Voyage by Sterling Hayden hooked me into sea fiction. Almost the 19th century, a five-masted ship sails from Maine, around the Horn to San Francisco. What a great book about class, men and an iron ship. From there I devoured C. S. Forester, Herman Melville, Jack London, Patrick O’Brian and Joseph Conrad. It was all there. Page after page of adventure rocked me back and forth in characters, places and ships. It was 1976, reading Voyage, I went down to the sea.
My novel, Tramp, is an attempt to experience the phenomena of the sea first hand through my imagination. No greater power exist than the waves upon the ocean. The mystery of the frontier below astounds me. The men who find themselves aboard a mechantman bound for ports unknown fill my thoughts. How could they survive storms, pirates, themselves and the ship? My novel is the adventure I would have had in another life and in another body.
When young I did all my body could. A doctor told me one day I would be in a wheelchair. So I traveled. My days were spent outside when ever possible. The road a new adventure every three months. People came and went as mile markers ticked off. All the while my body gradually locked me down.
COVID 19 kept my escape simmering for a couple years. The last two years Lymphedema illness kept me very sick. If the virus reached me I would become a true ghost writer. Now I am healthy. I am taking physical therapy to regain my strength and muscle tone. Molly is ready to harness and train to dog carting. Soon we will be outside!
Until then my written words will go down to the sea. Enjoy the adventure with me!
Frank Burroughs - Ink Slinger 
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