Young Jonah Padgett, fascinated by the romance of the open sea, signs on to the whaler Absalom, under the command of Captain Solomon. Upon rounding the Horn, the crew hears stories of a whale said to be as big as a mountain with skin as black as a bible, and in command of a harem of a hundred females. Captain Solomon wagers that his crew will be the one to make its fortune hunting down the elusive, so-called King Jim. But when the Absalom signs on the native called Koro as a harpooner, the ship is beleaguered by inexplicable disappearances and horrific death, which pits shipmate against shipmate for fear of their lives. While trying to clear Koro of suspicion, Jonah soon finds himself adrift in a fantastical world filled with dolphin-like merfolk and nightmarish were-sharks, endangered equally by inhuman creatures from the ocean’s depths and human fear and superstition, his very life at the mercy of something as old and mysterious as the sea itself. Absalom’s Wake will appear in serial format, in 6 installments.

Part Two of Absalom's Wake Young Jonah Padgett signed onto the whaler Absalom with romantic notions of traveling to exotic lands full of beautiful, half-naked native girls. His dreams are realized upon arriving at Nuka Hiva, a veritable island paradise in the South Pacific—only to have them become a nightmare when, on shore leave, he and his shipmate, Santo, are attacked by fearsome cannibals.

The whaling ship Absalom is plagued by the inexplicable disappearance of three men in the middle of the night, in the middle of the ocean. Suspicions arise that the crew might be harboring a crazed killer. But the truth of what happened to the missing sailors is far more horrible than anyone could have imagined.

The Eye of Tangaroa The final chapter in the serial novel Absalom's Wake brings to a close this darkly fantastic tale of high weirdness on the high seas. Once the truth about Koro is revealed, the crew turn against his best friend, Padgett. Labelled a "Jonah" and warlock, Padgett finds himself exiled to Absalom's wake, with nothing but a small amount of bread and water. It is from this vantage point he observes the final days of the Absalom and witnesses the wrath of the monster whale known as King Jim. Abandoned and adrift in the South Pacific, he must rely on his own wits and will if he is to survive—but is he truly alone?