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A
FURNACE AFLOAT: Format: Hardcover
Endorsements:
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"A FURNACE
AFLOAT is so skillfully written I felt as if I were adrift with the
ill-fated sailors of the Hornet as they faced starvation, madness,
sharks, and the biggest threat of all -- each other -- in their epic
struggle to survive. Much like The Perfect Storm, this is a compelling
account of rugged men fighting to endure in a life-and-death battle with
a most unforgiving opponent -- the open sea. Read it and you won't be
disappointed!" --Pete Earley Author of The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison "An extraordinary story,
beautifully told. Jackson wears his research lightly but he has an
unerring eye for the telling phrase and the significant detail, while
his mastery of the historical context and the undercurrents of class and
race bubbling below the surface, illuminates a narrative of
ever-mounting drama and tension." "Joe Jackson has
written a spellbinding castaway saga that vividly recaptures the 1866
disaster of an American clipper ship swallowed up by a fire at sea. A
Furnace Afloat--in the nautical tradition of Herman Melville, Jack
London, and Herman Wouk--is a hair-raising narrative that is impossible
to put down. A true triumph in historical recreation." "A wrenching story of man against man as well as of man against sea.
Jackson tells of the near-mystical effects of castaways' suffering at nature's hands, but he also gives chillingly clinical descriptions of
that suffering's effects on the body, the mind, and human interaction. This is a worthy meditation on the limits of physical and mental
endurance, set against the backdrop of the world's largest and cruelest of oceans."
"Another in a
recent string of stories of things gone awry at sea--though with a smart
spin that makes it better than most of the lot.....Good stuff for those who
like their disaster-at-sea tales flavored with ideas." from the UK: "Jackson
has done an impressive job of fleshing out the bones of a story that has
been drawn almost entirely from diary entries. Being able to transform a
month of monotony into a book that continually holds your interest is no
mean feat, and A Furnace Afloat is an intriguing testament to both the
author's skill and the human spirit." "The
clinical detail may be too much for some, but it all serves Jackson's moral
-- that in so-called civilisation we are never far from danger. . . . almost
thermonuclear in its devastation." "In
a gripping story of disaster and triumph, pain and renewal, prayer and
perfidy, the most chilling aspect is that in the most awful of
circumstances, man clings to the differences of life as he faces the
ultimate democracy of death." "A
Furnace Afloat is richly written and its author seems to have something
interesting to say on virtually every topic raised by his harrowing story. .
. . His book manages to combine the high authority of an encyclopedic work
of history with the page-turning excitement of an adventure
story."
(for DEAD RUN) "Burke and Jackson offer a gripping inside look at the
life usually hidden behind prison walls and a frightening indictment of
the criminal justice system." "Dennis Stockton
is quite likely to become famous posthumously as a result of this superb
book." "There's more
than enough intrigue, action, and disturbing comedy to fill several
thrillers, but Dead Run is a true story of a man who refused to sit
still and wait for the hour of his death." "Dead Run, unlike
other books by inmates, employees or outsiders, provides an authentic,
verified, objective view of the prison world." "Readers looking
for a true-crime story that reaches for broader themes... will find one
in Dead Run." "Uplifting and
depressing in equal measures I was moved by this book to once again
protest against the Death Penalty. If there is to be any sense in
Stockton's death maybe this is it."
Dramatic Rights: Contact Lukeman |
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