Advanced Copy Praise for Salmon in the Seine:
“Comer’s work stands out for the clarity, simplicity and honesty with which he writes of Alaskan commercial fishing. There are truths that can only be learned by living them: the courage it can take just to set the net one more time in a bad season, the hard mornings, the bravery of the men and women who have chosen this life, and the unexpected moments of grace the sea can give. Comer knows this world, and writes of it with humility and compassion. This is a book to be kept, and lent to friends, and tucked into the pack of a young person heading out into the world for a first adventure, or propped against the wheelhouse window for moments of perspective. It’s a book to remember.”
-Rosemary McGuire, award-winning author of Cold Latitudes, Rough Crossing, and The Creatures at the Absolute Bottom of the Sea
I wince! I squirm! The primal, but most honest, howl from my inner self roars!
“How dare you?!” it rages, interrobang struck like a church bell, as I sit here writing my inaugural e-newsletter. It rages so because herein I venture into the pretention of self-published digital creation. I become the TikTok teen in yoga pants shaking her booty. I become the middle age self-help coach hawking his “life process”. I become another of the digital copium peddling horde. Ew. Ew! EW!
But here I am. Hopefully you are familiar with me by now, but at the time of this writing I am a semi-regular contributor to mostly maritime-y magazines like Power & Motoryacht, Passagemaker, Soundings, Trade Only Today, Fishermen’s News, Pacific Maritime, Pacific Yachting, Multihull Sailor, and others. I hold 5 Boat Writers International Awards and an honorable mention for the Writer’s Digest annual writing contest.
Mine is a young sea salty career, but it is blossoming like a beautiful… kelp…? Let me try again. If stand-up comedians are the framework, I am the literary equivalent of a comic who has worked the longshoremen bars and cruise ship scene for a decade. My debut commercial fishing memoir, Salmon in the Seine: Alaskan Memories of Life, Death, & Everything In-Between, launches May of this year. What kind of 32-year-old sociopath publishes a damn memoir? Me I suppose.
Fortunately for all of us, my publisher is the noble Milspeak Books, the publishing arm of the nonprofit Milspeak Foundation that elevates the voices of veterans and the families of veterans. I'm thrilled that a portion of my book sales will support our battered troops seeking the cultural microphone. It’s truly a privileged to be here.
Mostly, I desire to connect with my fellow humans. Subscribe for a free direct feed to published works from my mostly aquatic/Pacific Northwest news beat, select photography-forward stories, and bespoke content (when I can swing it, maybe audio someday) every Wednesday. I’ll be on the road as much as possible following the May book launch and there are presales details emerging. Updates will be sprinkled throughout.
Truly, welcome.
Skål,
Norris Comer
Sign me up! So excited for you. We’ve been huge fans of yours from the very beginning ❣️
Can't wait to see this book. Cheers to this beautiful lived story of a hopeful young soul and its eloquent storyteller!