Out on the Deep Blue: Women, Men, and the Oceans They Fish

by Leslie Leyland Fields (Editor)

This is the first collection of dramatic, first-person accounts of commercial fishing written by the men and women who work in the nation's most dangerous occupation. Nineteen diverse fisher-writers, from the famous to the unknown, take the reader swordfish harpooning on the Georges Banks, winter crabbing in the Bering Sea, sea-urchin diving off Maine, herring fishing in Alaska, shark-harpooning off Scotland and points between. Together, they plumb the extremes of living, working, and sometimes dying at sea, creating the most intensely personal portrait of fishing and fishermen to date.

The best writing on commercial fishing is gathered here, blending the voices of such well-known writers as Peter Mathiessen, Gavin Maxwell, Linda Greenlaw, Spike Walker, and John Cole, together with experienced and emerging writers, many of whom have spent much of their lives on the water. With its layers and rich textures, this collection will have strong, enduring appeal to loves of nonfiction.



Marie Beaver
John Cole
Michael Crowley
Wendy Erd
Leslie Leyland Fields
Robert Fritchey
Joel Gay
Linda Greenlaw
Seth Harkness
Nancy Lord
Peter Mathiessen
Gavin Maxwell
William McCloskey
Paul Molyneaux
Debra Nielsen
Toby Sullivan
Martha Sutro
Joe Upton
Spike Walker

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

When you see her, Leslie may be wearing a silk dress and fishnets or wearing Xtra-Tuff boots and mending fishing nets, depending on whether she’s at her fishcamp in the Alaska wilderness or on a speaking tour “Outside.” She’s happy in both places talking about the books, places and topics that move her most.

She's the multi-award winning author of 12 books, with her 12th forthcoming in April, 2020. (Your Story Matters) Her list includes Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt and the Seas; Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers; The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God (Cascade), Surviving the Island of Grace: A Life on the Wild Edge of America (Thomas Dunne), and Parenting is Your Highest Calling . . . and Eight Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt (Waterbrook), and five others. Her essays have won a number of awards and have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Christianity Today, Beliefnet, Books and Culture, Orion, etc. She takes on garbage, a theology of the body, culture-making, motherhood, narrative theology and points between and beyond. Her essays have won Pushcart nominations, the William Wilberforce Award and the Virginia Faulkner Award.

“As much as I love words on the page, I’m not fully satisfied until I get to speak them in person with others,” Leslie adds. She says she’s honored to travel and share from her passions nationally and internationally at conferences, universities, churches and retreats. With three master’s degrees, she has taught collegiate and undergraduate classes for many years, including six years in Seattle Pacific University’s MFA program. If she can’t see her audience, radio is a good second. She has appeared on more than 150 radio shows including Family Life Today, Prime Time America, Keepin' the Faith, Chris Fabry Live!

Leslie blogs at www.leslieleylandfields.com about life in her house, in the wild and on the road. She lives in Kodiak, Alaska with her husband and two teens. In the summer, her four older children return to their fishcamp island where cell phones don’t work, and where they all happily (sometimes) work together in commercial salmon fishing. You can reach her at leslieleylandfields@gmail.com

Reviews

[Mason]

My reading experience while reading this book was great. The stories from the book are very important to think about and take into consideration. I liked the format of the book and how there wasn’t just one author, there were many. I liked the topic of the stories, they were all related to fishing.

My book helps answer the essential question “how does literature help us to better understand ourselves”.
My book has stories that contain a bigger picture which we can learn from.

“All the charters want to believe they are the first, that this is their particular adventure. For me, it is always the same,
“ (33).

Who would you recommend this book to and why?
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fishing and adventure. It is a great book and really demonstrates how hardwork pays off.

[KRISTIN · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is the editor while each chapter has different author re telling their fishing experiences. This book is liked Hooked that Fields has written except there are stories from around the world. Never take fish for granted, not always an easy catch.

[Manda Seats · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm afraid I had to give up on this one. Don't get me wrong, the stories where well written and very good. I just don't think I was in the right mind frame to read this one when I did, for some reason it just couldn't hold my interest.

I'd still recommend it to anyone that enjoys fishing or nautical stories though.

[Cindy]

Exciting,frank and honest portrail..very hearfelt,very mesmorizing..makes me want to run away and join them..!