O Brian

"Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy," by Patrick O'Brian. W. W. Norton. Illustrated. 96 pages. $23 Patrick O'Brian is a first-rate literary phenom. His racket? Highly acclaimed historical novels that are also terrific page-turners. O'Brian spins a cracking good yarn, and he's a superb action writer. Best of all, the critics have proclaimed his work to be Literature. So you can feel virtuous while you mainline this stuff.Those not yet addicted shouldn't be put off by the subject matter: life in Britain's Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

Jessica Cooper , of Woodbine, is the recipient of the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Ambassador award, given by the Student Services Department at Glenelg High School. She is being recognized for her leadership skills. Cooper will attend a three-day leadership conference in the spring with other Ambassadors from the state.

"The Commodore," by Patrick O'Brian. 282 pages. New York: W. W. Norton. $22.50For fans of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin sea stories, the business end of this review comes up front: "The Commodore," published last year in England, is now out in the United States. Two or three nagging questions are finally answered in "The Commodore" (including the identity of the limping traitor), and a brand-new loose end is left dangling, "Perils of Pauline"-style, in the very last line. Buy it at once.

Growing up in Catonsville's Paradise neighborhood, Brian O'Doherty dreamed about becoming a musician and moving to California. Now that he's a successful songwriter based in Los Angeles, O'Doherty, known in the music world as Dillon O'Brian, says, "I've been dreaming about being back home." Yesterday, O'Brian came home for a brief concert in a shopping center parking lot - and for a snowball. With Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. proclaiming it "Dillon O'Brian Day," and with the musician's former piano teacher in attendance, O'Brian played "Fearless Love," a song he wrote that is featured in the film Sideways.

ABOARD THE HMS SURPRISE -- Which is where hundreds of thousands of contented readers are once again. A freshening Atlantic breeze has the ship's sails billowing. The deck is pitching, but agreeably. Stephen Maturin is anticipating a naturalist's delights at the next landfall. And Jack Aubrey, in command, is looking for excitement and advancement in the Royal Navy in the doldrums after the Napoleonic wars. It is difficult to describe to the uninitiated the frisson that Patrick O'Brian's readers feel when another installment in his Aubrey-Maturin novels appears.

Perhaps it's the way Patrick O'Brian defines his novels about ships and the men who sailed them during the age of Napoleon that explains the almost religious devotion of his fans."

Growing up in Catonsville's Paradise neighborhood, Brian O'Doherty dreamed about becoming a musician and moving to California. Now that he's a successful songwriter based in Los Angeles, O'Doherty, known in the music world as Dillon O'Brian, says, "I've been dreaming about being back home." Yesterday, O'Brian came home for a brief concert in a shopping center parking lot - and for a snowball. With Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. proclaiming it "Dillon O'Brian Day," and with the musician's former piano teacher in attendance, O'Brian played "Fearless Love," a song he wrote that is featured in the film Sideways.

On February 6, 2004 J. LINDSEY BURCH, beloved husband of the late Dorothy G. (nee Gerkens) devoted father of Martin Burch and his wife Patricia, Lois O'Brian and her husband Mark, loving grandfather of Graham Burch, Jeannine O'Brian, Neil O'Brian and Audrey O'Brian, dear brother of Russell Burch and Grace Woomer, dear friend of Peg Spalding. Friends may call at the family owned Leonard J. Ruck Inc. Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Rd. (at Echodale) on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. and at the Oak Crest Chapel, on Wednesday from 9 A.M. to 10 A.M., when the memorial service will be held.

This summer I'm writing instead of reading - about me. The book's for Random House's Knopf.But, just before bed, I'm reading Patrick O'Brian again. I'm down to "Thirteen Gun Salute" now. I read them before they were published in this country, but out of order. Now I'm reading them in order and I'm finding whole new aspects of them I never knew were there.Walter Cronkite,On Martha's Vineyard

You've heard Frank Sinatra sing it. Bing Crosby and Andy Williams, too. But, hon, you've never heard a "Silent Night" like this. The Charm City Warblers -- a group of three Baltimore natives now working as musicians in Los Angeles -- have recorded a "Silent Night" in the thickest Bawlmerese this side of a John Waters movie. They've also recorded "The 12 Days of Christmas" Baltimore-style ("12 Preakness ponies, 11 fried tomatoes, 10 Bertha's mussels" and so on). "Baltimoreans are really proud of that accent and the colloquialisms and the things that identify their city, and I just thought that people would get a kick out of it," said Harry Orlove, who formed the group.

County working to fix Rosedale sewer break Baltimore County public works officials said yesterday they are hoping to have a broken sewer line fixed by today. County officials discovered sewage flowing from a 36-inch main near the Red House Run Pumping Station in the Rosedale section of the county Thursday. A "water contact alert" was issued for Back River because of the break, officials said, discouraging residents from water activities such as swimming and wind surfing. The beach at Rocky Point State Park has been closed until further notice.

You've heard Frank Sinatra sing it. Bing Crosby and Andy Williams, too. But, hon, you've never heard a "Silent Night" like this. The Charm City Warblers -- a group of three Baltimore natives now working as musicians in Los Angeles -- have recorded a "Silent Night" in the thickest Bawlmerese this side of a John Waters movie. They've also recorded "The 12 Days of Christmas" Baltimore-style ("12 Preakness ponies, 11 fried tomatoes, 10 Bertha's mussels" and so on). "Baltimoreans are really proud of that accent and the colloquialisms and the things that identify their city, and I just thought that people would get a kick out of it," said Harry Orlove, who formed the group.

On February 6, 2004 J. LINDSEY BURCH, beloved husband of the late Dorothy G. (nee Gerkens) devoted father of Martin Burch and his wife Patricia, Lois O'Brian and her husband Mark, loving grandfather of Graham Burch, Jeannine O'Brian, Neil O'Brian and Audrey O'Brian, dear brother of Russell Burch and Grace Woomer, dear friend of Peg Spalding. Friends may call at the family owned Leonard J. Ruck Inc. Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Rd. (at Echodale) on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. and at the Oak Crest Chapel, on Wednesday from 9 A.M. to 10 A.M., when the memorial service will be held.

In 1967, after death had permanently decommissioned C. S. Forester, author of the Horatio Hornblower novels and proprietor of a maritime industry in his own right, a publisher approached an obscure British author named Patrick O'Brian with the suggestion that the public might appreciate another novel about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. When O'Brian died in January, his novels about Jack Aubrey, a British naval officer, and Stephen Maturin, his ship's surgeon and intimate friend, amateur naturalist and spy, extended to 20 volumes with sales of 3 million copies, subsidiary publications and fans numbered by cohorts and legions.

ABOARD THE HMS SURPRISE -- Which is where hundreds of thousands of contented readers are once again. A freshening Atlantic breeze has the ship's sails billowing. The deck is pitching, but agreeably. Stephen Maturin is anticipating a naturalist's delights at the next landfall. And Jack Aubrey, in command, is looking for excitement and advancement in the Royal Navy in the doldrums after the Napoleonic wars. It is difficult to describe to the uninitiated the frisson that Patrick O'Brian's readers feel when another installment in his Aubrey-Maturin novels appears.

Thirty-one years ago, Patrick O'Brian brought out a historical novel, "Master and Commander," that introduced Jack Aubrey, an officer in the Royal Navy of the Nelson era, and his ship's surgeon, Stephen Maturin. When O'Brian died Sunday in Dublin at the age of 85, his Aubrey-Maturin novels had grown into a series of 20 volumes and, according to his publishers, had sold more than 2 million copies. In 1995, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. To have made such a success with a series of historical novels is a stunning accomplishment in publishing, but O'Brian's achievement goes well beyond sales.

County working to fix Rosedale sewer break Baltimore County public works officials said yesterday they are hoping to have a broken sewer line fixed by today. County officials discovered sewage flowing from a 36-inch main near the Red House Run Pumping Station in the Rosedale section of the county Thursday. A "water contact alert" was issued for Back River because of the break, officials said, discouraging residents from water activities such as swimming and wind surfing. The beach at Rocky Point State Park has been closed until further notice.

There's a naval engagement looming this summer, a ship-to-ship duel straight from the days of fighting sail. But it will be fought out in bookstores rather than on the high seas, and the combatants will be flinging sagas at one another rather than cannonballs.Up to windward there's publisher W.W. Norton with author Patrick O'Brian on the quarter-deck, ready for the late-summer publication of "The Hundred Days," the 19th title in his series featuring Capt. Jack Aubrey and seagoing companion Stephen Maturin.