Jerry Farnham signing his book “Red at Night” for a customer at Sherman’s Bookstore in Boothbay Harbor. This is a novel based on someone from away falling for a lobster fisherman in Boothbay. There are a number of names used that you will be familiar with.
BOOTHBAY HARBOR – For some, writing is one of the hardest things to do. Many cannot get past the first paragraph. They look for the right words, but they never seem satisfied with what the pen is putting to the paper. Some writing is not too difficult, especially if you are writing about an event so long as there is not an interpretation involved. However, writing a novel consisting of a couple of hundred pages would be an insurmountable task for most people. Many aspire to write a novel, but the few that try seldom finish it and even less have it published. You need a well thought out storyline and a lot of determination to see it finished and marketed. Jerry Farnham of Boothbay was able to do just that when he completed his first book “Red at Night.”
“I had been dreaming up this book since I was 16 going sternman on my dad’s boat. I would see the yachts coming in, seeing the people up on the yachts.” said Jerry. “We had celebrities pull in the harbor all the time and I was like, what if they want to go sternman or want to go to the boat races? What if they just want to be normal and get away from all that Hollywood fuss. I just had that storyline running in my head and I would start writing and I’d get discouraged and throw it away. I was letting all the naysayers get in my head and finally, seven or eight years ago, I said, “No, I need to do this. I need to finish this, so I did.”
“The ideas, I kept them in my head, but the story changed several times,” continued Jerry. “I mean there was a part, I don’t want to be a spoiler, but like Stephanie, the girlfriend, Jack’s previous girlfriend comes back to life and coaches her into wooing Jack. I got like three chapters deep doing that and I said, that is dumb and I’d throw it away and start again. There was a part where my character, Michael, gets shot and he is dying. He is slowly watching and thinking about not watching his daughter walk down the aisle and all this stuff and as I am writing that, I am crying profusely and my wife is like “Why are you doing that? Just keep yourself alive if you can’t handle it.” I did away with that chapter. So, it was a lot of changes and mixes to get through it, but I am really happy with how the storyline worked out.”
With the first book out on bookstore shelves is there a sequel? Yes, and he is eight chapters deep already. Without giving too much away, Jerry said, “I tackle a really tough subject, human trafficking. The more research I do into that subject I have to stop and not throw my phone away. It is a very tense subject. The tactics those people use are tough. The first book left off with Melissa being pregnant and I am getting into some of the nuances of a new couple tackling that. It is interesting because I have to go back in time myself and what were my thoughts when my wife first told me she was pregnant. That has been a trip down memory lane. Boothbay Harbor always used to have something called the Fishermen’s Festival. We had the trap hauling contest and that has gone to the wayside because of lack of participation. I am bringing that into the book because I think people would love to read that. People would like to reminisce and people from out of state would like to hear about it.”
For those that know some of the characters and/or follow the events of the coast you will hear some familiar names and events. Jerry explained, “I put a lot of lobster boat racing in there. I did a whole day at the Boothbay Harbor lobster boat races. I drew on my experiences when my brother [Marshall] would take his 32 Holland up to the start line and he would say alright you got it and I am like, “What?” and the feeling of almost getting sick before the races because you are so nervous. Then there is Clive Farrin’s engine breaking down in the middle of the racetrack. You just can’t tell a story about Boothbay Harbor, Maine and not have Clive’s name in there. I called these people first and said, “Do you mind?” and most of them were like, no, go ahead. I put Nick Upham in who I grew up with here. He is the police chief in the book. He is the fire chief now and deputy police and he was a harbor master for a while. I brought in Jim Lowe, who passed away last year. He was one of those dock uncles I had. Billy Hallinan, I mention with APPARITION II. I mentioned my father, Fred Farnham, not as my father but as a person who had a 38 Young Brothers. I brought a bunch of them in. People who are local and grew up around this stuff know “We know that guy.” Then for the people that are outside of our circle can feel a little welcomed in and know what we have grown up with.”
“I bring in some of our traditions we have here in Boothbay Harbor,” added Jerry. “Melissa’s first day on the boat, here she is a Hollywood actress and she is going sternman on a lobster boat. She had to learn that she has to go slow. I talked about the difference between strings and pairs. I talk about Jack and he is a successful lobsterman and that is not something easy to do. It takes a lot of hard work. There are days you can go out and not make anything. Celebrate the Maine lobsterman a little bit.”
Jerry is hoping to have the next book done and in the bookstores by Christmas next year.
Jerry lived in Boothbay Harbor ever since he was born there in 1979. Like many who live in a coastal town they love lobster fishing. He said, “I went lobstering with my father every summer and if there was a day off from school, I was on the boat. My favorite class in school was shop with Clive. A bunch of us that he knew from the dock, we couldn’t get away with anything. English, I did not do well in and some of it was my own fault for not applying myself. I learned more about English grammar and spelling writing this book than I did in four years of high school.”
Just 12 days after graduation in 1998, Jerry was heading for Navy boot camp. His first four years were as a marine diesel technician and absolutely loved it. One day they had a gun shoot out on the flight deck and Jerry explained, “I did too good. My career made this sharp swerve to doing security and base police and stuff like that. I did not like how that part of my career was going. I tried like heck to get back in marine diesel, but after 8½ years it was time for me to go home.”
One of the vessels he was on was LSD 51, USS OAK HILL, which he spent 5½ years on board. He came ashore to Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia where he did base security. “Looking back, it was a great decision to do,” said Jerry. “For someone that wasn’t college bound, it was a great way for me to get away from town even though I love this town. Everybody needs to learn to make their own way and that was part of that. When I got out, I was a bit angry because of the way the politics pushed my career into security. After a while I realized the gravity of what I had done and what I had served and the privileges I was given. I have seen places that most people never see.”
When Jerry returned to Boothbay Harbor, he worked construction for Boothbay Home Builders and at the same time was thinking about what he really wanted to do. He was helping Marshall and his father with repairs. “I was like “This is what I want to do, I want to work on boats,” said Jerry. “I went to MMI, Marine Mechanical Institute, in Orlando, Florida and came back and worked at two different boat yards for a while.”
Jerry worked at Yankee Marina in Yarmouth for five years and then went over to Strout’s Point Wharf in South Freeport for another five and a half years. Now he is the CNC repairman at D & G Machine in Westbrook. “It is a whole different world and I love it,” said Jerry. “It is a whole different challenge. I looked at being a marine diesel tech as a puzzle whether it be a repower or a refit or even a repair, it was a puzzle. You had to put the pieces in and I got really good at putting the puzzle together. Now I have a whole different type of puzzle to put together. You go from just doing routine maintenance and all of a sudden you hear this great big slam and someone crashes a machine or you hear an alarm going off and you have to figure out what is going on. It is challenging.”
Jerry loves his work and also writing but added that if he could make a living from writing alone, he might think about hanging up his wrenches. He did add that working at D & G Machine would be a very hard thing to walk away from. He is constantly doing daily posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now X) and doing book signings to keep people interested in his book. The reviews have been good. So, if you are interested in getting a copy try Sherman’s bookstores in Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor Damariscotta and Rockland or go online and order one at jerryfarnham.com.
