• READ THE REVIEW IN NATIONAL FISHERMAN MAGAZINE

• READ THE REVIEW IN POINTS EAST: THE MAGAZINE OF COASTAL NEW ENGLAND

• READ THE GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES ARTICLE

• RESOURCES FOR PUBLICATIONS, REVIEWERS AND BOOKSTORES

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
F/V Black Sheep is now available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com and Readers Comments are coming in. Here's what they have to say:

From The Hull Truth Discussion Board:
Jay A., July 28, 2006
This is a perfect book for the The Hull Truth crowd!
If you like hy-jinks with the "coasties".... you'll like this book!
If you want to know how to kill wharf rats.... you'll like this book!
If you want to know what happens when you take your maiden voyage of your new boat alone across open ocean ....you'll like this book!
If you want to know how to lower the price of your next purchase(If you're buying a boat in Nova Scotia) ....you'll like this book!
If you want to know what happens when an empty tanker tries to run you down 100 miles offshore...You'll like this book!
If you want to know what happens when you rescue a female wind surfer....You'll like this book!
If you want to know great ways to play jokes on tourists...You'll like this book!
Did I say I like this book?

From Barnes & Noble:
A reviewer, July 6, 2006, Five Stars
Great Summer Read!
This is a book to bring to the beach, to the lake, or just lay about with. It is well written, and a pleasure to read. The stories are entertaining and thought provoking, and you can picture yourself on the stern of the boat, with the wind in your hair and the smell of bait in your nose.
Also recommended: Ten hours till Dawn. Dead Men Tapping: The end of the HEater Lynn
Lobster Luvr, A reviewer, June 25, 2006, Four Stars
Very entertaining read...
I got to read a preview copy of this book and found it highly entertaining. Williams is a Gloucester lobsterman who sure knows that world. Some of the first chapters about his life as a kid in Gloucester are real good but his best stuff is when he talks about fishing and nature. The ending is amazing. This is very different from The Perfect Storm, another book about Gloucester fishermen, but is a lot more humorous and has a better ending. Most of the stories can be read on their own which I liked too. Good, entertaining read with lots of action.
Also recommended: The Perfect Storm

And from Amazon.com:
F/V Black Sheep, July 10, 2006 - Four Stars
Reviewer: Breakwater (USA)
Books have been written about Gloucester,men of the sea,law enforcement and growing up in a blue collar town.This book has a bit of all that thrown in with a combination of imagination and background only this author could generate.Life according to Mark... and there is nothing wrong with that. Recolection married with real time is a great combination with this read!

Another worthy addition to the New England Fishing Genre, July 7, 2006
Reviewer: A Satisfied Reader - Four Stars
F/V Black Sheep is not like The Perfect Storm and not like The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles. This is the story of a guy who grew up on a beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts and became a lobsterman. You can smell the salt water and hear the waves on every page. It starts out when Williams was a rebellious kid working for his father in a fish-packing plant on the waterfront. It takes the reader through his first, formative years into his life working on the Atlantic ocean. It has adventure, humor, an intimate knowledge of the natural world, wisdom, keen observation, and some great, frightening parts.

Williams writes very well. His style is clear, concise and humorous with a poetic sense of the world. There were a few sections, particularly in the fight scenes in the early stories, where there is considerable exaggeration but when you remember they are told from the perspective of a 12 year old, it is understandable. His best story from his early years is Little League, an excellent story about a boy put to the test. Williams' respect and love for his father is genuine, palpable and makes the first half of the book very poignant.

The second half of the book is about his life as a fisherman. While he writes with attention to detail and acute observation about the natural world, his attempts at romance are the weakest parts. The women he has trysts with seem like fantasies, with one interesting exception. Though his girlfriends come off as unbelievable, in one unforgettable story he personifies heroin as a beautiful snake-woman trying to seduce him. This description is so seductive it had me nailed to the page. He is at his best in Fog Birds, The 10:21 Wave, White Squall, and other stories that are both exciting and give a genuine sense of the world he lived in. His story Garand Afternoon is so powerful it left me shaking. I also appreciated The Old Soldier about a World War II veteran he meets. The end of the book is unforgettable.

All in all, I found this a book of high merit by a writer of considerable skill. I hope he will continue to refine his talents and write more.

Exciting and interesting, June 27, 2006, Four Stars
Reviewer: Book FANatic
This is a good book about the day to day life of a real New England lobster man. It starts out with some stories about the author's life as a kid growing up in Gloucester. His stories about working for his dad in a fish packing plant and playing baseball are funny and entertaining but the best part is later in the book when he tells stories from his fishing days. I especially liked the ones where he talked about big storms and things that he pulled up in his traps. If you read The Perfect Storm you know about the way they write the names of fishermen who get killed on their boats on the wall so the part at the end where he goes to see the place on the wall where his name would have gone is especially moving. His writing is very clear and clean. I read the whole book in two days so it certainly kept my interest. I never realized how dangerous the lives of lobstermen are. I knew fishermen went way out but some of these stories are scary. Good job.

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