Depth Charge by Jason Heaton (carter reed .txt) 📗

Churchill finally negotiated terms of collaboration with American President Franklin Roosevelt. Signed in August, 1943, the Quebec Agreement formalized the absorption of Tube Alloys into the Manhattan Project, with a promise of collaboration, both “industrial and commercial.”

The agreement stated that, "First, we will never use this agency against each other; secondly, we will not use it against third parties without each other's consent; and thirdly, we will not either of us communicate any information about Tube Alloys to third parties except by mutual consent.”

On 9 August, 1945, at 8:15 local time, an American bomber dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed, “Fat Man” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb, called “Little Boy," was released over Nagasaki. They remain the only two nuclear weapons ever deployed in wartime. Japan formally surrendered shortly afterwards, ending World War II.

The HMAS Vampire, sunk by Japanese aerial attack on 9 April, 1942, has never officially been found.

Acknowledgements

A lot of people have the dream of writing a novel. I did for many years and, in fact, wrote about 50 pages of one ten years ago, only to abandon it. Even after a long career of writing everything from technical manuals to ad copy to wristwatch reviews, the prospect of sitting down and hammering out 60,000 words of a coherent, entertaining, and well-written story scared me. The fact is, it’s a daunting task.

There are a few things that I’ve found separate the creation of a novel from other genres of writing. First of all, the sheer discipline and perseverance to face the blank page for an extended period. I’ve read that Alistair Maclean wrote his thrillers in about a month. Ian Fleming wrote one a year, spending three months in Jamaica writing, then flying back to London to edit. Rinse and repeat. That’s not me. Depth Charge has taken 18 months, from first word to printing.

And then there’s the research. Though only a handful of saturation and technical divers, Sri Lankan Buddhists, or British historians might read this book, I didn’t want to get details wrong in any of those fields of expertise. Online research can only get you so far, and the worldwide pandemic prevented me from being able to travel for specific reconnaissance. So I had to lean on a number of subject matter experts for their help and critical eyes.

Paul Scurfield provided valuable early feedback on some chapters involving saturation diving and Jason Van der Schyff reviewed the book near its completion with the same focus. Their input was essential to getting those scenes as accurate and believable as possible, though I still took some liberties.

My week diving the wreck of HMS Hermes back in 2017 informed much of my knowledge of the east coast of Sri Lanka, deep tech diving, and World War II shipwrecks. The Deep Sea Resort in Batticaloa was the inspiration for The Deep Blue in Depth Charge. I owe a debt of gratitude to the Deep Sea’s owner, Felician Fernando, who inspired my character, Sebastian, and taught me the art of technical diving and introduced me to the Hermes.

My time spent with the Lost Ships of Cortés Project in Mexico opened my eyes to the world of underwater archaeology and inspired the character, and the work, of my hero, Tusker. I thank Fritz Hanselmann, Christopher Horrell, Melanie Damour, and Jonathan Kingston for allowing me to get a glimpse into their work.

To understand the nuances of Sri Lankan Buddhism and a history of Buddhist extremism, I turned to my friend, Milinda Cumaratunga. Milo reviewed excerpts of this novel, provided valuable feedback, suggested appropriate names, and corrected my often blundered portrayal of the lives and customs of the Buddhist clergy.

Tina Edward read a draft of Depth Charge and provided feedback on some portrayals of Sri Lankan life and for her time and comments, I am grateful.

To make sure I was getting the titles, clothing, and lingo correct with regard to World War II Britain, as well as some Cambridge and London geography, I asked historian John Henry Phillips to reviews select chapters and he gave me helpful feedback and suggestions.

Tom Bushey provided intel on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, specifically the location where Tusker’s family cabin is, where he learned to scuba dive.

Years before I even conceived of Depth Charge, I read a thriller by Pierre Gobinet called The Freelancers. I remember thinking, “This is the kind of novel I want to write.” I met Pierre on a cold night in Geneva, where he told me about his experience writing that novel, and I credit him with being a big inspiration to me. If you can find, The Freelancers, I highly recommend it.

Even as I was writing the first few chapters of Depth Charge, Andrew Revitt reached out to provide incredibly kind encouragement and real world advice on publishing and promoting my novel. It was on his suggestion that I set up the Depth Charge website and collected contact information from interested readers. Andrew also provided a cover art concept that I used as inspiration on my earliest manuscripts. Never underestimate the value of seeing your title and name on a book cover early on. It makes it feel official.

J.R. Seeger, a prolific writer and creator of the “Mike 4” thriller series, reached out and generously offered advice and encouragement, and sent me one of his novels to read. Now that Depth Charge is published, I am returning the favor, sending a copy to J.R., and I hope he enjoys it.

How can I adequately thank Paul Andrews? This hard working London-based designer offered his time and talents free of charge to create not only the book cover design, but all of my marketing images, animations, logos, and even did the typesetting of this book. It was an act of extreme generosity that I’ll never forget.

Similarly generous was my friend and talented composer, Oran Chan, who, upon seeing an early cover mockup, took it upon himself to compose an entire theme song for Depth Charge. I have never heard of