Books by M J Sullivan

THREE-STRAND CORDAGE is about delivering sailboats from what was, in the 1950s and early '60s, the quiet town of Fort Lauderdale, to the scattered and lonely Bahamas, the sleepy ports of the Caribbean, and the laughter, violence and sensuality that surfaces after sunset. The three strands winding this cordage are interwoven tales of those times, life-molding adventures told by a now-old man questing for a haven in the Florida of today. It's a sailing yarn of pursuit from the Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles, of being caught up in a friend's relentless and ultimately bloody rescue of a mysterious young woman. It's the harsh lessons woven around the illusions, tropical intrigues and betrayals of Tampa's anti-Castro Cubans in 1960. And it's the terrifying narrative of sailing into a hurricane. But finally, Three-Strand Cordage is the lost smell of wooden boats and manila rope and canvas sail, the foolishness of young men and the blind stubbornness of old men, acceptance and love and closure, and the magic Floridas that now are gone -all gone - save, of course, for the ghosts.