alive to sail another day. Now Marlin Bree, author of several serious boating books like Wake of the Green Storm and Broken Seas has published a sort of satirical Mae West, titled, The Dangerous Book for Boaters. It gives skippers, crews and family, as well as dockside idlers, the opportunity to laugh at themselves and each other. The author has compiled and illustrated a duffle bag full of nautical sayings, jokes and doggerel largely designed to take the wind out of any skipper's sails -- and those of his crew and passengers as well. Just as lawyers are the best source for attorney jokes, here's an old salt who knows how to toss a nautical line of humor to those in danger of taking themselves too seriously.
Anonymous
Bree's New Book
The Dangerous book for Boaters: This 96-page pocket-sized hodge podge of nautical comedy includes sage old tropes like: When in danger/ Or in Doubt/ Run around/ Yell and shout and The navigator who says it cannot be done shouldn't interrupt the navigator who is actually doing it. -- Small Craft Advisor
Funny Stuff from a Serious Writer
Rated 4 out of 5 Stars
Never judge a book by its title. For instance, Marlin Bree's latest boating book, The Dangerous Book for Boaters, appears to be a misnomer because it is a collection of funny nautical sayings, poems, jokes, drawings and self-deprecating humor. It's that last catgegory that provides the "danger" to boaters, their crews, families and friends.
Only a few of the witticisms are attributed to the likes of former Mississippi river boat captain Mark Twain, the rest (including the cartoon illustrations) are the work of Bree himself or simply the floatsam and jetsam he has salvaged from being around Great Lakes docks, marinas and bars.
Fifteen table of contents categories run the gamut from "heave ho" (which should be self-explanatory), galley gags and sex etiquette to twisted boating philosphy, such as, "Emulate the admirable duct tape -- stick to it and look shiny." In fact, much of the material applies to most any recreational activity. Anyone who has owned or crewed on a boat, or simply observed the boating frateernity first hand, will find something to laugh at, very likely the reader himself. And therein lies the danger.
By Dennis J. Renault "d.Laurent"
The Dangerous Book for Boaters, published by Marlor Press, Inc., offers humor and insights into boating. It is a 6 x 6-inch square shaped book of 96 pages with 4 color waterproof cover and black and white inside pages with 60 drawings and cartoons. ISBN-13: 9781892147258. Distributed to the book trade by Independent Publishers Group (IPG), Chicago. Only $9.95 US/ $10.95 in Canqada.
