I doubt if there is a fictional novel which closely matches Mid-Pacific.  But, I suspect there are multitudes that come close and/or contain comparable elements and characters.  To those of us who find our entertainment via movies, films, internet documentaries, etc., there are numerous parallels.  Cinematic thrillers standout because of our graphic capabilities to portray Mother Nature’s cataclysmic undertakings in the likes of realism: rogue waves, titanic storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, meteor impacts, …just to name a few.

From the maritime era of sailing and steam ships, Jack London’s Sea Wolfe was an early inspiration.  The principle tag was his portrayal of Capitan Wolfe Larson and the man’s reign of terror in the North Pacific with its violent storms.  There are numerous non-fictional works that tell of horrific ocean storms and losses. Fleet Admiral Halsey’s 1944 encounter with typhoon Cobra is story of damaged and lost ships (three destroyers) and 802 lives.  So intense was the storm that the 57,000-ton battleship USS Iowa suffered a bent propeller shaft.

Clipper ship commanders like Capitan Richard Woodget of Cutty Stark fame, or that of Russell Crow in Master and Commander provide parallels of leadership.  Then there’s the ocean’s terror that is so well portrayed in the 2005 movie the Poseidon Adventure based on Paul Gallico’s 1969 novel.  A rogue wave rolls and capsizes the 135,000 ton SS  Poseidon with all aboard.  It can happen.

Mid-Pacific’s narrative lands on the science-side of what we know, but brings in the likely and the irresistibly possible.  Here, Dr. Robert Ballard’s memoir Into the Deep contains a plethora of natural phenomenas that can easily be stretched into this fictional realm.  Then there’s the real.  The 9.0 plus magnitude quakes which struct Sumatra and Japan brought to life humanity’s vulnerabilities.

Finally, Mid-Pacific is rich in characters, some real, most fictional, and there is love, bravery, honor and, of course, greed amongst them.  Shelby Foote’s novel Love in a Dry Season offers a fine host of characters that reflect this spectrum of human behavior.

Mid-Pacific is a work in progress, with Part-1 requiring further editing, and Part-2 in a rough-draft/rewrite mode.