The Ghost Trap Makes It Onto a "Best of 2011" List
Thanks to the CA book review blog, BookedInChico, The Ghost Trap got a nod in 2011 (even though it was published two years earlier--but hey, I'll take it!)
Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
I excitedly won The Ghost Trap by K. Stephens from The Next Best Book Blog’s giveaway, where we discussed with the author about her novel. This was such a fantastic experience for me to kick off my book blog. I was intrigued by the story before I started but was wary if I would like it in the end. The verdict? I loved it! It was such an amazing story, where I really fell in love with the characters. Such a great way to kick off a book blog! Thanks again Lori and K. Stephens!
Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?
I excitedly won The Ghost Trap by K. Stephens from The Next Best Book Blog’s giveaway, where we discussed with the author about her novel. This was such a fantastic experience for me to kick off my book blog. I was intrigued by the story before I started but was wary if I would like it in the end. The verdict? I loved it! It was such an amazing story, where I really fell in love with the characters. Such a great way to kick off a book blog! Thanks again Lori and K. Stephens!
Shop Local This Holiday: Support A Maine Author
I'm one of the 99%...who works hard for my royalties. Ha! So are these other fine Maine authors, who all happen to have lobstering as a theme in their nonfiction or fictional titles. Support a Maine author this holiday and bring a piece of the place you love so much into your home and bookshelves! (And if you can buy from an independent bookstore--even better!)
Hull Creek by Jim Nichols
Nichols (author of Slow Monkeys) delivers a lively yarn about Maine lobstermen facing down times both hard and modern.
"Hull Creek is a devastating indictment of the forces that can and do ally to try to separate a hard-working Mainer from his multi-generational family home, but it's not a piece of message fiction. It's way beyond that; it's a great story..." --Nancy Griffin, The Free Press
"Hull Creek is a devastating indictment of the forces that can and do ally to try to separate a hard-working Mainer from his multi-generational family home, but it's not a piece of message fiction. It's way beyond that; it's a great story..." --Nancy Griffin, The Free Press
Well Out To Sea by Eva Murray
"If you're looking for a rabid, swashbuckling tell-all account of maritime outlaws or cut-throat lobstermen, you won't be very impressed. Yes, a rough side of this community exists, but in order to live here happily, I avoid cultivating fear. The same boys who might sprinkle roofing nails in a man's driveway, if they get mad enough, will rush to the same fellow's aid when he's in real danger, and that's the truth." Eva Murray
Bootleggers, Lobstermen & Lumberjacks: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of Hanrdscrabble New England by Matthew P. Mayo
The story of New England is built on an endless armature of fascinating tales of Yankee ingenuity and intrepid characters, and this book brings together the top fifty wildest among them -- shipwreck victims surviving any way they could; Indian, pirate, and shark attacks; cougar and bear attacks; and, of course, rum runners and bootleggers doing what they do best.
The Lobster Gangs of Maine by James M. Acheson
Following a general discussion and history of the fishery, the author moves into a discussion of kinship and community-the relationships and interactions between the citizens and their local towns and the problems of "outsiders" in moving into and integrating into the established community.
"The book is wonderfully entertaining, and the information it contained agreed with everything I have learned during a decade of summers on the Maine coast"--Wall Street Journal
"The book is wonderfully entertaining, and the information it contained agreed with everything I have learned during a decade of summers on the Maine coast"--Wall Street Journal
August 31--Jackson Memorial Library Tenant's Harbor, 7 PM
Rockland — Author K. Stephens will present a multimedia program titled Between Fact and Fiction: The Subculture of Maine Lobstermen Wednesday, Aug. 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Jackson Memorial Library in Tenant's Harbor.
Stephens will stage an engaging presentation from her 2009 novel "The Ghost Trap," which follows the haunting story of Jamie Eugley, a young lobsterman struggling with the grinding responsibilities of a head-injured fiancée and mounting trap wars in a fictional setting based around Tenants Harbor, Spruce Head, Port Clyde and Friendship. "The Ghost Trap" is a modern tale with an old-fashioned hero who puts family and heritage before self.
Stephens, a long-term Midcoast resident, spent eight years researching and writing the background for the novel with James Acheson, author of "The Lobster Gangs of Maine," and several lobstermen, including "Survivor" contestant Zoe Zanidakis, serving as consultants on its accuracy. Featured on MPBN’s “Maine Things Considered” and Time Warner Cable’s “Maine Street,” "The Ghost Trap" has received multiple awards and Publishers Weekly calls it "A rugged and tender tale."
Stephens has teamed up with fourth-generation Maine lobsterman Ryan Post, creator of the educational DVD "Maine Buggin" that gives the inside scoop on how lobster traps work, how they are caught and how invisible territory lines are drawn. Stephens will splice fictional excerpts with documentary-style video clips for a fast, exciting presentation for those interested in the hard-working lifestyle that goes with Maine lobster fishing.
Stephens will stage an engaging presentation from her 2009 novel "The Ghost Trap," which follows the haunting story of Jamie Eugley, a young lobsterman struggling with the grinding responsibilities of a head-injured fiancée and mounting trap wars in a fictional setting based around Tenants Harbor, Spruce Head, Port Clyde and Friendship. "The Ghost Trap" is a modern tale with an old-fashioned hero who puts family and heritage before self.
Stephens, a long-term Midcoast resident, spent eight years researching and writing the background for the novel with James Acheson, author of "The Lobster Gangs of Maine," and several lobstermen, including "Survivor" contestant Zoe Zanidakis, serving as consultants on its accuracy. Featured on MPBN’s “Maine Things Considered” and Time Warner Cable’s “Maine Street,” "The Ghost Trap" has received multiple awards and Publishers Weekly calls it "A rugged and tender tale."
Stephens has teamed up with fourth-generation Maine lobsterman Ryan Post, creator of the educational DVD "Maine Buggin" that gives the inside scoop on how lobster traps work, how they are caught and how invisible territory lines are drawn. Stephens will splice fictional excerpts with documentary-style video clips for a fast, exciting presentation for those interested in the hard-working lifestyle that goes with Maine lobster fishing.
And summer has started....
62 book orders just came in from Boothbay Harbor, Camden, Freeport, and Bar Harbor. That's a lot to come in all at once. I'm thinking this has got to be my #1 champion bookstore in Maine, Sherman's Books and Stationery!
Update: 'Tis Sherman's and a few orders from Page One in Boothbay Harbor.
Update: 'Tis Sherman's and a few orders from Page One in Boothbay Harbor.
Sample Q & A from Goodreads Book Club on The Ghost Trap
Life on a lobster boat
The following is some back and forth discussion on The Ghost Trap, the characters and Maine itself from the Goodreads book club in April. 2011.
Donna wrote: "I am really enjoying the sound of the books. The voices are real and true and they are the things that regular (?) people sound like. Of course I love Jamie and I love how he is different but still the same. Does that make sense???"
Krystal wrote: Nah. Totally makes sense. That's one of the things I like about the book, along with the whole gritty feel of the countryside and lobstering community.
Someone mentioned the whole Jamie/Anja relationship thing, and how sometimes Jamie's reactions to Anja aren't always exactly civil or something. I totally agree with K here. That's just real. I've got a cousin in her early twenties who cares for her ailing mother 24/7. To say it's hard work is an understatement. And it's natural for that kind of stress to cause people to lash out or say unkind things.
Anyway. I'm not that incredibly far into the book, but I'm making my way through. It's not my usual read, but I am enjoying it.
Erica wrote: I really like your perspective. I think this is why I enjoy this book so much; the relationships are so complicated. I think this added to what others have said earlier. I do enjoy that this novel does allow for male sympathy and doesn't just bash Jamie.
K wrote: I was told by my publisher she didn't even realize I was female until after they'd accepted the manuscript--they thought this book had been written by a man. To some degree, with the material and characters I was working with, I took this as a compliment. Not because I think men make better writers than women, but because as a female, I didn't want to get stereotyped with any "man-bashing" or overly emotional scenes. If lobstermen were going to read this (and many have) I wanted them to feel that these characters were real, were flawed and yet, people they could identify with. As it turns out, half my readership on this novel has been men. And I've been told, "I feel like these guys are one of us, like they could be living and working in this community." On the other hand, I've learned along the way, with women being the primary reading audience in the U.S, many editors just don't want an overly male-driven plot and/or characters. So with Anja's situation and with a few strong female characters (Donna, Carolyn, Happy), I tried to strike an even balance.
Nina wrote: How did you get involved in the lobstering community and how did the research process work?
K wrote: Short answer: "With extreme diplomacy." Having moved here "from away" in the mid 1990s (that's Maine-speak for someone whose grandparents weren't born here) I found myself in a quaint little harbor town eager to scratch the surface of what the Chamber of Commerce brochures were marketing. In other words, the romantic Maine, the kind of place you might see portrayed in chicklit novels about "escaping it all and moving to a Maine island," was not entirely my experience here. Well, sort of. Let's say some of the time it was. But at my favorite watering hole, I came into contact with a much more interesting archetype: the Maine fisherman. Usually, this type of guy was unshaven, boisterously cheerful and full of hell or quiet, reserved and full of life-altering stories on the water. So as I say in my bio, "after a beer or three" I got to be friends with a few of them. And because I was a journalism major, all I ever did is ask questions. At the time I was starting to formulate a loose plot (around 2000)-- no one else had really written about this subject in a fictional setting, except for "Eat, Pray, Love" author, Elizabeth Gilbert, who'd written her own version of trap wars in the compelling novel Stern Men. Apparently Gilbert (who wasn't from Maine) had hired Mainers to take her to an island so she could interview people for her book, according to those I've talked to who served as her "ambassador." Even though I had friends in the business, this wasn't a community that wanted to just hang their business out for all to see! Maine lobstering communities are notoriously TIGHT and similar to the Amish in that they have interacted as a subculture within the overall mainstream community for centuries. On the water, they serve as their own police, more often than not, and are well regarded for their ethical and sustainable fishing practices created a couple of hundred ago. So with extreme diplomacy, I researched and recorded everything I could get my hands on for about 8 years (newspaper articles, books, personal accounts, etc.) and promised those who told me true stories about illegal and underground wars they personally witnessed or experienced that I wouldn't use real names, dates or identifiable situations. You will see on my website's blog "Inside The Lobstering Life" there's an email from one such lobsterman who, on the condition of anonymity, gave me the tactics, the motivations and the archetypes of the "players"--which became the backbone of main characters Jamie Eugley, his father, James, Jamie's best friend, Thongchai and the community "Godfather" --Don Thatcher.
So, that's really how the structural part of the novel came together (the truly most difficult part--I won't lie--I had no interest in knowing how a lobster trap winch/hauler worked--but so I didn't sound like an IDIOT, I researched the hell out of it). After the novel was published, I was told I didn't get the exact elements of the cribbage scene right but hey, I'll live.
You can see more of the online discussion here.
Donna wrote: "I am really enjoying the sound of the books. The voices are real and true and they are the things that regular (?) people sound like. Of course I love Jamie and I love how he is different but still the same. Does that make sense???"
Krystal wrote: Nah. Totally makes sense. That's one of the things I like about the book, along with the whole gritty feel of the countryside and lobstering community.
Someone mentioned the whole Jamie/Anja relationship thing, and how sometimes Jamie's reactions to Anja aren't always exactly civil or something. I totally agree with K here. That's just real. I've got a cousin in her early twenties who cares for her ailing mother 24/7. To say it's hard work is an understatement. And it's natural for that kind of stress to cause people to lash out or say unkind things.
Anyway. I'm not that incredibly far into the book, but I'm making my way through. It's not my usual read, but I am enjoying it.
Erica wrote: I really like your perspective. I think this is why I enjoy this book so much; the relationships are so complicated. I think this added to what others have said earlier. I do enjoy that this novel does allow for male sympathy and doesn't just bash Jamie.
K wrote: I was told by my publisher she didn't even realize I was female until after they'd accepted the manuscript--they thought this book had been written by a man. To some degree, with the material and characters I was working with, I took this as a compliment. Not because I think men make better writers than women, but because as a female, I didn't want to get stereotyped with any "man-bashing" or overly emotional scenes. If lobstermen were going to read this (and many have) I wanted them to feel that these characters were real, were flawed and yet, people they could identify with. As it turns out, half my readership on this novel has been men. And I've been told, "I feel like these guys are one of us, like they could be living and working in this community." On the other hand, I've learned along the way, with women being the primary reading audience in the U.S, many editors just don't want an overly male-driven plot and/or characters. So with Anja's situation and with a few strong female characters (Donna, Carolyn, Happy), I tried to strike an even balance.
Nina wrote: How did you get involved in the lobstering community and how did the research process work?
K wrote: Short answer: "With extreme diplomacy." Having moved here "from away" in the mid 1990s (that's Maine-speak for someone whose grandparents weren't born here) I found myself in a quaint little harbor town eager to scratch the surface of what the Chamber of Commerce brochures were marketing. In other words, the romantic Maine, the kind of place you might see portrayed in chicklit novels about "escaping it all and moving to a Maine island," was not entirely my experience here. Well, sort of. Let's say some of the time it was. But at my favorite watering hole, I came into contact with a much more interesting archetype: the Maine fisherman. Usually, this type of guy was unshaven, boisterously cheerful and full of hell or quiet, reserved and full of life-altering stories on the water. So as I say in my bio, "after a beer or three" I got to be friends with a few of them. And because I was a journalism major, all I ever did is ask questions. At the time I was starting to formulate a loose plot (around 2000)-- no one else had really written about this subject in a fictional setting, except for "Eat, Pray, Love" author, Elizabeth Gilbert, who'd written her own version of trap wars in the compelling novel Stern Men. Apparently Gilbert (who wasn't from Maine) had hired Mainers to take her to an island so she could interview people for her book, according to those I've talked to who served as her "ambassador." Even though I had friends in the business, this wasn't a community that wanted to just hang their business out for all to see! Maine lobstering communities are notoriously TIGHT and similar to the Amish in that they have interacted as a subculture within the overall mainstream community for centuries. On the water, they serve as their own police, more often than not, and are well regarded for their ethical and sustainable fishing practices created a couple of hundred ago. So with extreme diplomacy, I researched and recorded everything I could get my hands on for about 8 years (newspaper articles, books, personal accounts, etc.) and promised those who told me true stories about illegal and underground wars they personally witnessed or experienced that I wouldn't use real names, dates or identifiable situations. You will see on my website's blog "Inside The Lobstering Life" there's an email from one such lobsterman who, on the condition of anonymity, gave me the tactics, the motivations and the archetypes of the "players"--which became the backbone of main characters Jamie Eugley, his father, James, Jamie's best friend, Thongchai and the community "Godfather" --Don Thatcher.
So, that's really how the structural part of the novel came together (the truly most difficult part--I won't lie--I had no interest in knowing how a lobster trap winch/hauler worked--but so I didn't sound like an IDIOT, I researched the hell out of it). After the novel was published, I was told I didn't get the exact elements of the cribbage scene right but hey, I'll live.
You can see more of the online discussion here.
Ask a Lobsterman
A lobsterman and his beautiful sternman
If you've read the book or are interested in reading it, you'll find (as I did) that the subculture of lobstering is fascinating--not just the day to day lifestyle of never having to clock in, but the ways the people in the tight-knit communities view the world. Here's your chance to ask a lobsterman a question during the month of April as The Ghost Trap is featured on Goodreads.com
The best fan letter I've ever gotten
Hal Learnard, who you might remember as the winner of the "Best Maine Expressions" contest (see his entry here) received his complimentary copy of The Ghost Trap. This is the card I got in the mail Saturday.
"Hey K.
As soon as I saw this card I knew exactly who I had to send it to. I enjoyed your book a great deal. I must admit, I was hoping for a "happily ever after" ending but that wouldn't be reality. After spending a couple of summers on 700 Acre Island, I know your character descriptions were right on the money. Again, really enjoyed the book and am anxiously awaiting your next one! Best of luck, Hal
PS I can offer one piece of critique. In cribbage, only five cards are dealt when playing four-handed.
PPS The picture shows what happens when you don't turn the button.
"Hey K.
As soon as I saw this card I knew exactly who I had to send it to. I enjoyed your book a great deal. I must admit, I was hoping for a "happily ever after" ending but that wouldn't be reality. After spending a couple of summers on 700 Acre Island, I know your character descriptions were right on the money. Again, really enjoyed the book and am anxiously awaiting your next one! Best of luck, Hal
PS I can offer one piece of critique. In cribbage, only five cards are dealt when playing four-handed.
PPS The picture shows what happens when you don't turn the button.
How To Have Fun On A Book Tour
A glimpse into a year of taking The Ghost Trap and Maine Buggin on the road in Maine. Yeah, I'd do it all over again.
Discovery Channel Came To Rockland to Film The Lobster Trap Tree
photo and story: Daniel Dunkle, Village Soup
Setting up this particular tree is so not the way my grandfather used to MacGyver our artificial tree on a couple of scotches and a cigar two days before Christmas.
The Discovery Channel sailed into Rockland Friday, Nov. 19 to film the building of the Lobster Trap Christmas Tree--an annual fixture in Rockland's holiday celebrations since 2003. Usually 15 to 30 volunteers help in the construction of the tree including helpers from the business community, Atlantic Challenge and the U.S. Coast Guard.The official tree lighting ceremony will still be held Friday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. The special is expected to air on The Learning Channel.
Click to read the full story.
The Discovery Channel sailed into Rockland Friday, Nov. 19 to film the building of the Lobster Trap Christmas Tree--an annual fixture in Rockland's holiday celebrations since 2003. Usually 15 to 30 volunteers help in the construction of the tree including helpers from the business community, Atlantic Challenge and the U.S. Coast Guard.The official tree lighting ceremony will still be held Friday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. The special is expected to air on The Learning Channel.
Click to read the full story.
Ghosts on the Coast
Among Maine fishermen there are legends of spectres, particularly the story of The Hascall, as told in The Ghost Trap.
To read more of the legend of the ghostly Hascall
To read more of the legend of the ghostly Hascall
Lobster, Wine and Chocolate Coming Up October 10, 2010
The Women of Waldo County (WOW!) are pleased to announce an afternoon filled with good friends and good stories as we join local author K. Stephens to discuss her book, The Ghost Trap. We will gather at the Cellar door winery on Sunday October 10th, 2010 from 12pm-3pm fora complimentary wine and chocolate pairing with the silky chocolates of Black Dinah Chocolatiers and wine from Cellardoor Winery.
Lobster Wars...Explained
This is an excellent understanding of the roots behind lobster wars--or what I usually refer to as trap wars--by Tony Ronzio.
Did You See The Ghost Trap's latest review?
This one, from
D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY)
on Amazon, nails the elements of the novel.
Burdened by the hard knocks of life in a Maine town populated by families who have been in the lobstering trade for several generations, Jamie Eugley is a man with a good heart and an explosive temper. He so wants to do the right thing, but as often as not, he can shatter his best intentions with an outburst that results almost immediately in regrets and repercussions. He lives with the worries of his hand-to-mouth business and the oppressive responsibilities of caring for Anja, a former girlfriend who has been seriously incapacitated by a head trauma (the cause of which is unveiled some way into the book) and whom he has sworn never to abandon. His lifelong friends bring him amusement and loyalty tinged with occasional embarrassment. He has almost surrendered to the tyrannical drudgery of his so-called life when he meets a bohemian, tomboyish hippie chick named (of all things) Happy.
At times, Jamie reminds me of a character from a Halldor Laxness novel--a faintly loutish but likable hero intrigued by the cosmopolitan world outside his small-town surroundings yet aware that he could never be a part of it. When he goes to the rich-kids rave at which he meets Happy, he is surprised that they are "sociable and accepting, even of him in his blue work shirt," yet he realizes that it "wouldn't be the other way around." A few years earlier, he had even attempted an escape that brought him to the Portland on America's other coast, but it didn't take him long to realize he will always be a modern-day yeoman and, discouraged and broke, he returned home. Yet that longing for something different sets him apart from his friends--his dalliance with Happy only rekindles the hunger--and it's this conflict between the world of realities and the world of possibilities that will result in tragedy and, ultimately, his redemption. Jamie isn't just a lobsterman, he's Everyman who has ever wanted to be more than he is.
"The Ghost Trap" is not just a good read, it is an excellent novel--and I'm almost ready to proclaim it as the best work of contemporary fiction that I've read this year. (It's certainly the best debut.) Stephens's knack for plotting is enhanced by her ear for impeccable dialogue (both local and urban) and by authentic interior monologue: her portrayal of Happy is so dead-on that I felt like I knew her, and some passages simply awed me with their lyrical precision. There are as many hilarious moments as poignant ones--yet the novel never once stoops to sentimentality. And there's enough of a plot--involving a mystery set off by decades-long territorial feuds between lobstermen--to satisfy the reader expecting more than a character study. Stephens has given her deeply flawed saint a life worth examining.
D. Cloyce Smith (Brooklyn, NY)
on Amazon, nails the elements of the novel.
Burdened by the hard knocks of life in a Maine town populated by families who have been in the lobstering trade for several generations, Jamie Eugley is a man with a good heart and an explosive temper. He so wants to do the right thing, but as often as not, he can shatter his best intentions with an outburst that results almost immediately in regrets and repercussions. He lives with the worries of his hand-to-mouth business and the oppressive responsibilities of caring for Anja, a former girlfriend who has been seriously incapacitated by a head trauma (the cause of which is unveiled some way into the book) and whom he has sworn never to abandon. His lifelong friends bring him amusement and loyalty tinged with occasional embarrassment. He has almost surrendered to the tyrannical drudgery of his so-called life when he meets a bohemian, tomboyish hippie chick named (of all things) Happy.
At times, Jamie reminds me of a character from a Halldor Laxness novel--a faintly loutish but likable hero intrigued by the cosmopolitan world outside his small-town surroundings yet aware that he could never be a part of it. When he goes to the rich-kids rave at which he meets Happy, he is surprised that they are "sociable and accepting, even of him in his blue work shirt," yet he realizes that it "wouldn't be the other way around." A few years earlier, he had even attempted an escape that brought him to the Portland on America's other coast, but it didn't take him long to realize he will always be a modern-day yeoman and, discouraged and broke, he returned home. Yet that longing for something different sets him apart from his friends--his dalliance with Happy only rekindles the hunger--and it's this conflict between the world of realities and the world of possibilities that will result in tragedy and, ultimately, his redemption. Jamie isn't just a lobsterman, he's Everyman who has ever wanted to be more than he is.
"The Ghost Trap" is not just a good read, it is an excellent novel--and I'm almost ready to proclaim it as the best work of contemporary fiction that I've read this year. (It's certainly the best debut.) Stephens's knack for plotting is enhanced by her ear for impeccable dialogue (both local and urban) and by authentic interior monologue: her portrayal of Happy is so dead-on that I felt like I knew her, and some passages simply awed me with their lyrical precision. There are as many hilarious moments as poignant ones--yet the novel never once stoops to sentimentality. And there's enough of a plot--involving a mystery set off by decades-long territorial feuds between lobstermen--to satisfy the reader expecting more than a character study. Stephens has given her deeply flawed saint a life worth examining.
Look for us on Time Warner Cable this summer!
Post, Stephens and Host Mike Edgecomb
Here's 4th generation lobsterman Ryan Post and I taping a couple of segments for Time Warner Cable's "Maine Street"broadcast talking about Maine Buggin andThe Ghost Trap. Thanks to our great host, Mike Edgecomb for an easy interview. Here's a preview of what to expect. Watch for us on July 29 at 7:30 pm and on July 31 and August 1 at 1 pm! (Channel 9) Let us know what you thought.
Craig Dilger for The New York Times
Maine lobster wars simmering a year after shooting
By CLARKE CANFIELD, Business Week
MATINICUS ISLAND, Maine
A year after an island feud among lobstermen erupted in gunfire, one of the two lobstermen on the receiving end of island justice is speaking out against a mainland jury's decision to acquit the fellow lobsterman who fired a near-fatal shot.
Weston Ames said he remembers a bullet whistling by his head during a confrontation with Vance Bunker, a 69-year-old longtime lobsterman on Matinicus Island. His stepbrother, Christopher Young, 42, wasn't so lucky. The second bullet hit him in the neck, leaving him with lingering health problems.
"The truth of it is, he tried to kill two of us - for no reason," said Ames, 44, standing on the very spot on the Steamboat Wharf where the confrontation took place.
For more on this story...
MATINICUS ISLAND, Maine
A year after an island feud among lobstermen erupted in gunfire, one of the two lobstermen on the receiving end of island justice is speaking out against a mainland jury's decision to acquit the fellow lobsterman who fired a near-fatal shot.
Weston Ames said he remembers a bullet whistling by his head during a confrontation with Vance Bunker, a 69-year-old longtime lobsterman on Matinicus Island. His stepbrother, Christopher Young, 42, wasn't so lucky. The second bullet hit him in the neck, leaving him with lingering health problems.
"The truth of it is, he tried to kill two of us - for no reason," said Ames, 44, standing on the very spot on the Steamboat Wharf where the confrontation took place.
For more on this story...
Maine Lobster Industry Still Hurting
photo: Dale Landrith
by Sandra Dinsmore, The Working Waterfront
It's been a lose-lose situation for lobster fishermen and dealers this spring. The low $3.25 per lb. boat price (the price paid to fishermen) for superb hard shell lobster this spring left both worried about how low the price might drop when shedders come on the market. By mid-June lobster was in short supply as the animals hid to protect themselves from predators while shedding hard old shells and waiting for soft new ones to harden.
For fishermen low prices for low catches meant more lean paychecks. For dealers it meant coping with increasingly smaller margins (what they make on what they sell rather than the number of lbs. sold.). Reports from Gloucester, Mass. confirmed Maine fishermen's and dealers' fears: buyers had gone on a split boat price: for hard shell, $4.50 per lb.; for shedders $2.50 per lb.
"There's no way we can make it at that price," said veteran Stonington fisherman Mike Shepard. "It hasn't been sustainable all spring, even at $3.25 per lb. If you're lucky, you're maybe breaking even. You really have to make $5 per lb., so much goes back into expenses."
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Working Waterfront.
It's been a lose-lose situation for lobster fishermen and dealers this spring. The low $3.25 per lb. boat price (the price paid to fishermen) for superb hard shell lobster this spring left both worried about how low the price might drop when shedders come on the market. By mid-June lobster was in short supply as the animals hid to protect themselves from predators while shedding hard old shells and waiting for soft new ones to harden.
For fishermen low prices for low catches meant more lean paychecks. For dealers it meant coping with increasingly smaller margins (what they make on what they sell rather than the number of lbs. sold.). Reports from Gloucester, Mass. confirmed Maine fishermen's and dealers' fears: buyers had gone on a split boat price: for hard shell, $4.50 per lb.; for shedders $2.50 per lb.
"There's no way we can make it at that price," said veteran Stonington fisherman Mike Shepard. "It hasn't been sustainable all spring, even at $3.25 per lb. If you're lucky, you're maybe breaking even. You really have to make $5 per lb., so much goes back into expenses."
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Working Waterfront.
Ladies Book Club Fave (Minus The "Bad" Language)
A friend of mine passed the novel onto his mother's "Alexandria Book Club," which is the third ladies' book club I'm aware of who took a chance on reading it (as a departure from their usual fare) and loved it. Their review:
Please report to K. that my group of old ladies loved the book! Some had a bit of trouble getting by some of the language in the beginning, but once they understood the context, they went with it and were so glad to have read it! They really found the characters authentic; loved many, detested a few! They also were so impressed by K's seeming inside knowledge of the lobstermen (and men at large) and their lives, plus her understanding of a brain injury and its devastating toll. The scene at the convenience store, when Anja was trying to return to some form of work, from choosing her clothes to the final horror, deeply touched everyone. There were many scenes that were recalled with real appreciation. In all, they thought it was artfully written and as I said were so glad you gave it to me. They all said they will share it with others too. So, please tell K. they loved The Ghost Trap ( the book and the title) and are looking forward to her next offering!
Note to Book Clubs: Contact me personally if you would like to do a virtual (Skype) author visit for your next book club featuring The Ghost Trap.
Please report to K. that my group of old ladies loved the book! Some had a bit of trouble getting by some of the language in the beginning, but once they understood the context, they went with it and were so glad to have read it! They really found the characters authentic; loved many, detested a few! They also were so impressed by K's seeming inside knowledge of the lobstermen (and men at large) and their lives, plus her understanding of a brain injury and its devastating toll. The scene at the convenience store, when Anja was trying to return to some form of work, from choosing her clothes to the final horror, deeply touched everyone. There were many scenes that were recalled with real appreciation. In all, they thought it was artfully written and as I said were so glad you gave it to me. They all said they will share it with others too. So, please tell K. they loved The Ghost Trap ( the book and the title) and are looking forward to her next offering!
Note to Book Clubs: Contact me personally if you would like to do a virtual (Skype) author visit for your next book club featuring The Ghost Trap.
How One Email Influenced The Plot Of The Ghost Trap
The origins of The Ghost Trap
April 24, 2010
In researching this novel, I interviewed probably a half dozen lobstermen. It wasn't an easy task. You don't just go up to a lobster fishermen and say, "Tell me all about your family history, your island or territory alliances and long-standing feuds. Oh and by the way, have you ever been in a trap war?" Having lived in midcoast Maine since the early '90s, I knew several people who lobster fished for a living. They were willing to sit down with me and reveal privileged information that usually stayed within the confines of a small harbor community. Other times I was allowed to tag along to hang out at a Fish House, usually a ramshackle boat barn with guys who sat around holding coffee cups full of rum, oblivious to the slurping sounds of water against the pilings. Before we entered this Fish House, I was told: "No notebooks, no tape recorders, nothin'."
On more than one occasion, those who were willing to share confidential stories about trap wars made me promise to change the names and dates and even locations of certain wars. When boats get sunk, houses get torched, truck tires slashed, and other territorial violence occurs, you pay attention to what you're told. As stated elsewhere in my blog--don't get the mistaken impression that major trap wars happen all the time--at least they hadn't in the near decade that I'd been writing this book. But they do happen. They can get very ugly.
The research extended to more than just lobstermen. I kept about five notebooks, filling them up with story fragments, definitions and diagrams, conversations, extensive research on traumatic brain injuries, notes on my day trips on three-masted schooners, scribbles on every type of boat and bait, every fluctuation of weather, tides and seas, from oily to flat-ass calm.
If you've read The Ghost Trap or if you are going to, I'd like to thank the lobsterman who provided the essential primer to lobster warfare in the email dated 2002 above.
In researching this novel, I interviewed probably a half dozen lobstermen. It wasn't an easy task. You don't just go up to a lobster fishermen and say, "Tell me all about your family history, your island or territory alliances and long-standing feuds. Oh and by the way, have you ever been in a trap war?" Having lived in midcoast Maine since the early '90s, I knew several people who lobster fished for a living. They were willing to sit down with me and reveal privileged information that usually stayed within the confines of a small harbor community. Other times I was allowed to tag along to hang out at a Fish House, usually a ramshackle boat barn with guys who sat around holding coffee cups full of rum, oblivious to the slurping sounds of water against the pilings. Before we entered this Fish House, I was told: "No notebooks, no tape recorders, nothin'."
On more than one occasion, those who were willing to share confidential stories about trap wars made me promise to change the names and dates and even locations of certain wars. When boats get sunk, houses get torched, truck tires slashed, and other territorial violence occurs, you pay attention to what you're told. As stated elsewhere in my blog--don't get the mistaken impression that major trap wars happen all the time--at least they hadn't in the near decade that I'd been writing this book. But they do happen. They can get very ugly.
The research extended to more than just lobstermen. I kept about five notebooks, filling them up with story fragments, definitions and diagrams, conversations, extensive research on traumatic brain injuries, notes on my day trips on three-masted schooners, scribbles on every type of boat and bait, every fluctuation of weather, tides and seas, from oily to flat-ass calm.
If you've read The Ghost Trap or if you are going to, I'd like to thank the lobsterman who provided the essential primer to lobster warfare in the email dated 2002 above.
Maine Cleans Up Its Ghost Traps
The Real Question: Has There Been Fair or Foul Play?
photo: Bangor Daily News
April 16, 2010
Ghost Traps are lobster traps that have been cut off from their buoys at the surface of the ocean, where they sink to the bottom of the sea, trapping lobsters in a watery grave and generally littering up the ocean floor. With a trap recovery program being conducted by the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, hundreds have been pulled up around Mt. Desert Island.
"Some of the traps looked almost brand-new, others were nearly crusted over with barnacles, and a few had lobster buoys inside them, placed there by other fishermen who cut the traps on purpose and didn’t want the buoys to be found."
This may look like a bunch of hulking rusted metal to most people, but I think of it as marine CSI. How many have been cut off by innocent or inadvertent means (the weather, boat propeller cuts)? And how many have been cut illegally in the dead of night, precluding some trap war, hmmmmm?
Ghost Traps are lobster traps that have been cut off from their buoys at the surface of the ocean, where they sink to the bottom of the sea, trapping lobsters in a watery grave and generally littering up the ocean floor. With a trap recovery program being conducted by the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, hundreds have been pulled up around Mt. Desert Island.
"Some of the traps looked almost brand-new, others were nearly crusted over with barnacles, and a few had lobster buoys inside them, placed there by other fishermen who cut the traps on purpose and didn’t want the buoys to be found."
This may look like a bunch of hulking rusted metal to most people, but I think of it as marine CSI. How many have been cut off by innocent or inadvertent means (the weather, boat propeller cuts)? And how many have been cut illegally in the dead of night, precluding some trap war, hmmmmm?
Debut novel is convincing to the end
Review from The Morning Sentinel
April 4, 2010
Fiction about Maine lobstering and life on the working waterfront is usually coarse, profane and gritty, and THE GHOST TRAP is no different but for one exception. This sensitive and dramatic story is notable for its convincing humanity. THE GHOST TRAP is the powerful debut novel of Maine writer K. Stephens, a woman whose published articles have covered schooners, food, wine, teenagers and Maine personalities. Here she debunks the tourists' romantic image of Maine fishermen, revealing the hard work of lobstering, the strict, unwritten codes of territoriality and conflict resolution, disintegrating traditions, violence, alcohol and drug abuse and economic despair. Jamie Eugley is a 27-year-old third- generation lobsterman from Petit Point on Penobscot Bay, struggling to make boat and truck payments while also caring for his brain-damaged girlfriend, Anja. She was injured while fishing with him, and the weight of Jamie's guilt is wearing him down. As if he doesn't have enough to worry about, arrogant yachties are poaching lobsters, the foul-mouthed, violent and drug-dealing Fogartys are about to start a trap war, and a newcomer ignores all the local customs and fishes in Jamie's territory. Jamie does his best to help Anja with her slow recovery, but she is nearly helpless, entirely dependent on him for everything, a heavy burden indeed. But then Jamie meets Happy, a carefree girl working on a summertime schooner. He likes her because "You make my drinking look like it's not a problem," and he knows that only bad things can result from this quirky relationship. Stephens is a masterful storyteller, smartly blending her vividly descriptive narrative with action, suspense, a haunting atmosphere and very clever, bawdy and colorful dialogue. The conclusion is believable and strangely satisfying, with a few plot twists and a strong element of predictable sadness.
-- Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.
Fiction about Maine lobstering and life on the working waterfront is usually coarse, profane and gritty, and THE GHOST TRAP is no different but for one exception. This sensitive and dramatic story is notable for its convincing humanity. THE GHOST TRAP is the powerful debut novel of Maine writer K. Stephens, a woman whose published articles have covered schooners, food, wine, teenagers and Maine personalities. Here she debunks the tourists' romantic image of Maine fishermen, revealing the hard work of lobstering, the strict, unwritten codes of territoriality and conflict resolution, disintegrating traditions, violence, alcohol and drug abuse and economic despair. Jamie Eugley is a 27-year-old third- generation lobsterman from Petit Point on Penobscot Bay, struggling to make boat and truck payments while also caring for his brain-damaged girlfriend, Anja. She was injured while fishing with him, and the weight of Jamie's guilt is wearing him down. As if he doesn't have enough to worry about, arrogant yachties are poaching lobsters, the foul-mouthed, violent and drug-dealing Fogartys are about to start a trap war, and a newcomer ignores all the local customs and fishes in Jamie's territory. Jamie does his best to help Anja with her slow recovery, but she is nearly helpless, entirely dependent on him for everything, a heavy burden indeed. But then Jamie meets Happy, a carefree girl working on a summertime schooner. He likes her because "You make my drinking look like it's not a problem," and he knows that only bad things can result from this quirky relationship. Stephens is a masterful storyteller, smartly blending her vividly descriptive narrative with action, suspense, a haunting atmosphere and very clever, bawdy and colorful dialogue. The conclusion is believable and strangely satisfying, with a few plot twists and a strong element of predictable sadness.
-- Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.
International Lobstermen Come To Maine
New Zealand lobsterman Lance Wichman, photo: The Free Press
New Zealanders get nearly $23 a pound for lobster?
The Maine Lobsterman's Association hosted six lobstermen from western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Ireland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to meet Maine lobstermen up and down the coast and exchange ideas on gear, trap efficiency, fishing seasons and price. I tried a couple of times to find these guys at the Fisherman's Forum, curious to know how different or similar their way of life was to Maine. Some factoids (if you find this kind of thing interesting):
The Maine Lobsterman's Association hosted six lobstermen from western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Ireland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to meet Maine lobstermen up and down the coast and exchange ideas on gear, trap efficiency, fishing seasons and price. I tried a couple of times to find these guys at the Fisherman's Forum, curious to know how different or similar their way of life was to Maine. Some factoids (if you find this kind of thing interesting):
- Canadians suffered along with Mainers on a dropping boat price and while PEI fishermen send about 80% of their catch to processors, Nova Scotians sell 100% of their catch live.
- Irish lobstermen have recently adopted the Maine practice of V-notching a female lobster, thereby ensuring she is not caught and can be free to breed.
- Landings (how much you can catch) have dropped for Australian lobstermen by half due to global warming and with a tight supply, dock prices rose to about $22/pound.
- Tasmanian spiny lobster is $23.50 a pound (US), shipped primarily to China.
35th Annual Fisherman's Forum
Every year I go to this thing. Why? Because lobsterman are a blast.
March 1, 2010
In writing The Ghost Trap, I used to bring my little notepad and just wander the Forum, hang out and listen to conversations, watch the lobsterman get all up in the DMR's face in the midst of talks and roundtables and just absorb it all. Several of the conversations in the novel have come directly from picking up lobster chatter at the Fisherman's Forum. One lobsterman sat with me for about two and half hours and told me all about the trap wars he'd known of, the tactics used and even the tools. You'll never look at a hockey stick the same way again.
In writing The Ghost Trap, I used to bring my little notepad and just wander the Forum, hang out and listen to conversations, watch the lobsterman get all up in the DMR's face in the midst of talks and roundtables and just absorb it all. Several of the conversations in the novel have come directly from picking up lobster chatter at the Fisherman's Forum. One lobsterman sat with me for about two and half hours and told me all about the trap wars he'd known of, the tactics used and even the tools. You'll never look at a hockey stick the same way again.
The best place to meet people? Duh. The bar.
Meet Monique Coombs, author of a cookbook Lobsters On The Fly, a blogger and regular contributor to Maine Lobsterman Association's newsletter. Next to her is her good friend Brian. How do I describe Monique? A hurricane in a Bud Light bottle. She's married to a lobsterman out of Orr's Island, is passionate about the industry and knocks you flat with one-liners left and right. Clink--here's to you lady. By the way, I sincerely like the name of your cookbook, unlike a certain Queen of The Outsized Ego (She Who Will Not be Named.) Look for Monique in the future as a guest blogger.
Just wanted to shout out hey to National Fisherman, (r to l) Jerry Fraser, Dennis Gears and Michael Lodato, who were manning the booth with great vigor. Nice guys. Loved the review The Ghost Trap got too--so thanks again National Fisherman!
