Akron Public Library

Powerful tale of innocence victimized by harsh reality on the high seas.

When Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon answer a distress call from a research ship, nothing can prepare them for what they find. A strange and dangerous toxin has left the crew helpless, unable to move or speak. And when another attack leaves hundreds more paralysed, Juan and his team must race to find an antidote -before the damage becomes permanent. Their search for answers leads to a Roman soldier's long-lost testimony, revealing ancient...

Looking for adventure and a new life, Ishmael, the story's narrator, decides to find work on a whaling boat. On arriving at the Massachusetts harbour to begin his search, the only bed available is already half occupied by a "cannibal" named Queequeg. Although Queequeg has limited English, a friendship forms and the two men sign up for work together aboard the Pequod under the infamous Captain Ahab. Consumed by an insane rage, Captain Ahab has but...

Exploring a small island off the Washington State coast in 1941, five brothers make an astonishing discovery that is interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor and has ramifications for Cabrillo's present-day investigation into a crashed satellite in the Argentine jungle.

"When the decorated Captain of a great ship descends the gangplank for the final time, a new leader, a man with a yellow feather in his hair, vows to step forward. Though he has no experience, no knowledge of nautical navigation or maritime law, and though he has often remarked he doesn't much like boats, he solemnly swears to shake things up. Together with his band of petty thieves and confidence men known as the Upskirt Boys, the Captain thrills...

"When Cabrillo is hired to extract an undercover operative in Kenya, he finds himself on the trail of a deadly international plot. A Saudi Prince seeks to unleash a deadly assault on U.S. forces, sparking a new war in the Middle East and ultimately destroying Israel. Cabrillo's crew have met their most fearsome adversaries yet: a force of bio-hacked soldiers endowed with extreme strength and stamina and an unquenchable appetite for violence. The Oregon...

Stephanie Lowe decides Maine schooner captain and pirate descendant Ivan Rasmussen deserves to be called Ivan the Terrible. The house she just bought from him is falling apart and possibly haunted. He complains about her fish-eye stew and burnt chocolate chip cookies. He makes fun of her hair after she's had to comb it while using a toaster as a mirror. And on top of that, he has the nerve to be charming, handsome and overboard in love with her. This...

Tully Mars finds himself regretting a decision to help find the missing lens belonging to the Cayo Loco lighthouse, in a madcap, tequila-inspired adventure featuring such characters as Indian shaman Ix-Nay, centenarian Cleopatra Highbourne, and boatman Captain Kirk. The beloved traveler/troubadour offers up a plate of stories from his world of seaplanes, tropical isles, and wayward adventures. A Salty Piece of Land takes readers to a warm beach and...

"Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is considered by many readers to be the Great American Novel. But most don't know that since its appearance in 1851, it has been revised in substantial ways that alter its original meaning. Melville's masterpiece is described as a "fluid text": it exists in multiple versions, each revealing shifting intentions. The new Longman Critical Edition offers unprecedented access to the revisions that Melville made, the further...

Darbury, England, 1814. Amelia Barrett, heiress to an estate nestled in the English moors, defies family expectations and promises to raise her dying friend's baby. She'll risk everything to keep her word -- even to the point of proposing to Graham, the child's father -- a sea captain she's never met.