I am a storyteller, first and foremost. My natural habitat is close to the campfire and I breathe words the way that some men smoke. I have lived by the ocean for nearly four decades. I have listened to the waves talking to the shoreline. I have heard the old ghost stories told around a thousand campfires. I have listened to the sea gulls complaining about the fishing. This is the first of what will be a series of stories based around the sea. You don’t have to read every one, any more than you have to count every wave that rolls up to slap itself upon the beach. Come here and give a listen. I’ve got a tale for the telling.

It happened in early September, the time of year when the city does its damndest to remember what heat was, just one more time before winter rocks on in... This is a story of horror and haunting regret. (fair warning - this is a STORY - maybe about eight thousand words) A group of homeless man - fishing for a little fun and folly - latch onto something that MIGHT be a mermaid.

This is a story set in war-torn Okinawa - back in the final days of the Pacific Campaign of World War 2. It is told from the point of view of a young Kamikaze pilot preparing to fly his fighter plane into the side of an American battleship. It is a story of guilt, loneliness, memory and the taste of the sea. Oh, and there's a sea monster as well. I expect I ought to mention that...

It happened just yesterday or perhaps the day before. The bombs were dropped. No one knew why. Maybe a political study was taken into careful consideration. Perhaps a research grant had been involved. A new plan to invigorate the stock market. Whatever the reason, due diligence was undoubtedly done and all aspects were carefully considered. Certainly the motion was passed around the senate a time or two. After all, an election was coming. And then they went ahead and did it. Every vestige of civilization was blown away, save for a few stubborn traces barnacled along the grim fringes of existence. Like say, maybe the Maritimes...

Let's face it. About seventy-five percent of the world is covered in water - and of that water nearly ninety-seven percent of it can be found in the sea. Maritimers will tell you that there is a story for every wave that has ever washed upon the shoreline. Here are seven of them. "In the Dark and the Deep" offers a very haunting yarn of World War 2 convoy duty and a sailor who made and kept a terrible bargain. "Harry's Mermaid" introduces you to a group of homeless men who catch something that MIGHT be a mermaid. If that doesn't tell you enough about this story just try and imagine what Steinbeck's CANNERY ROW would read like if it had been written by HP Lovecraft. "I Know Why The Waters of the Sea Taste of Salt" is a tale of an Okinawa-based Japanese Air Force suicide pilot and his encounter with a sea monster - of sorts. "Finbar's Story" is a dark fantasy tale of the deeper currents that eddy and flow within the deep quiet currents of a man's cold heart. "The Woman Who Lost Her Tooth From Laughing Too Loudly At The Sea" is a quiet little fable of salt water, tears and regret. "Between You-Know-Who and the Deep Dark Blue" is a story of the last bargain on earth. This collection begins with a bargain and ends with a bargain - which sounds like a heck of a bargain to me.