BOOK 



MARKE T 



Summer Time 

 and the Reading 

 is Easy 



By P a m Smith 



./\hhh. 



. Summer is here at last. Time to 

 head to the coast for that well-deserved escape 

 from the work-a-day world. 



Don't forget the sun block, a comfortable 

 beach chair — and a sack full of good books. 

 Forget spreadsheets and technical reports. Now 

 is the time to readjust for the fun of it. 



And, there are plenty of books — fictional 

 or factual — to match that coastal state of mind. 



• Saltwater Cowboys. 2004, 



by Bill Morris, John F. Blair, Publisher 

 (Formerly distributed by Coastal Carolina 

 Press); Paperback, $13. ISBN 1-928556-45-0. 



Jump into Down East culture with 

 Saltwater Cowboys by Bill Morris. Fact and 

 fiction run parallel in this well-told story set 

 in Croaker Neck, an imaginary fishing village 

 somewhere east of Beaufort. Folks there eek 

 out their living from seasonal harvests of 

 shrimp, crab, clam and assorted finfish. 



Navigating in challenging weather and 

 regulatory conditions should generate enough 

 drama for Morris' cast of colorful characters. 

 But now, villagers are caught up in a genuine 

 mystery: Sea turtles are "stranding" in curious 

 places — from a hotel hot tub to a country club 

 fountain. 



Nearly everyone is suspect. A federal 

 agent is determined to nab the person 

 or persons responsible for violating the 

 Endangered Species Act. 



Dodge Lawson, whose job is to return 

 stranded or rehabilitated sea turtles to offshore 

 waters, has his hands full sorting out facts 

 from rumors. Solving the mystery could help 

 Lawson win the heart of the beautiful Use, who 

 heads the save-the-turtle effort. 



To make matters worse, finger pointing is 

 pushing animosities between commercial and 

 recreational anglers to a boiling point. 



Trouble travels to Raleigh, 

 where commercial fishers arrive 

 by bus and boat-pulling pick-ups 

 to rally state legislators' support 

 for their endangered way of 

 life. Coincidentally, a group of 

 recreational anglers is holding a 

 fund-raiser at a nearby, swank 

 country club — with a fountain 

 fit for a sea turtle. 



Morris has done his 

 homework to set the stage for 

 Saltwater Cowboys. He portrays 

 the culture, the people, the 

 fisheries, the gear, as well as the 

 issues. 



His characters — some comical, 

 some tragic — endear themselves to 

 readers: Johnny Bollard, a respected 

 shrimper and spokesperson for the 

 commercial fishing community; Digger 

 Davis, a charterboat skipper who has his 

 own legal troubles; Pogy, the sometime 

 fisher and would-be mystic; Gus Ridge, 

 a sportfishing enthusiast; and the Yankee 

 filmmaker and his anthropologist girlfriend, 

 who say they are searching for traces of the 

 legendary Lost Colony, albeit a bit off-course. 



The action-filled saga makes for an 

 entertaining day at the beach. 



• Fish House Opera. 2003, by 



Susan West and Barbara J. Garrity-Blake; 

 Mystic Seaport Press; Paperback, $14. ISBN 

 0-913372-99-4. 



Fish House Opera by Susan West and 

 Barbara Garrity-Blake is a "must read" for 

 anyone seeking an understanding of the 

 issues that beset fishing families along North 

 Carolina's coast. 



It's a book that has plenty of real-life 



characters, 

 dramas, conflicts, politics and 

 issues — including the protection of endangered 

 or threatened sea turtles. 



West, an Outer Banks writer, married into 

 the politics of commercial fishing. Her husband, 

 Rob West, fishes commercially out of Hatteras 

 Village. She cut her teeth on fisheries issues as 



28 HIGH SEASON 2005 



