Forty Fathom Bank

Set in San Francisco in the 1940s, this novella of suspense and adventure is also a tale of greed, desperation, guilt, and ultimately, self-discovery. In the tradition of the sea sagas of Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway, it is a deceptively simple and powerful story of a man who goes to sea - and survives horrendous events. The narrator, a 29-year-old married man who is down on his luck, tries to make an instant fortune by shark fishing. He acquires an old boat and teams up with Ethan May, an experienced fisherman who also has a lucrative but increasingly worrisome proposition. Far from shore, these two men suddenly find themselves confronting an uncooperative ocean, a failed engine - and each other. With its lyrical language and subtle undertow of inevitability, this short novel will pull you out to perilous waters.