Evocative and brimming with redemption, Mary Akers' newest collection BONES OF AN INLAND SEA takes the reader on a journey of exploration and transformation that begins with a 19th century shipwreck, passes through Bikini Atoll's atomic testing, sinks into the heart of a devastating tsunami, and slides forward into a futurist island utopia floating in the Sargasso Sea. Characters connect on remote beaches and forgotten islands, while family ties prove--like the ocean--to be both powerful and unpredictable. These fourteen stories form a captivating mosaic of intertwining narratives that convey a strong sense of the eternal and the possible.

Praise for Bones of an Inland Sea

“In Mary Akers’ stories, as complexly intertwined as the branches of a coral reef, her passionate characters engage both each other and a richly detailed, vital physical world. An impressive achievement.” 

—Andrea Barrett, National Book Award-winning author of Ship Fever

About the Author

Mary Akers is the author of the award-winning short story collection Women Up On Blocks (Press 53, 2009) and Bones of an Inland Sea (2013) with the expanded book club edition coming out in October 2016. She is Editor in Chief of the online journal r.kv.r.y. and has been a VCCA Fellow and a Bread Loaf waiter. She co-founded the Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology, a study abroad marine ecology program originally located in Roseau, Dominica. Akers frequently writes fiction that focuses on the intersections between art and science, including such topics as diverse and timely as the environmental movement and the struggle for human and animal rights. Although raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, which she will always call home, she currently lives in western New York.

Other Books by this Author