SEIZED: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates

[Max-Hardberger]

Hi--I'm the author of SEIZED: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters. I'm scheduled to answer questions at this site from March 22 to March 26, but I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and if anyone has any early questions, I'll be glad to answer them at any time. All the best--Max Hardberger

[Peppermill]

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Max-Hardberger wrote:

Hi--I'm the author of SEIZED: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters. I'm scheduled to answer questions at this site from March 22 to March 26, but I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and if anyone has any early questions, I'll be glad to answer them at any time. All the best--Max Hardberger

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Max -- I'll be presumptuous enough to use your first name -- thanks for signing on so early.

I am among the readers here who is hoping to be lucky enough to get an early look at your book.  It sounds like it shall be a compelling read on a spooky development in our 21st century world.

Pepper

[Jon_B]

Hi Max-

Welcome to the Book Clubs!  Thanks for doing this with us, I haven't got my copy of the book yet but it looks great and I think this will be a lot of fun. 

I was reading your bio on imdb and I have a question already:  how did you go from a background in studying fiction and poetry to being a sea captain and getting involved in ship repossession? Were you looking for inspiration and experience for fiction or do you come from a maritime background before that?

Jon

[Peppermill]

Max -- given your maritime literary background, I shall ask an off-the-wall question:  I grew up in the Midwest and had never seen an ocean.  A high school teacher, English or history, probably, had me read a paperback book on the sea -- it was the Atlantic and involved heavy storms at sea.  It left me with a very deep sense of the power of the oceans.  This would have been in the late 1950's.  Any chance you might have a guess on what the book might have been? 

(No problem if that draws no connections -- just one of those "if only I can be lucky" questions.  I haven't been on the Lost Books thread here.)

I am delighted to be confirmed this afternoon as a recipient of your book.  This should be fun!

Pepper

PS -- Jon, thanks for IMB bio for Mr. Hardberger.

[Max-Hardberger]

Hey, Jon

Thanks for your message. I guess my literary and nautical interests coincided at an early age; my parents raised me on nautical-adventure books--notably those of C. S. Forester (the Hornblower series and others)--and since we lived close to the Louisiana coast, many of our neighbors were commercial fishermen. I started sailing in college (I bought my first sailboat while a student at the University of New Orleans in 1969) and I still spend as much time sailing as I can. I also worked on offshore-oilfield boats while in college, eventually earning a captain's license, so going to sea as a freighter captain was a natural progression. In fact--besides the vicious winters--being so far from the sea was the worst thing about my two years in the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa.

All the best

Max

[Max-Hardberger]

Dear Pepper

I'm not sure that this is the book, but one of the greatest non-fiction books ever written about storms and the sea is Farley Mowat's Grey Seas Under, an incredibly powerful book about salvage tugs in the North Atlantic during World War II.

Best regards

Max

[Peppermill]

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Max-Hardberger wrote:

I'm not sure that this is the book, but one of the greatest non-fiction books ever written about storms and the sea is Farley Mowat's

The Grey Seas Under, an incredibly powerful book about salvage tugs in the North Atlantic during World War II.

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I think this is later than the book I am searching for (which was probably fictional), but it sounds like a wonderful suggestion and add to my TBR list.  (I was excited for a few minutes, because some strange memory suggests the author I seek also has a name beginning with "M."  I looked through Mowatt's other books, but still without luck!)

Thanks much for this response!

In fact--besides the vicious winters--being so far from the sea was the worst thing about my two years in the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Having grown up in this part of the country, this was a LOL comment for me!  (I have had access to the sea probably 40 years now.)

Pepper

[Sadie1]

Max,

Welcome to the boards and thank you for participating and allowing us a sneak peek at your book.  Just from the description it sounds exciting and dangerous.  I can't wait to read it.

Lisa in Georgia

[dhaupt]

Max first of all welcome to B&N and I'm so looking forward to reading and commenting with the other participants and you about your new book. What a varied and eclectic background you have, it sounds like a most interesting life.

I don't have a question right now but I'm sure that'll change after the reading begins and I can't wait.

Thanks again for letting us relive the book with you.

[lg4154]

Hi Max, I just wanted to welcome you and to let you know I am really excited about this book, it looks like a great one and I am so grateful I get to participate.

[DSaff]

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and discuss your book, Max. It is always a pleasure for me to "meet" the author and learn more about the story process. Did you go through many titles before arriving at "Seized," or was it your first thought? It certainly caught my eye, and I can't wait to read the book! Also, will we recognize any of the "scoundrels and pirates" or situations from the book. Thank you for your time!

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Max-Hardberger wrote:

Hi--I'm the author of SEIZED: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters. I'm scheduled to answer questions at this site from March 22 to March 26, but I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and if anyone has any early questions, I'll be glad to answer them at any time. All the best--Max Hardberger

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[Max-Hardberger]

Dear DSaff

Actually, the title was suggested by the book's editor--until then I'd only given it a working title. As for the characters and events, most of the miscreants described in the book have managed to escape public attention until now, but one notable incident--the extraction that concludes the book--was featured in an episode of the Learning Channel series "Repo Men." 

I hope you enjoy the book--

Best regards

Max

[CharlieG31]

Welcome Max to this forum and I hope to have great moments with you discussing the book and learning about the whole process about writing it and stuff. Welcome!

[chad]

"Max Hardberger to "extract" or steal back ships that have been illegitimately seized by putting together a mission-impossible team to sail them into international waters under cover of darkness."

Hi  Max!

I'll see if i can pick up a copy- it looks great! I'm a big fan of the classics of the 1800's- a time which saw the beginnings of multimodalism and the necessary "dark" side of the shipping business- we're not able to see what's inside a container or a box. There is also a necesaary "dark side" of the ocean, the high seas. Do you thnk there should be a "high seas" or do you think the ocean has to be more delineated?

Chad

PS- That sounds a little pessimistic, but the world order also shows a "light" side- the opening ceremonies of every olymoics is just wonderful. 

[Max-Hardberger]

Hi, Chad--I hope the oceans never become "more delineated"--it's tough enough reaching the 12-mile limit surreptitiously (the extent of national waters by international treaty). Some rogue nations have tried to extend their national waters unilaterally, like Libya's "Line of Death" in the Gulf of Sidra, but so far unsuccessfully.  Best regards--Max

[AIRKNITTER]

Hi Max,

Although I was very interested in reading the story of the captain of the Maersk Alabama YOUR story sounds like a must-not-miss. I'm happy to know you are the author and that your story was not written by your biographer because your were "unable" to write the story for many reasons, death being one of them.

Stay safe.

A Los Angeles Times correspondent once wrote, "with his graying hair, walrus mustache and moderate build, Hardberger doesn't fit the profile of a swashbuckler." Nevertheless, Max has lived a life of adventure that has led him from steamy, lawless ports in the Caribbean to the ice-bound docks of Vladivostok, from the jungles of Central America to the sunny islands of the Mediterranean. And the characters that he's encountered—the scoundrels and scalawags, victims and victors, frauds and fakes—are the people of his world, sometimes funny, sometimes obsessed, sometimes self-destructive, but always fascinating.

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Max-Hardberger wrote:

Hi--I'm the author of SEIZED: A Sea Captain's Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World's Most Troubled Waters. I'm scheduled to answer questions at this site from March 22 to March 26, but I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, and if anyone has any early questions, I'll be glad to answer them at any time. All the best--Max Hardberger

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[chad]

"Hi, Chad--I hope the oceans never become "more delineated"--it's tough enough reaching the 12-mile limit surreptitiously (the extent of national waters by international treaty). Some rogue nations have tried to extend their national waters unilaterally, like Libya's "Line of Death" in the Gulf of Sidra, but so far unsuccessfully.  Best regards--Max"

Hi Max!

The U.S. Navy had defended the rights of other nation-states to navigate the gulf on the principle of "Freedom of Navigation." But the U.S. would be hard-pressed to convince Libya that she acted on principle. "Free", however, is not "dark" in an evil sense, but simply undefined. And there are certain parts of the world that must be so, so International Law tells me...always a struggle....

Thanks, looking forward to March!

Chad   

[amerz77]

Hi Max,

I am very excited to read your book as well.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  I am so happy that you have invited all us to participate is reading this book ahead of time.

Thank you,
Amerz0477

[thewanderingjew]

After reading about you I discovered that you are deeply involved in Miragoane, Haiti. In one picture, from 2005, you are embracing two godsons. Was the area hard hit by the earthquake? I hope that your friends and family are safe? Are you currently involved in the ongoing aid, recovery and rebuilding of Haiti?

[MSaff]

Hi Everyone,

  The Big Brown Truck just delivered my copy of Seized.  Can't wait to dive into it.