In a message dated Mar/10/2005 12:35:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, Crystal Fradette <sethra500 at gmail.com> writes: > My dream would be to be a pirate from back in the day. But I would > feel so guilty stealing from people that I would return it, no > stand there like a moron fantasizing about taking it, but don't > even touch. But it would be soooo cool to be a pirate. That, and > you need a ship with sails. I'd be caught in 3 seconds! Sounds like you'd enjoy the book I just finished reading: _Ten Points for Style_, the bookclub omnibus of Walter Jon Williams' Drake Maijstral novels. Drake is an Allowed Burgler, an occupation introduced to us when the Earth was conquered by the Khosali Empire. Allowed Burglers are more or less entertainers (more respectable than drunkards and charletans, but less than Elvis impersonators), and there are a bunch of rules and regulations about what they can and can't do (stolen items have to have artistic value, and there's a period of jeopardy during which you go to jail if caught), and most of their profit comes from ransoming the items back to the original owners. Very fun books, especially if you like sophisticated, high society adventure stories (think Paarfi in space). --KG