A Tugboater's Life

Curt Steiner has served twelve years as a Boatswain’s Mate in the Coast Guard, but it is time to move on. He is still deciding on the where and how to move on when he runs into his high school sweetheart, Lois, at a party during a visit home to Michigan. What Curt does not know is that Lois still holds a torch for him, and their meeting at the party is not by chance. When Curt meets Lois’s son, Steve, he is even more convinced that it is time to become a family of three. In doing so, Curt and Lois will enter the tugboating life, with its long days and nights, and even longer stretches of absences. It is the kind of life that will knock most any young couple off their feet. It stands to be seen if Curt and Lois will become acasualty of the tug boating life or whether they can weather the storms together.

Bob Ojala has written several non-fiction books about Marine Surveying, including Sweetwater Sailors, a picture book describing the lives of the different kinds of Great Lakes sailors. He has worked with many men and women in the maritime business, whom he respected for their serious lifestyle. Writing about them in fiction, changing names where appropriate, was his way of honoring them. With his background, Bob feels that he can describe the life of these merchant mariners and show the reader their exciting, even dangerous career, and also how important these people are for the country. He hopes readers enjoy the stories, many based upon actual events. Bob and his wife of 35-years have six children, raising them in Oak Park, Illinois. Bob is a Wisconsin native with Finnish roots.