Modern Boat

Rick's recent appearance on Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild chronicled his budget lifestyle and adventures aboard Calypso, and introduced the idea of budget sailing to a whole new audience - an audience who may have never considered the possibility that such a dream could be made a reality, on such a small amount of money. This book is for them and for any experienced sailors who want to cast off the yoke of consumerist yachting and get back to what really matters at sea.

In Building Kathy Ann, Robert "Buzz" Johnson shares the deeply personal and technically detailed story of building his custom steel-hulled boat from scratch in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Drawing on his lifetime of construction experience, family heritage in craftsmanship, and a love of Lake Superior, Johnson walks listeners through every stage—from childhood inspiration, selecting materials, and designing the layout, to welding the hull and installing systems.

"What The Lake Knows" is a modern parable about confronting the stories we tell ourselves—about luck, about loss, about what keeps us safe. In the tradition of "The Alchemist" and "The Old Man and the Sea," this tale reminds us that sometimes our deepest beliefs are the very things preventing us from moving forward. Set against the timeless backdrop of the Great Lakes fishing industry, this meditation on courage, change, and wisdom reveals that our greatest limitations often exist only in our minds. Sometimes the heaviest anchors are the ones we choose to carry. Perfect for readers who ...

“As the paddle wheels of the 'Belle Epoque' slowly turn like the pages of a vintage Agatha Christie detective novel, a contemporary ‘mock murder’ mystery game was supposed to commence aboard the luxury Nile cruise boat,. But all is not as it seems...” Death on the Nile gets a modern twist in ‘Murder on the Nile Mystery Cruise.’. It was supposed to be a ‘mock murder mystery’ game aboard an atmospheric cruiser. The luxuriously refurbished paddle wheeler, the Belle Epoque - on a lockdown cruise. But suddenly the group mystery murder game turns deadly serious. Daniel, guest ...

A bookshop, a boathouse, and a budding new romance… When Sophie Bennet gets fired from her high-profile marketing job and dumped by her boyfriend for being "too boring," she decides to take a risk–fueled by wine–and launches a crowdfunding campaign called "Help a Boring Girl Buy a Bookshop...

Restless Tiger A Long short Story Alex and Diego are busy smuggling contraband north across the sea to Vietnam and Cambodia and bringing refugees south across the Gulf of Thailand in early 1998. They find that running a fleet of twelve boats is hard enough, but piracy is rampant on the water. They are also hijacking ships at sea to liberate them of their cargo and turn a profit. And then there is their old scourge, the Frenchman, back on the attack. They have to teach him a lesson and exact revenge for murdered crewmen in the last nasty sea encounter. But how? The third of a collection of ...

Two long short stories The Good Deed Faced with stealing a valuable yacht or helping a woman recover her stolen sea-going catamaran is a tough choice for Alex and the crew of the Tiger II. Diego agrees that today at least larceny can take a back seat to doing the right thing. Besides they get to chase the notorious pirate Ortega across the South China Sea to get the stolen craft back. They can even try out the new three-inch gun! Chen In 2002 Alex meets an intriguing thief named Mia at Chin Li’s Water Bar on the inner harbor of Hong Kong, near the exclusive Belmont Yacht Club. She steals ...

The Caribbean Queen Alex and company steal an expensive yacht, The Caribbean Queen, from its mooring while the crew is ashore on the island of Grenada. They sail it away as a dangerous storm sweeps the sea. The Exchange Alex receives a call from an old friend to help him recover his two kidnapped children in Hong Kong. Alex decides to deliver the unusual payment for his friend even though he must get safe passage from the Triad. He confronts the nefarious Mohammed the goat to make the payoff. The exchange goes all wrong and a gun battle ensues. Venezuela Nights Alex embarks on a secret ...

Raging Tiger A Long Short Story In early 1998 Alex the Pirate and Diego are running contraband into Vietnam in fleets of tongkang boats, using the gunboat Tiger for defense against other pirates. When they least suspect it, they are attacked by their arch-enemy, the Frenchman. How dare he attack Alex’s shipments? The Frenchman raids their village at Kampung Bharu, destroying boats and killing many. What can Alex do? He vows to have revenge and leads the coastal smugglers in a convoy for retribution. The Modern Pirate Series features Alex the Pirate, Diego his business partner, and a savvy...

It’s a Mad, Mad World + Ishtar + Raiders of the Lost Ark = The ISIS Affair Meet the most unlikely outlaws – two backpacking curmudgeons. This crotchety Brit and ancient American may be the oldest backpackers in the world, but it doesn’t stop them from finding trouble in spades. Attempting to smuggle priceless world heritage antiquities to safety, they find themselves in the crosshairs of none other than ISIS. The deadly militants’ best-laid plans are thwarted by the hapless smugglers themselves in this “laugh out loud funny” adventure. If not for a Yazidi Joan of Arc, these ...

It so happened that a big ship went down in a terrible storm. By chance and good fortune, Rat, Mouse, and Gerbil scrambled safely into an empty lifeboat. A cautionary fable about greed featuring a rat, a mouse, and a gerbil. A tale about overuse of resources by the powerful at the expense of the small and vulnerable.