Mark S. William and Kathleen Valentine at Know Your Neighbor

Growing up on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Mark S. Williams life was shaped by proximity to the ocean. As a boy he worked for his father, former pro-football star Ted Williams, on the waterfront. He worked as a lumper and had a job as the official rat-killer of a local fish packing plant. Later he worked as a commercial diver in Scotland and the North Seas but he always returned to Gloucester.

After working on a gill-netter out of Gloucester he bought a lobster boat and began a nearly twenty year career fishing for lobster in the Gulf of Maine. He survived the sinking of his first ship and, when a trawl line cinched around his leg and dragged him overboard from his second boat, he began to write about his experiences. The result is 's8220;F/V Black Sheep's8221; (http://www.fvBlackSheep.com), a true-life adventure/memoir, about the making of a Gloucester fisherman.

's8220;F/V means Fishing Vessel,'s8221; Williams said. 's8220;I named my boat the Black Sheep so the title of the book is the name of my boat, 's8216;F/V Black Sheep's8217;.'s8221;

Williams took a break from fishing in 1999 when his lobster traps were rented by the producers of the movie 's8220;The Perfect Storm's8221; based on the book by Sebastian Junger about the sinking of the Gloucester fishing boat Andrea Gail. During that time he began to write.

's8220;I would sit in my truck looking at the harbor and think of all the times I had left in the Black Sheep not knowing what was ahead of me. I began to write the stories down and before long I had a box filled with them.'s8221; One of the stories includes his recollection of a night spent drinking with David 's8220;Sully's8221; Sullivan who later died aboard the Andrea Gail.

When he began to show his manuscript to friends and area publishers they all told him the same thing, you need to find an editor. Eventually he met Kathleen Valentine, a local graphic artist and web designer (http://www.Valentine-Design.com) who was working on a novel set against the maritime legends of the Great Lakes. She agreed to help Williams polish up his manuscript and for two years they collaborated.

's8220;He would bring me his manuscript one chapter at a time,'s8221; Valentine said, 's8220;and I would go through it, correct his grammar and syntax and make suggestions.'s8221; Valentine, who has written non-fiction most of her life including authoring an exhibition catalog on the artist families of the North Shore Arts Association, was impressed by Williams narrative ability and strong imagery.

's8220;He writes beautifully. He just needed someone to help him organize his ideas and put them into a manuscript format,'s8221; she said. Along the way Williams's8217; vast knowledge about fishing and the sea began to influence her writing.

's8220;I grew up in Pennsylvania near Lake Erie and worked in a diner on the waterfront in the late Sixties. My novel 's8216;The Old Mermaid's8217;s Tale's8217;(http://www.ParlezMoiPress.com) grew out of that experience.'s8221; However, after working with Williams she felt she needed to rewrite the passages about fishing and maritime lore. In the meantime she decided to polish up a collection of short stories she had abandoned and the result is her recently released collection, 's8220;My Last Romance and other passions's8221;(http://www.MyLastRomance.com.

's8220;They's8217;re romantic,'s8221; she admits, 's8220;but in the classic sense of romance 's8212; strong characters set in lush backgrounds. Not the boiler-plate romance that people now equate that word with.'s8221;

Williams and Valentine will be the guest speakers at Leslie Wind's8217;s popular Know Your Neighbor program on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 held at beautiful Seacrest Manor Inn (http://www.SeacrestManor.com)in Rockport, Massachusetts (formerly held at the Emerson Inn). These Know Your Neighbor programs are free and open to the public. Wind, a local jeweler and metalsmith known for her handmade shawl pins (http://www.LeslieWind.com), began the Know Your Neighbor program five years ago to allow members of the community to meet neighbors with interesting stories to tell.

Both writers will speak and share stories about the writing of their books and sign books. Copies of the books will be available for purchase at the event.

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