Let's face it. About 75 percent of the world is covered in water - and of that water nearly 97 percent of it can be found in the sea. Maritimers will tell you that there is a story for every wave that has ever washed upon the shoreline. Here are seven of them.

"In the Dark and the Deep" offers a very haunting yarn of World War 2 convoy duty and a sailor who made and kept a terrible bargain.

"Harry's Mermaid" introduces you to a group of homeless men who catch something that MIGHT be a mermaid. If that doesn't tell you enough about this story just try and imagine what Steinbeck's Cannery Row would read like if it had been written by HP Lovecraft.

"I Know Why the Waters of the Sea Taste of Salt" is a tale of an Okinawa-based Japanese Air Force suicide pilot and his encounter with a sea monster - of sorts.

"Finbar's Story" is a dark fantasy tale of the deeper currents that eddy and flow within the deep quiet currents of a man's cold heart.

"The Woman Who Lost Her Tooth From Laughing Too Loudly at the Sea" is a quiet little fable of salt water, tears, and regret.

"Between You-Know-Who and the Deep Dark Blue" is a story of the last bargain on earth.

This collection begins with a bargain and ends with a bargain. Sounds like a heck of a bargain to me.

What folks are saying about Steve Vernon's writing:

"If Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch had a three-way sex romp in a hot tub, and then a team of scientists came in and filtered out the water and mixed the leftover DNA into a test tube, the resulting genetic experiment would most likely grow up into Steve Vernon." (Bookgasm) "Steve Vernon is something of an anomaly in the world of horror literature. He's one of the freshest new voices in the genre although his career has spanned twenty years. Writing with a rare swagger and confidence, Steve Vernon can lead his readers through an entire gamut of emotions from outright fear and repulsion to pity and laughter." (Cemetery Dance)