Book Description
Award winning Pirate Queen: The Curse is a truly unique story based on Lai Choi San, an actual Chinese lady pirate who dominated the China Sea throughout the 1920s and 30s until her sudden and mysterious disappearance without a trace in 1939.

When bloodthirsty pirate Lai Choi San inexplicably returns a decade after vanishing in 1939, unspeakable horrors and fears are reborn. Myths abound: Is this pirate lady a ghost, an imposter, or the undead? It isn’t until Lai hijacks a Chinese Nationalist yacht carrying $6,000,000 in gold and a mysteriously encoded microfilm that the truth unfolds. British intelligence learns that the film contains a top-secret Mao file and assigns two top agents to acquire the film—actress Loo Tao-hua and American ex-sailor Rick Reilly, both of whom possess unique paranormal powers. To find the elusive Lai, Loo and Reilly make her come to them by running an elaborate con game and recruit trusted friends including Haitian JD Cartier, with his voodoo gifts, and Branwen Smythe, a Wiccan priestess. Will the team’s combined powers be enough to outwit a vicious pirate and avoid being drawn into a vengeful curse?

Reviews

Reader Views (5 Stars)
Real life female pirate, Lai Choi San was both a feared and respected leader.  She inherited a fleet of twelve junks from her father after he and her brother were murdered.  Lai Choi ruled Macao and the South China Sea from the 1920s until she mysteriously disappeared in 1939.  Keeping in mind this historical information, “Pirate Queen: The Curse” picks up the story after she supposedly reappears over ten years later.  The author R. Allen Downey answers the question about what might have happened to the feared pirate queen.  However, since this book is a fictional account, he also adds touches of magic and the paranormal.  I personally believe that his account is probably much more interesting than the real one.

When a Chinese Nationalist Yacht is hijacked and the diplomats on board suffer horrible deaths, British Intelligence gets involved.  Actually, they aren’t really concerned about the violent murders; they are more interested in a microfilm that was also stolen during the hijacking, along with $6,000,000 worth of gold.  The microfilm is specially encoded so that it cannot be easily read. Many countries are interested in the information that it contains.  Lai Choi San leaves a calling card on the bodies that let everyone know that she is involved. She wants to sell the microfilm to the highest bidder.
          
MI6 sends two of their best agents to find the microfilm.  Former American Rick and Chinese descent Ricki are also engaged and both conveniently have paranormal powers.  Rick and Ricki decide to run a very complex con so that they can get to the microfilm.  They enlist some of their other equally-gifted friends in this game.  Using both their paranormal skills and their sleuthing skills, they discover what is on the film.  Along the way, all of their lives are threatened, some of them are tortured and they have to deal with an ancient curse.
          
I totally enjoyed this novel.  If you enjoy James Bond style tales, you will love this one.  Actually, it made me think that this is what Bond would be like if he had a steady girlfriend, supernatural gifts and had to deal with witches, ghosts and ghouls.  So to me it was even better! Downey did a great job of capturing my interest from the start.  He really knows how to develop some evil, yet entertaining, characters.  I also found myse
lf interested in the real story of Lai Choi San, who is someone that I had never heard of until I read this book. Researching her information gave me a greater appreciation of the amount of work that was put into writing “Pirate Queen: The Curse.”  I highly, highly recommend this novel. -- Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views


Midwest Book Review (5 Stars)
Lai Choi San was an infamous female pirate marauding through the waters of the China Sea in the 1920s and 1930s. Then she suddenly disappeared, with no one knowing what ever happened to her. A decade later someone calling herself Lai captured a Chinese nationalist yacht carrying six million in gold, plus an encoded microfilm that British intelligences believe contains a top-secret Mao file. That's why British agent Loo Tao-hua and American ex-sailor Rick Reilly (both of whom have paranormal powers) are assigned to locate this re-emergent and horrific female pirate who may or may not be something supernatural herself! Imaginative, original, and deftly written by a master storyteller, "Pirate Queen: The Curse" is a riveting read from beginning to end. –Midwest Book Review


Kirkus Discoveries
The cast of Kwatee (2005) reunites to retrieve microfilm stolen by Madame Lai, dreaded pirate queen of the South China Sea.

It’s 1954, and clairvoyant agents and soon-to-be-married couple Rick Reilly and Loo Tao-hua, aka Rick and Ricki, connive to attract the pirate queen’s attention with an elaborate con, putting word out that her film is fake and that they are in possession of the real deal—and offering it to the highest bidder. To this end, Rick and Ricki purchase a club as a front, and with Wiccan priestess Branwen Smythe reassemble a crack team from the Kwatee adventure. JD Chartier and his wife Anna, Homer Tingle and Benny Fink all converge on Macao to play their parts in the con. An ominous storm and forced crash landing, not to mention preternatural inklings on the part of our clairvoyants, suggest there’s more to the case than stolen film. In fact, there is something otherworldly about Madame Lai, whose touch turns brains to soup, and whose cohort, Captain Chen, unleashes centipedes on his victims. Covert operatives visit the back room of Rick’s Cabaré Americano where Ricki, also a part-time actress and singer, performs nightly. The con proceeds swimmingly. It’s spy versus spy in the alleys of old Macao—custom- tailored suits conceal pistols fitted with silencers, Rick and Ricki’s banter resembles The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora, and they run their operation with the cool of a Casino Royale James Bond. There’s even an inept duo of Chinese operatives named Yin and Yang, and a cop, Lt. Carlos Antonio Sebastian, who might have wandered in to investigate the surge of corpses popping up from unnatural causes. Downey’s book is epic pulp, blending fantasy, magical realism, intrigue and mystery, but descriptions and attempts at humor sometimes come off half-baked. The crescent moon, superimposing ominous horns over a mountain, is like “a letter C lying on its ass.” Smoke causes “a three-way cough-fest.” However, such turns of phrase aren’t entirely inappropriate in the off-kilter humor of a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously…there’s much to engage and delight readers as this duo and their band sleuth toward the dark truth behind Madame Lai.

A light-hearted, heroic hash of genres. -- Kirkus Discoveries


Bitten By Books
R. Allen Downey brings us a story of intrigue involving the main characters from Kwatee: Rick, Ricki, JD, Benny, and Homer. Set in the years following the Korean War/Conflict the gang is brought together again to help out MI6. The action is fast paced and full of hazards for the heroes. When you think there is nothing more than can happen, it does.

There is not as much character background in this book as compared to Kwatee, the first book involving these characters, but I don’t feel that took away anything from the story. Though there are sections that are not suitable for eating while reading I very much enjoyed this story and would recommend it. Pirate Queen: The Curse is a draw for paranormal readers as well as drama/suspense readers. Mixing the two is an intoxicating cocktail. – Kersyn, Bitten By Books


Writer's Digest
The writing is sophisticated and sparkles with this author’s passion for telling a thrilling tale. The book is well researched, allowing the reader an informed glimpse into 20th Century piracy set against exotic settings. The author writes an engaging narrative of his protagonist’s quest, and the paranormal elements are well integrated. The cast of characters, both the heroes and the villains, are, individually and collectively, certainly strong enough to carry this narrative, which prompts the reader’s interest in wanting to know what will happen next; a most exciting thriller.


Bruce Haring, DIY Convention
A good, old-fashioned pirate adventure is what’s promised by the title and cover of R. Allen Downey’s “Pirate Queen: The Curse.”  That’s what the novel delivers, except you can exclude the “old-fashioned” part.

Instead of the pre-modern setting of most pirate adventures, “Pirate Queen” takes its adventure into the post World War II era, where a communist threat lurked around every bush and intelligence services were the only thing between civilization and the gulag. Add to that a touch of science fiction/horror drawn with a tip of the lid to George Romero, and you have a pulpsational milieu for a likeable cast of characters that never let anything detract from their sense of duty.

Into this setting comes female pirate Lai Choi San, who actually existed in real life. After vanishing in 1939, she makes a huge impact by hijacking a Chinese Nationalist yacht with six million in gold and a microfilm on Chairman Mao. She brutally slays the crew and leaves a calling card offering the film to the highest bidder.

British intelligence calls on the super powered duo of Loo Tao-hua and Rick Reilly, each drawn out of the pulp novels of Doc Savage and possessing more-than-human powers. Previously introduced in another Downey novel, they shift into full-on Bond and set up an elaborate sting with a band of accomplices in an effort to draw out Lai Choi San and discover what is on the microfilm.

Without spoiling the plot, the discovery of the microfilm’s message could have worldwide implications at a key flashpoint of the Cold War.

The novel is a page-turning, rapid-fire read perfect for the beach or a summer hammock. The continuing adventures of the para-powered duo and friends should develop a ready following among those with a taste for great action-adventure and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see this emerge as a graphic novel, video game or film in the near future. – Bruce Haring, DIY Convention


If you have any questions or wish to pass on comments or feedback, contact the author at skyfyre6@hotmail.com.