Over 700 readers voted on last week's poll, assuring me that many others besides myself read multiple books at once. Below are the exact numbers of votes for each option. Thanks for letting me know that I'm not strange, at least in this respect!
In other news, Vision Forum just launched a fantastic sale on Ballantyne's novels. If you purchase three or more books you'll get them for 50% off, an amazing price for well-bound hardbacks with quality Christian content from my favorite fiction author, R. M. Ballantyne. Click here to take advantage of this sale.
At the present moment I'm at some reading stage in at least six books. That may sound strange, but I like the flexibility of switching between books depending on my mood, which book is nearest my idle hand, or the type of information I want to imbibe. I prefer to balance my literary diet by reading both nonfiction and fiction at the same time, although this doesn't always happen. One note to the wise, do not read multiple novels by the same author at the same time, unless you want to wonder why a British soldier is stalking around ancient Rome, or some such mixup.
My question is this: Am I alone as a multi-simultaneous book reader? I've included the poll below to satisfy myself upon this point. If it is one of my peculiarities, so be it. If not, as I rather expect, I'm interested to see how devoted you are to reading multiple books at a time. Let the voting begin!
The other day I came across a fascinating find online--the results to a survey taken of 790 boys in various English schools in 1880. They were asked their favorite authors, with the following results:
Charles Dickens (228)
W.H.G. Kingston (176)
Walter Scott (128)
Jules Verne (114)
Captain Marryat (102)
R.M. Ballantyne (67)
Harrison Ainsworth (61)
Another survey was taken of the readers of a popular boys' magazine in 1908, asking for the twelve best boys' books ever published. The Coral Island was on the list.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am excited to announce a one-per-week book giveaway between now and the end of December! Each and every Monday between this date and the 27th of December, one of R. M. Ballantyne's novels will be awarded to the author of the most interesting, informative, or thought-provoking comment or question submitted to Ballantyne The Brave during the previous week. That's a total of five novels to be given away free of charge in the coming weeks! Your comments and questions can be submitted through our contact page, or email address, and I look forward to reading them!
The first book to be given away is R. M. Ballantyne's The Young Fur Traders, which was, suitably, his first boys' adventure novel.
5 Interesting facts about The Young Fur Traders:
1. As already mentioned, it was his first boys' adventure novel, and his debut in fictional literature.
2. Ballantyne originally titled the book Snowflakes and Sunbeams, with The Young Fur Traders as a subtitle, but his publisher disagreed with this choice and after three editions the original title was dropped entirely.
3. Many of the fictionalized experiences were drawn from Ballantyne's time in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the book has a "strong autobiographical flavour," as Eric Quayle said in his biography of Ballantyne.
4. All six illustrations in the first edition, plus the frontispiece and pictorial title, were drawn by Ballantyne.
5. As a naive author, Ballantyne sold the copyrights of The Young Fur Traders to his publishers, thus losing royalty rights for the subsequent dozens of editions.
Last Tuesday I asked the readers of this blog which their favorite Ballantyne book was. And you have answered! Our winner has taken a landslide victory, literally blasting away all competition. And, ladies and gentlemen, that book is . . . The Coral Island!
For those who know Ballantyne's books well, this should come as no surprise, because The Coral Island has been the most popularly recognized and regarded of his books for a very long time. It was this book that partially inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's famous Treasure Island, as well as a literary response from William Golding in his Lord of the Flies. This last book, by the way, is from a totally opposite point of view to Ballantyne's masterpiece, and basically proposes that boys, abandoned to themselves, will naturally devolve into pagan activities.
So, why has The Coral Island been such a favorite for so long? Well, the three main reasons are the romantic setting, masterful character development, and adventurous plot.
Setting
When a British merchant ship is wrecked on a deserted South Sea island, only three boys survive. Ralph Rover, the narrator, along with Jack Martin and Peterkin Gay must struggle to survive on the island's beautiful but dangerous landscape. Although the desert-island setting has been used by many famous authors, it still, in my opinion, holds a fascination to most readers. You get to see the characters struggle against the environment, develop together as a team, and use their unique knowledge to take dominion over the earth. These necessary elements are all present in R. M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island.
Characters
The three main characters placed into this story complement and complete the novel. Ralph Rover, the narrator, is a sturdy lad of a philosophical and studious nature. Jack Martin, his senior, is strong, capable, and extremely knowledgeable. The youngest, Peterkin Gay, is a dashing, whimsical fellow who makes up for his almost impudent nature by a generous disposition, and a readiness to do anything to help out his friends.
Plot
Although I don't want to give anything away, in case you haven't read the book, Ballantyne created additional flavor by the inclusion of bloodthirsty pirates, cannibalistic natives, and natural challenges. The adventure is lively, the humor quite hilarious, and the presentation of the gospel entirely earnest, and that, I think, is why The Coral Island has been a universal favorite.
Second place was taken by Hunted and Harried, which is an exciting tale of the Scottish Covenanters during The Killing Time. To see the rest of the results, I have included the finished poll below. Thanks for voting!
Here at Ballantyne the Brave, we love to find out exactly what readers like about R. M. Ballantyne and his books. For this purpose, I have created the below poll which asks the important question: "What is your favorite Ballantyne book?" I have heard many diverse opinions in favor of his different novels, so I'm interested to know which one wins. For sake of space, I have only included ten books out of the twenty produced by Vision Forum, but I believe that it incorporates most of the probable choices. With that said, let us be off to the polls!
After the American War for Independence, the fledgling United States had no navy and little military standing in the eyes of the world. American merchantmen in the Mediterranean became valuable prizes to the corsairs of Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis and Morocco, the four members of the Barbary States.
These Muslim nations were the scourges of the sea, and many countries felt the sting of their depredations. Most of the victimized nations preferred to buy off the pirate states with annual tributes and presents rather than deal with them by force. For years America was forced to take this approach as well, due to our lack of naval power.
After a close-fought presidential race, the newly elected Thomas Jefferson issued commands for increased naval construction, as well as sailing orders to our existing warships, sending them to the sunny Mediterranean in what would become the First Barbary War. For several years they carried on a blockade of Tripoli, which served as a main capitol for piratical crews.
Commodore Edward Preble
The first several years of the conflict were relatively calm, consisting mostly of blockading the coast and giving protection to America's increasing merchant fleet. Neither Admiral Richard Dale, nor his successor, Richard Morris, showed much interest in their duties, preferring the lush ballrooms of surrounding friendly nations. It was not until the fighting Commodore Edward Preble, already recognized as a rising star in naval operations, was appointed Admiral that the war took a more serious turn. Preble captured numerous enemy ships, and bombarded the city of Tripoli itself.
While I do not have space or time to set down the many glorious events of the First Barbary War, it is a fascinating struggle, and one which I recommend for readers to study. Interestingly enough, it was this conflict that trained the sailors who fought in the subsequent War of 1812 against British high-handedness and hostility.
USS Enterprise defeats the pirate ship Tripoli
So, you might ask, how does this tie in with R. M. Ballantye, the Scottish novelist? Well, one of RMB's most famous books, The Pirate City, is based in Algiers and gives a wonderful feeling for the way in which that city commanded tribute of the greatest nations on the earth. After studying the war from a historical view point, it's a lot of fun to dive into the winding streets, meeting famous characters and trudging along in chains with captive Christians, as pictured by the pen of R. M. Ballantyne!
After a hard fought battle, we have the winner to last week's poll. The question was: Who is your favorite fiction author? And the winner is. . .
The great, the only -- G. A. Henty!!!
Second place is taken by the "Other" category, which is not surprising considering the relatively few authors covered in the poll. Third place was an aggressively contested position, mainly between authors R. M. Ballantyne and Douglas Bond. This afternoon, however, in a surprising turn of events, James Fenimore Cooper steamed past both of them to take the bronze!
I want to thank everyone for voting in the poll, the results of which were quite interesting to me as I hope they were to you. Below, I've included the final results as well as the number of votes for each author.
I thought that it might be of interest to you to list my top six favorite fiction authors. While not perfect men, I believe that a great deal can be gained by reading their books. They are, in order of preference from top to bottom, as follows:
R. M. Ballantyne - Suprise! Obviously, you know who he is.
G. A. Henty - You should also know of this man, and if you don't, get his books as quickly as possible!
James Fenimore Cooper - American author, sailor, writer of the famous Leatherstocking Tales which includes the classic Last of the Mohicans.
Jules Verne - Science fiction author, in the true sense of the word, allowing man to show practical technological dominion, not communication with alien worlds.
Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island, Kidnapped, David Balfour, and so many more.
Douglas Bond - Probably an unfamiliar name, Bond writes historical fiction normally involving young men who are placed in difficult situations and must make important life descisions. He has written several books dealing with Scottish history.
All of these men except the last, Douglas Bond, are dead. Most are famous. While I have larger or smaller theological problems with all, excepting perhaps, Ballantyne and Bond, they provide interesting and enlightening stories, full of information, providing a great foundation of study for hopefully budding authors such as myself.
With this said, I'd love to know the name of your favorite author. For this purpose, I've included a poll in this post with a selection of great authors. Granted, there is only space for a small number of names, and your favorite may not be among them. Still, I think there are enough choices. So, without further ado, let the voting begin!
Tutela ex Vulnero,
John
[Note: If you choose the "other" category please take a second to send us an email with the name and time-frame of your preferred author. This will help us for future polls.]
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Commodore Edward Preble
USS Enterprise defeats the pirate ship Tripoli