Before turning his attentions to writing, Dennis M. Powers was a full-time attorney specializing in business law. He is the author of ten books, including his most recent on a maritime disaster: The Raging Sea, Treasure Ship, Sentinel of the Seas, and Taking the Sea. Dennis Powers has been featured on Hard Copy, Extra!, CNN, NPR, USA Today, The O'Reilly Factor, and other shows. He lives in Ashland, Oregon; more information about the author is available at his website: dennispowersbooks.com.
Tales of the Seven Seas is a fascinating read about an incredibly
colorful Captain, Johnny O'Brien, who seemed to have nine lives,
each filled with fun, danger, and excitement. Author Dennis M.
Power's meticulous research and fine writing brings to life a
seafaring era from clipper ships to ocean liners, with Captain
O'Brien at the helm guiding us on a voyage of adventure.
*Michael J. Tougias, author of Overboard!, Fatal
Forecast, and Ten Hours Until Dawn*
In Tales of the Seven Seas, Dennis Powers adds to his reputation as
a raconteur of high-seas stories with this portrait of “Dynamite
Johnny” O’Brien, a five-foot, five-inch seadog who was larger than
life despite his diminutive size. Powers chronicles O’Brien’s
adventures from the tropics to the rowdy gold fields of Alaska and
California, with a brief side trip to the Wild West saloons of Fort
Laramie. Along the way, O’Brien dispenses two-fisted justice to
surly seamen, pilots his ships through deadly perils, and crosses
paths with the likes of Jack London and Buster Keaton. Powers’
latest is a welcome find for anyone seeking a rollicking tale of
maritime adventure.
*Willie Drye*
This is a rare treasure indeed from Davy Jones' mythical locker: an
authentic maritime narrative that reads like fiction but is fact.
With clear, strong and highly descriptive writing, Powers has
painstakingly recreated the exciting life and adventures of a great
mariner and master, and the gritty, dangerous, and exciting times
he lived in. Old salts and lubbers alike can take pleasure in the
vivid descriptions, crisp dialogue, and frightening—and sometimes
comical—adventures of his hero, O'Brien. Here is a portrait of a
man and his age, for all their flaws and shortcomings. If modern
communications, transportation, and maritime technology mean we can
no longer recreate in life such iron men in their wooden ships, at
least we can enjoy their brief literary resurrection in the pages
of books by authors such as Powers.
*Marc Songini, author of The Lost Fleet*
...[a] fascinating portrait of a colorful captain in a last days of
sail and the early days of steam. Very entertaining.
*OldSaltBlog.com*
...[N]o author is more qualified or more skilled at telling a good
seafaring tale. Once they set sail, readers will never forget
crossing the seven seas with Captain Dynamite Johnny O’Brien.
*BloggingAuthors.com*
Incredibly detailed and well researched....
*The Internet Review Of Books*
This book is a true treasure that gives those who dare to navigate
its perilous waters a satisfying, but secure, peek into the
enthralling world of the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth-century
mariner.
*Pirates and Privateers*
Tales of the Seven Seas features a larger-than-life hero. Although
Capt. O'Brien's exploits sound like fiction, maritime writer Dennis
M. Powers has grounded the biography firmly in fact. Dennis
Powers...writes with considerable skill.
*Oregonian*
History can be a difficult subject for writers to make interesting,
but there is nothing dry about this thrilling tale of seafaring
life. It’s true that the story of Johnny O’Brien is naturally
interesting on its own, but Powers shows how, with skilled writing,
historical research can be woven into a fascinating narrative.
Stories like this are what turn people into legends, and Powers
does so here, escalating the life of Captain Dynamite Johnny
O’Brien to that status.
*Curled Up With A Good Book*
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