I went crazy for sailboats during the pandemic, fascinated by the freedom they represent during a time of quarantine. As with almost every subject I get interested in — Ancient Rome, folk music, South American politics, linocuts and engravings, organized crime, what have you — it tends to find its way into my fiction. I had an idea for a nautical horror novel but realized early in the process I would need some real life experience other than the semester at sea I had embarked on in the early 90s.

In early 2022, I crewed on a 65 Swan delivering it from Sint Maarten to Newport, Rhode Island for somewhere around twenty days (with a 3 day stop in Bermuda). It was one of the toughest and most gratifying experiences of my life. I wish I had found sailing when I was a younger (and smaller) man.

The Night That Finds Us All is the novel I wrote using that experience as fodder. I’m very proud of it and excited to announce it will be released by Putnam in 2025.

It will be followed by a second unrelated book in the following year.