Sea Adventures Fiction

Western Ocean, 1942... From the bridge of HMS Gladiator, Lieutenant-Commander David Howard’s orders were chillingly clear. There could be no mercy. To the men who fought to protect the vital, threatened Merchant Navy convoys in the Western Approaches, the Battle of the Atlantic was a full-scale war. A relentless, savage war against an ever-present enemy and a violent sea - in an arena known only to its embittered survivors as the killing ground. HMS Gladiator was part of that war.

Off the coast of Maine, Ruth Thomas is born into a feud fought for generations by two groups of local lobstermen over fishing rights for the waters that lie between their respective islands. At 18, she has returned from boarding school - smart as a whip, feisty, and irredeemably unromantic - determined to throw over her education and join the "stern men" working the lobster boats.

In 2019, 70-year-old Signe sets sail alone on a hazardous voyage across the ocean in a sailboat. On board, a cargo that can change lives. Signe is haunted by memories of the love of her life, whom she’ll meet again soon. In 2041, David and his young daughter, Lou, flee from a drought-stricken Southern Europe that has been ravaged by thirst and war. Separated from the rest of their family and desperate to find them, they discover an ancient sailboat in a dried-out garden, miles away from the nearest shore. Signe’s sailboat.

After the United States suffers a devastating nuclear attack and is facing food shortages, power outages, cyber and AI assaults, and a wrecked economy, Admiral Dan Lenson leads an allied force assigned to turn the tide of war in the Pacific, using precisely targeted missiles and high-tech weapons systems. But as the campaign begins, the entire Allied military and defense network is compromised by Jade Emperor, a powerful Chinese artificial-intelligence system that seems to anticipate and counter every move.

AJ Bailey was destined to run a dive boat on the beautiful island of Grand Cayman, the Mecca of Caribbean SCUBA diving. As a young girl in England she was captivated by a story her Navy veteran grandfather told. Now, as she's closer than ever to discovering the long-lost submarine from the story, a wealthy Argentinian arrives; a treasure hunter who’ll stop at nothing to steal the prize. Can AJ find the wreck in time?

Commanding a combined US-South Korea force, the newly promoted US Navy hero Dan Lenson wonders if his embattled group can possibly keep sea lanes open in the Central Pacific as he tries to turn the tide and buy time for the Allies to regroup. But when his own flagship comes under ferocious attack, he must leave it to assume command elsewhere - without knowing when he'll be able to return. In the meantime, SEAL operator Teddy Oberg, escaping from a hellish POW camp, heads west through desolate mountains toward what he hopes will be freedom.

Boone Fischer and Emily Durand have enjoyed months of quiet on the tiny island of Caye Caulker. After surviving Hurricane Irma and a mountaintop madman, the two divemasters have finally begun to relax. Big mistake.

Ralph Wrenn went to sea at the age of ten. Now nineteen and recently promoted, he serves as the fourth officer on the HMS Kingfisher. It masquerades as a merchant ship to capture Barbary pirate vessels. On one such mission, Ralph meets a beautiful and intriguing young woman. Now, he must contend not just with battles at sea but with a beguiling stranger who is not what she appears to be.

Deklin will become a villain to rival the gods… somebody should probably tell him. For now, Deklin's just a fourth-year magi looking for a post-midterm vacation from Earth. When a failed portal spell strands Deklin on a dangerous, massive worldshard, he unwillingly embarks on an adventure where spire climbers compete for ever higher standings, and cultivators bind magical aspects to strengthen their spirits. Transformed into a dragonblood and branded as an outlaw, Deklin is forbidden from advancing past the first threshold alongside his growing band of exiles.

"Boredom is dangerous," writes Benjamin Samuel, Co-Editor of Electric Literature, in his introduction to this issue of Recommended Reading. "It can make us lazy, complacent, and if we suffer too much of it we're liable to become boring ourselves. For the whalers at sea in Anu Jindal's Not a Bad Bunch, boredom is far more insidious; according to the ship's surgeon, who narrates the story, it's an early symptom of an infectious and barbarous madness.

Deep in the water, Mr. Fish swims about with his fish face stuck in a permanent pout. Can his pals cheer him up? Will his pout ever end? Is there something he can learn from an unexpected friend?

October, 1914. Swedish naval officer Lars Tobiasson-Svartman is charged with a secret mission to take depth readings around the Stockholm archipelago. In the course of his work, he lands on the rocky isle of Halsskär. It seems utterly inhabitable, yet Halsskär is home to the young widow Sara Fredrika. Lars soon learns that Sara, living in near-total isolation, is unaware that the world is at war.

Samuel and Mary are thriving as privateers on the Winter Seas. As they navigate the complexities of their growing bond, in a world that would see Mary as chattel to be traded, the pair are forging a better way to live, under the sails of Hart. But when their latest prize brings tales of Benedict’s capture by Mereish forces, they must make an impossible choice: to serve their nation or save Samuel’s brother. Thrust into a mission of intrigue and infiltration, they seek to break into the most secure prison on the Mereish Coast.

As a single mother, Annie has an especially close relationship with her son, Ben. They have always been together. Just the two of them. So, when Ben brings home his mysterious beautiful new wife, Daisy, immediately Annie doesn’t trust her. Who is this woman who has taken her son away from her? And what is she hiding? She’ll protect him with her life....

John Pearce is going home. But he has to avoid capture by an Algerine warship, having his Pelicans pressed into a British frigate, and that's before they are at risk of being hanged for desertion once home. Then there is the problem of Emily Barclay and their son, Adam. By cunning and bluff, he protects his friends but not his troubled love life. In a whirlwind of action, there are forged wills, devious trades, contrived murders and dangerous spy missions, with so much deceit that Pearce does not know whom to trust. All he can hope to do is survive.

The Aldens have joined Dr. Iris Perez as she investigates legendary creatures around the world. In this adventure, the children investigate what might be living in the deep trench off the coast of Puerto Rico. From manatees to mermaids to sea monsters, creatures of the sea have been attracting tourists to the area for years. But when a man on a nearby island goes missing, it’s up to the Aldens to sort out fact from fiction.

Rising steeply from the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, the Dutch island of Saba is a sleepy paradise, the mountainous slopes dotted with little red-and-white cottages. But this little oasis has a less tranquil history, many of its inhabitants having descended from smugglers and pirates. Boone Fischer and Emily Durand are eager to explore their new home, but their peaceful lives are about to be shattered, as one of history's most powerful hurricanes begins to form - and a savage evil has made its way ashore. The sequel to the best seller Deep Shadow.

What if the Shadow that destroyed Atlantis 10,000 years ago, comes back to threaten our present world? A war beyond time. An enemy beyond space. A thriller beyond your wildest dreams. Three areas on the Earth's surface defy explanation: the Bermuda Triangle, the Devil's Sea of Japan, and a small region of Cambodia. Inside these realms, planes have disappeared, ships have vanished, and, in Cambodia, an entire civilization has been lost leaving behind Angkor Wat....

After narrowly escaping the New Lands, Egg is determined to take down ruthless slave trader Roger Pembroke. But war is brewing among the Blue Sea's pirate gangs - and Egg, Guts, and Kira are running out of time to find the Fire King’s treasure and free the Okalu slaves from the silver mine on Sunrise. Can they save Kira’s people before Sunrise is plundered by Ripper Jones’s pirates? Will Burn Healy save the day, or has the legendary captain finally met his match? And will Egg ever win back Millicent from the annoyingly handsome Cyril?

It is 1819, and Captain Adam Bolitho is ordered once again to Freetown in West Africa with secret orders for the senior officer there. The slave trade has been outlawed by many nations, but a hundred thousand slaves are still shipped out annually, the profit for slavers considered worth the risk of interception by the Royal Navy. For Adam, newly married and as fiery as ever, Africa will bring reunions and unexpected allies, and a treachery that wears the mask of friendship, and threatens the very heart of all he loves.