On Stranger Tides (Tim Powers)

This was recommended by someone (I don't remember who) as their favorite ghost-pirate story, and I guess I'd have to agree with that. I loved his mythic fantasy "Last Call" and didn't much care for his magic spy thriller "Destiny," and this fell somewhere in the middle. Jack Shandy's transformation in a few months from angry Englishman seeking revenge to supremely powerful magic wielder, pirate, and skilled sailor was a little too much do me to buy, but the action was good and the darkly fantastical atmosphere well drawn.