Free Download
The Curse of Capistrano
The Curse of Capistrano
The Mark of Zorro
The first work to feature Zorro, nobleman and master swordsman living in Spanish- and Mexican-era California. This novel originally appeared as five serialized installments in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.
Book Excerpt
ly before me here and now!" the sergeant gasped.
And again the door was opened suddenly, and a man entered the inn on a gust of the storm.
Chapter 3
Senor Zorro Pays a Visit
THE NATIVE HURRIED forward to fasten the door against the force of the wind, and then retreated to his corner again. The newcomer had his back toward those in the long room. They could see that his sombrero was pulled far down on his head, as if to prevent die wind from whisking it away, and that his body was enveloped in a long cloak that was wringing wet.
With his back still toward them, he opened the cloak and shook the raindrops from it and then folded it across his breast again as the fat landlord hurried forward, rubbing his hands together in expectation, for he deemed that here was some caballero off the highway who would pay good coin for food and bed and care for his horse.
When the landlord was within a few feet of him and the do
Editor's choice
(view all)
Popular books in Adventure, Fiction and Literature, Romance
More books by Harrington Strong
(view all)
Readers reviews
4.4
LoginSign up
Far-fetched but highly entertaining tale of the old, old, old West, with Zorro at his best. Look for the secret—it's not too hard to figure out in the first chapter.
- Upvote (0)
- Downvote (0)
Also this already has a lot of reviews, I am going to add my two cents. This was an amazing book. Filled with intrigue, beautiful woman and master swordsman...what more could you ask? Oh, yes, a masked man...gotta have one of those. Equal in quality to The Scarlet Pimpernel or The Brown Mask...I enjoyed the book very much!
04/19/2012
Loved it! Was a really enjoyable read, no boring bits what so ever. Watch out for the unexpected bombshell at the end!
04/18/2012
I really enjoyed this story. As you may know, this short story was the basis for all the Zorro movies that have been made in the past 90+ years. I think there have been 11 Zorro movies made in the US and many more made by European and Mexican film companies.
As is frequently the case when Hollywood makes films based on a book, the book is very different than any of the Zorro movies I have seen. It’s a far more interesting read than the movies and keeps you in suspense until the very end.
There were a few things that may have some readers scratching their heads:
1. McCulley used several Spanish words in the text. A few that I remember are: Fray is an abbreviation of fraile (monk or brother in a monastic order); frailes (plural of fraile); carcel is jail; carreta is cart.
2. There are numerous words and punctuation marks in the text that don’t make sense in the context. These are either type setting errors in the original or errors introduced by the software which scanned the original to make the eBook. I have seen this in my own documents when transcribed by software. For example, where I wrote “modern”, the software thought it was “modem”.
Some malapropisms that I remember are: bunked instead of blinked, hie and die for the. When you encounter an English word that seem odd or out of place, just use your imagination and think what it might have been.
As is frequently the case when Hollywood makes films based on a book, the book is very different than any of the Zorro movies I have seen. It’s a far more interesting read than the movies and keeps you in suspense until the very end.
There were a few things that may have some readers scratching their heads:
1. McCulley used several Spanish words in the text. A few that I remember are: Fray is an abbreviation of fraile (monk or brother in a monastic order); frailes (plural of fraile); carcel is jail; carreta is cart.
2. There are numerous words and punctuation marks in the text that don’t make sense in the context. These are either type setting errors in the original or errors introduced by the software which scanned the original to make the eBook. I have seen this in my own documents when transcribed by software. For example, where I wrote “modern”, the software thought it was “modem”.
Some malapropisms that I remember are: bunked instead of blinked, hie and die for the. When you encounter an English word that seem odd or out of place, just use your imagination and think what it might have been.
04/02/2012
The Curse of Capistrano (later renamed The Mark of Zorro) is the story that created a legend. Had Zorro creator Johnston McCulley known that his creation would be so popular and result in 61 more stories he certainly would have given the original a different ending. Though his writing style proves a bit of a challenge to read (poor grammar and over use of British words rather than Spanish or Spanglish) The Curse of Capistrano is a fun book and great story. For those who like audio dramas The Mark of Zorro produced by the multi-award winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear for Blackstone Audio Publishing will be released as a full-cast audio drama on April 1, 2011. It stars in its cast Val Kilmer (as Diego/Zorro), Ruth Livier, Elizabeth Pena, Armin Shimerman, Meshach Taylor and a host of talented Hollywood actors. Also the audiobook version of The Mark of Zorro will be made available by Blackstone Audio sometime in late 2011.
12/13/2010
IMHO, I liked it much more than the book by Isabel Allende which leaves much to be desired. McCulley has less desciptions & more action, & in general the book is funny, exciting & moving.
12/10/2009
Pleasant diversion for an afternoon at the
beach, but not world class literature. I
much prefer Isabel Allende's recent retelling of the tales of Zorro.
beach, but not world class literature. I
much prefer Isabel Allende's recent retelling of the tales of Zorro.
05/26/2007