Fiction
You can sample these books by clicking the cover images below. Inside the preview that opens, you'll find a link to the book on Amazon.com in the upper, left corner — for purchase. If you prefer to sample my works free, sign up for the newsletter in the footer at the bottom of any page on this site for access.
Novel-In-Stories
Sea Goddess
Love :: Fishing :: The Blue Pacific
Joseph Riden
CLICK IMAGE TO PREVIEW BOOK
From early 1986 through the end of 1991, my lifelong friend Nancy and I enjoyed ocean sport fishing from a diesel trawler out of San Diego, CA. We had many adventures with Tin Hau, a historic vessel. She was among the last of the production wooden trawlers, a Grand Banks 32 woody built by American Marine in their Singapore yard in 1966, before the fire that destroyed that facility.
Tin Hau was cosmetically and structurally restored to like-new condition during the decade before we acquired her. We re-named her after the Chinese sea goddess who was depicted on her manufacturer's medallion. To us, this lovely and stalwart vessel was much more than a boat. She seemed almost alive to us. She became like a family member.
The main characters of Sea Goddess include the gorgeous and talented Jess, who was inspired by my former wife and lifelong friend, Nancy, who never quite outgrew her tomboy phase and who loved fishing with her Dad as a kid, as I did. And Evan, her husband, is my alter ego, an engineer and writer with outdoorsy inclination who grew up fishing in Florida.
We fished and cruised on Tin Hau extensively in the ocean around San Diego, CA, to 100 miles and more offshore. This book is a novel, a fictionalized collection of experiences that we actually lived. The story is augmented and recast as fiction and written in a contemporary, literary style. Rather than writing memoir, I saw the opportunity for a more engaging story as fiction. Some chapters recount fishing adventures and others, some precarious situations, along with many sweet joys of life afloat.
I have sport fishing in my blood and clearly, so does Nancy, who out-fished all our guy friends regularly. One of my uncles was Frank O'Brien, the founder of Tycoon Tackle, a famous, old-school sportfishing tackle manufacturer. Uncle Frank was a contemporary of Hemingway and Faulkner. He was inducted into the IGFA Hall of Fame to honor his fishing and tackle-building accomplishments. Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway preferred Tycoon brand tackle for his fishing exploits.
Each chapter in Sea Goddess was planned to stand alone as a short story or to be a chapter in a continuing narrative. I've even included of a few of our favorite seafood recipes because we consumed what we caught or gifted it to others who loved seafood.
This book is available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.
Short Stories
The Prodigy
Joseph Riden
5-star REVIEW on Readers’ Favorite
CLICK IMAGE TO PREVIEW STORY
"The Prodigy" is a fiction story of about 7,500 words. It's set in the mid-1950s, postwar era. It's the story of a young boy named Jordy who faced frustrating challenges, especially at school, because he was gifted with prodigious intelligence and intense curiosity. These qualities often made Jordy feel, look, and act differently from other kids.
His behavior attracted unwanted attention, sometimes in ways that caused trouble, when all he really wanted to do was learn about, read, and write about all of the things he found fascinating in the world. Along the way, he faced physical danger, temptations, difficult people, helpful folks, and some satisfaction. But how would he find his rightful place in the world?
Read the story now to follow Jordy's adventures and discover how it all went. Available on Amazon.com as a Kindle ebook HERE.
The Rocket
Joseph Riden
Five Star Review on Readers Favorite
CLICK IMAGE TO PREVIEW STORY
The Rocket is a fiction story of about 3,800 words. It's about a middle-school lad named Harley who was frustrated about his family situation. The story takes place in the late 1950's in the US Deep South. Harley never got the time and attention that he longed for from his Father. His younger brother looked a lot like his Dad. This annoyed Harley because he wanted to be just like his Father but he knew he never could.
The two brothers and their Mom lived a comfortable life in a pleasant home. They all had everything they needed and a lot that they wanted. But Harley suffered discontent continually, until the day when he started making progress with his new project, a model rocket inspired by the launch of Sputnik One, the first earth satellite, launched by the Russians in 1957. Harley's space-crazy project progressed until he started testing his rocket fuel, then things became complicated.
Read the story now to find out how things progressed and how they eventually turned out. It's available on Amazon as a Kindle ebook, HERE
