A rollicking debut novel from award-winning playwright and screenwriter John Pielmeier reimagines the childhood of the much-maligned Captain Hook: his quest for buried treasure, his friendship with Peter Pan, and the story behind the swashbuckling world of Neverland. Long defamed as a vicious pirate, Captain James Cook (a.k.a. Hook) was in fact a dazzling wordsmith who left behind a vibrant, wildly entertaining, and entirely truthful memoir. His chronicle offers a counter narrative to the works of J.M. Barrie, a “dour Scotsman” whose spurious accounts got it all wrong. Now, award-winning playwright John Pielmeier is proud to present this crucial historic artifact in its entirety for the first time. Cook’s story begins in London, where he lives with his widowed mother. At thirteen, he runs away from home, but is kidnapped and pressed into naval service as an unlikely cabin boy. Soon he discovers a treasure map that leads to a mysterious archipelago called the “Never-Isles” from which there appears to be no escape. In the course of his adventures he meets the pirates Smee and Starkey, falls in love with the enchanting Tiger Lily, adopts an oddly affectionate crocodile, and befriends a charming boy named Peter—who teaches him to fly. He battles monsters, fights in mutinies, swims with mermaids, and eventually learns both the sad and terrible tale of his mother’s life and the true story of his father’s disappearance. Like Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, Hook’s Tale offers a radical new version of a classic story, bringing readers into a much richer, darker, and enchanting version of Neverland than ever before. The characters that our hero meets—including the terrible Doctor Uriah Slinque and a little girl named Wendy—lead him to the most difficult decision of his life: whether to submit to the temptation of eternal youth, or to embrace the responsibilities of maturity and the inevitability of his own mortality. His choice, like his story, is not what you might expect.

From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a familiar story with a dark hook—a tale about Peter Pan and the friend who became his nemesis, a nemesis who may not be the blackhearted villain Peter says he is… There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. This is how it happened. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and favorite—lost boy to his greatest enemy. Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter's idea of fun is sharper than a pirate’s sword. Because it’s never been all fun and games on the island. Our neighbors are pirates and monsters. Our toys are knife and stick and rock—the kinds of playthings that bite. Peter promised we would all be young and happy forever. Peter lies.

There was once a boy who wouldn't grow old. A boy who came to the windows of children yearning for adventure, all too eager to grant it to them. A boy who could breathe magic into a mind otherwise doomed for stodgy, grownup responsibilities and boredom.Or that's how the story goes. Reality often bears a darker shade of truth. One thing is for sure; the book she grew up reading got it all wrong. Neverland isn't all it was written to be.A warning would have been nice. . .* Contains adult situations, this book intended for 18+

The Mother of All Hooks is a richly detailed description of the United States government's attempts to punish naval officers for sexual misconduct committed at the 1991 Tailhook Association convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Journalist William H. McMichael describes the institutionalized mind-set that led to that misconduct and, in the face of an oppressive, politically charged investigation, to a large-scale failure to cooperate with government agents. This failure led to further investigative and prosecutorial excesses that ultimately doomed the effort to bring the guilty to justice; many of the guiltiest, hi fact, were given immunity to testify, and escaped severe punishment. At the same time, McMichael makes clear that Tailhook misconduct had been largely condoned for decades, but that senior officials failed to take responsibility for allowing such an atmosphere to flourish. This powerful expose is a shocking, eye-opening read for psychologists, criminologists, criminal justice professionals, and members of the U.S. military. The Tailhook Association convention had become infamous in naval circles for heavy drinking, hard partying, and sexual promiscuity. The most notable such ac-tivity was the "gauntlet"—a hallway lined by men through which selected women were forced to pass, only to be fondled. McMichael provides a rich narrative ac-count of how the United States Navy and the Pentagon mishandled investigation of events at the 1991 convention and subsequent hearings. In addition to exposing that approach's dramatic shortcomings, McMichael also provides insight into the Navy's history of open sexuality by its members while overseas, the fighter pilot psyche, and the larger issue of whether the Navy should be permitted to investigate its own transgressions. While more than thirty admirals eventually received what amounted to a hand slap, more than twenty junior officers received career-killing punitive letters of reprimand in closed-door administrative hearings. The Mother of All Hooks provides absorbing new details for all who think they "know" what hap-pened because of Tailhook—and why.

After failing to flatter her father as much as her two evil sisters, Candace is banished from his plantation; and only after much time and meeting her Prince Charming is her father able to appreciate her love.

"Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It's my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy." Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan's rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain. With Stella's knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook's last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.

Fresh off a fearsome encounter with the Neverland crocodile, Jocelyn Hook decides the most practical plan is to hunt down her father's famous fortune. After all, she'll need the gold to fund her adventuring in the future. (And luckily, Hook left her the map.) But the map proves to be a bit harder to crack than Jocelyn had hoped, and she's convinced that the horrible Peter Pan might be the only one with the answers. Of course, he doesn't really feel like helping her, so Jocelyn takes the only reasonable course of action left to her: she kidnaps his mother. Evie, though, is absolutely thrilled to be taken prisoner, so Jocelyn's daring ploy doesn't have quite the effect she'd planned for. Along with the problem of her all-too-willing captive, Jocelyn must also contend with Captain Krueger, whose general policy is that no deed is too dastardly when it comes to stealing Hook's treasure. And with the ever-shifting Whens of the Neverland working against her as well, Jocelyn, Evie, Roger, and the rest of the Hook's Revenge crew have their work cut out for them. In this rambunctious showdown between characters new and old, Jocelyn puts her own brand of pirating to the test in a quest to save her future and those she loves. Praise for Hook's Revenge "Whether a fan of J.M. Barrie's classic tale or new to Neverland, readers will be clamoring for more from this enchanting world." -- School Library Journal, starred review "Readers will delight both the story and the storytelling." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review "Featuring a lively, colorful cast, and a droll narration with snarky asides by an anonymous, self-proclaimed pirate authority, this entertaining take on the Peter Pan story neatly blends action-adventure and comical and heartfelt moments." -- Booklist