Sea Water

Introducing Saumitra's poetry to an English-relishing audience is like reliving its flavor a few years ago in Hindi when these very poems caught the print eye of an eminent publisher, Bharatiya Gyanpith. Saumitra’s selection was not only published from there but also bestowed the Navlekhan Award, and these poems have been expertly translated by Dhiraj Singh, who gives a Midas touch of his pen when moving from one language from another.

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time.

What was supposed to be an easy mission to the Bermuda Triangle for Navy SEAL Akers Marks turns into a fight for his life when he’s ambushed by mysterious creatures.

Sailing by yourself, out of sight of land, can be invigorating and terrifying, compelling and tedious—and sometimes all of the above in one morning. But it is also a wide expanse of time in which to think. Sailing Alone tells the story of some of the remarkable people who, over the last four centuries, have spent weeks and months, moving slowly over the world's largest laboratory: a capricious and startling place in which to observe oneself, the weather, the stars, and countless sea creatures, from the tiniest to the most massive and threatening.

Set in Cornwall, coastal erosion and flooding take on a near mythical power as the short stories in this collection weave in and out of the recent past and near future, as lives and relationships ebb and flow with the tide. From one maritime tragedy to another, the community, and three generations of women from the same family, struggle with their over-close affinity for the sea.

A wonderful book for all ages that like magical adventures sailing the high seas with witches and wizards and mythical creatures as shipmates! A dramatic dystopian fantasy about a living ship who escapes a locked down quarantined port during the black plague to make her way to a great ship graveyard far north where she will transition to a different spiritual plane. The problem is, the whole world wants her dying timbers, and it seems they will stop at nothing to get them, dead or alive!

In the late 1990s, Patrick O’Brian’s beloved, massively bestselling historical novel series was destined for film. With director Peter Weir and stars Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany signed on for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, there was only one problem: The Rose, the replica eighteenth-century warship that filmmakers bought for the production, was in Newport, Rhode Island, two oceans and thousands of miles away from Hollywood. Enter a ragtag crew of thirty oddballs and tall-ship fanatics, including author Will Sofrin.

Over 70 percent of Earth is covered in water, yet over 80 percent of that water remains unexplored. There are currently over 10 billion people on Earth, but terrestrial humans are only aware of those who live on land. The other three billion humans took a decidedly different evolutionary path, adapting to live in the largest combined area on the planet–the water.

The sea has always been a part of Nuala Moore’s life – her earliest memory is of jumping off her father’s trawler in Dingle harbour and swimming back to shore. She’s swam in some of the most dangerous and remote waters in the world. But her burgeoning career stalled when she became the sole carer of her ailing father; she couldn’t commit to training, and she struggled with a lack of direction. That’s when she found ice swimming – swims that take up less time, but which are far more demanding, physically and mentally. Nuala’s philosophy is that we are all capable of greatness.

Alexis Magpie has enough on her plate between rehabilitating her junkie cousin, Tip, struggling to keep a step ahead of bankruptcy, and leading a ragtag gang of vigilantes in the endless war against child trafficking without the ghost of her wife suddenly appearing to take a toll on her mental and physical health. Meanwhile, disgraced surfing star Dylan Tippling finds himself resigned to a life of janitorial work, night school, and court-mandated therapy. Tip must battle both his demons as a former teen prostitute and the return of his homicidal boyfriend.

UK-born Carolyn was craving escape when she met Raymond, a boy from Hong Kong, who offered the chance of a new, exciting life. They moved their family to Hong Kong in 1994, and Raymond embarked on a career in investment banking while Carolyn looked after their three children, but as the years passed, they drifted apart and she became depressed. After her father died in 2000, Raymond suggested the family buy a yacht, and Carolyn believed a new hobby would help heal their relationship. Little did she realize that sailing and a shipwreck would ultimately drive them apart forever.

Where fresh water appears to be abundant and generally accessible, chronic pollution may be relatively ignored as a public issue. Yet there are those whose lives, livelihoods, and traditions are touched directly by the destructive albeit essential relationship between humans and water.

My husband, Mike, had always talked about having a threesome, and I had to admit the idea excited me. Why not? We were both hot, young, and sexually charged. However, I let him know that he would have to set up the whole thing if he ever wanted it to happen.

Atlantis – from its first account by Plato, to the explorers who searched in vain and the discovery that might finally solve its mystery – takes on a new shape in Damian’s quest. At once a spellbinding love letter to diving, The Drowned Places is also a profound examination of the power that myth has over us, and what happens when it crosses over into reality.

A short story from James Lee Burke's story collection, Jesus Out to Sea. Burke is one of the country's most acclaimed and popular novelists.

Deep Water Dreams picks up with Hank and Julie as they, after sailing briefly in the Caribbean, prepare their boat for an Atlantic crossing with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, or ARC.

In the sphere of future global politics, no region will be as hotly contested as the Asia-Pacific. This is where authoritarian China is trying to rewrite international law and challenge the democratic values of the US and its allies. No other Asian country can take on China alone. The US too may be ill-equipped for the job at hand. If China does get away with seizing and militarizing waters here, what will it do elsewhere, and who will be able to stop it? Asian Waters breaks down the politics - and tensions - seen through this region for years.

This enthralling audiobook takes us on a tour of the most dangerous, exciting, and often eccentric escapades of literature's sailing stars and how these true stories inspired and informed their best-loved works. Arthur Ransome, Erskine Childers, Jack London, and many others are featured as we find out how extraordinary fact fed into unforgettable fiction.

Before a prophecy swept him across the seas, Oskar Dahlin was a mortal among corrupt rulers. He lived with one mandate: protect the innocent. Be their sword, and if necessary, their vengeance. He was a Blade of the Assassin’s Guild, trained in body and mind. What the royals did behind their high walls was not his concern unless and until their actions spilled into his streets. Or a young queen steals his heart.

Soon after the first maritime trade routes became operational, seafaring bandits appeared to prey upon the cargo, crews, and ships of others. Crimson Waters traces the history of piracy around the globe, stretching back from its roots in 2500 BCE, through the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and up to the modern-day pirates who still threaten boats along coastlines and on the open seas.