Ahab

Although Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is beloved as one of the most profound and enduring works of American fiction, we rarely consider it a work of nature writing—or even a novel of the sea. Yet Pulitzer Prize–winning author Annie Dillard avers Moby-Dick is the “best book ever written about nature,” and nearly the entirety of the story is set on the waves, with scarcely a whiff of land. In fact, Ishmael’s sea yarn is in conversation with the nature writing of Emerson and Thoreau, and Melville himself did much more than live for a year in a cabin beside a pond. He set sail: to the far remote Pacific Ocean, spending more than three years at sea before writing his masterpiece in 1851. A revelation for Moby-Dick devotees and neophytes alike, Ahab’s Rolling Sea is a chronological journey through the natural history of Melville’s novel. From white whales to whale intelligence, giant squids, barnacles, albatross, and sharks, Richard J. King examines what Melville knew from his own experiences and the sources available to a reader in the mid-1800s, exploring how and why Melville might have twisted what was known to serve his fiction. King then climbs to the crow’s nest, setting Melville in the context of the American perception of the ocean in 1851—at the very start of the Industrial Revolution and just before the publication of On the Origin of Species. King compares Ahab’s and Ishmael’s worldviews to how we see the ocean today: an expanse still immortal and sublime, but also in crisis. And although the concept of stewardship of the sea would have been entirely foreign, if not absurd, to Melville, King argues that Melville’s narrator Ishmael reveals his own tendencies toward what we would now call environmentalism. Featuring a coffer of illustrations and an array of interviews with contemporary scientists, fishers, and whale watch operators, Ahab’s Rolling Sea offers new insight not only into a cherished masterwork and its author but also into our evolving relationship with the briny deep—from whale hunters to climate refugees.

Before Captain Ahab encountered Moby Dick, he met the woman who would capture his heart--Hannah Oldweiler. This voyage back to 19th Century Nantucket completes the portrait of the man who ruled the sea with an iron will, and introduces to the woman who had a spirit and determination to match. When Ahab becomes obsessed with settling a score with the great whale, Hannah is left alone to raise their son and to oversee her husband's estate. Waiting and praying for his safe return, Hannah is faced with loneliness--a deep longing in her soul that not even her husband can meet. Will Hannah become as independent as Ahab? Will she take her future into her own hands? Who will fill the emptiness in her heart? Click Here to Meet the Author Download the Readers' Guide.

A sea of danger and magic. A family that can’t stay clear of the water… Morgan refuses to let her twin brother suffer the same fate as their whale-obsessed father Captain Ahab. Despite her efforts to keep Nathan on dry land, her brother can’t resist the siren song of the sea and rumors of untold treasures on the Island of Nightmares… Before Nathan can drop anchor and find his bounty, his crew encounters an ominous force. He’s convinced the creature is somehow connected to his father’s past and that one of his crew has been bitten. Could Nathan actually be on the run from a werewhale? As the dark island fast approaches, Nathan’s adventure could end in a watery grave. It’s up to Morgan and her father’s old crewmate Ishmael to save Nathan’s life. But can she possibly change the mind of a man with the same stubborn streak as Captain Ahab? Ahab’s Daughter is the rollicking first novel in The Werewhale Saga, a series of fantasy adventures. If you like tenacious heroines, supernatural twists, and high seas suspense, then you’ll love Ron Vitale’s entertaining follow-up to Herman Melville’s literary classic.

More than a year has passed since Morgan and Ishmael escaped from the island of nightmares and the clutches of Kanaloa, the dark squid god. In that time, they’ve come closer together, but defeating Kanaloa and breaking the sea curse is their priority. But when Morgan and Ishmael are separated, she makes a difficult choice and chooses to find and rescue Ishmael before he is swept up in the dark curse that afflicted both her father and twin brother. To break the curse, Morgan risks all to discover the secret of the fountain of youth and rescue Ishmael from Kanaloa’s dark influence. But all is not as it seems on the island with the famed fountain nor is the journey as straightforward as she had expected. With time running out, will Morgan break the spell that will crack open Kanaloa’s secret beyond what she ever could have imagined? If not, all Morgan holds dear will be lost forever.

Daughter to the infamous Captain Ahab, Morgan has searched the world's oceans looking for a way to save her family from the dark squid god Kanaloa. Weeks after she and Ishmael barely escaped from the clutches of Kanaloa on a makeshift raft; she is mysteriously transported away. When she awakes in a strange castle on the Black Sea, she befriends her mysterious host, Vlad, and his housekeeper Helena in the hopes of making her way back to Ishmael. Yet despite the distance, Kanaloa still reaches out to ensnare her in a trap hundreds of years in the making. Like a master chess player, the dark squid god has laid out his pieces in the hopes of gaining what he wants the most–his freedom. To defeat Kanaloa, Morgan must use not only her wits but her newly found powers to travel through the dreamline. With time running out, Morgan must sacrifice everything to save the ones she loves. When Kanaloa's great secret is revealed to her, all that Morgan has fought for is at risk. The decisions and sacrifices she makes will not only affect her life but of Ishmael's and the very world itself.

Thrilling hockey? Check. Coming of age story? Check. Love interest? Check. Military connection? Check. Foreign setting? Check. A powerful story with hidden depths? Check and check! Ahab checks every single box and will stay with you long after you finish it. When Corporal Will Foley, a young U.S. Army paratrooper, is floored by life his hockey-wired brain does what it has been trained to do-get up and get back in the action! But it's just not that easy. Will escapes the monotony and pain of rehab by cheering for his home-town Bruins, and as he fights to save his military career, he finds safe harbor at the local rink. Hockey keeps Will afloat as he struggles to come to terms with his slacker roommate, his sexy girlfriend, and his hard-boiled Boston P.D. father. The story's Bavarian settings-including Munich's legendary Oktoberfest, Grafenwöhr's iconic water tower, and Weiden's raucous hockey arena-are vivid and unforgettable. This remarkable yarn grew out of the author's love of hockey, soldiers, and storytelling. Told from the heart, it's as riveting as a breakaway and as intense as a bench-clearing brawl, while still managing to go beyond being a thrilling hockey adventure by confronting tough, controversial issues head-on. Readers who fell for the brutal honesty of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk will appreciate the unflinching description of Army life, while puck-heads who loved the food, fun, and excitement of Playing for Pizza will revel in the colorful portrayal of Bavarian hockey, food and culture.