Captain and thriller author

The world on board

I still work as a ship’s captain and spend part of each year at sea. A vessel is a small, enclosed world. People work and live close together. Duties and responsibilities are clearly divided, yet unexpected situations rarely follow a procedure neatly.

The bridge is where information converges: course, weather, traffic, machinery and the condition of the crew. Ultimately, someone must decide. That present-day responsibility—even when not all information is available—is an important part of Captain Eddy de Graaf.

A thin veil over the Gulf of Finland

The first idea for Black Voltage came to me twenty years ago, during one of my earliest voyages as a captain in the Gulf of Finland. I saw Arctic sea smoke resting on the water: a remarkably thin layer of mist just above the surface.

The sight was quiet, strange and deeply mysterious. The familiar sea suddenly seemed to conceal something, and the world around it felt altered. That was when the first thought emerged of a story in which ordinary reality changes almost unnoticed. The finished plot did not yet exist, but the seed of Black Voltage had been planted.

From sea to forest

During my leave, I work as a self-employed bushcraft instructor. The idea for Black Voltage kept returning there as well. Bushcraft is not about romanticising life without technology. It is about understanding what is genuinely necessary: water, warmth, shelter, food, orientation and a clear mind.

That is where my two working worlds meet. Survival at sea depends on systems, maintenance and discipline. In the woods, you learn to read immediate conditions and use what is available. Both demand preparation and the ability to act when the plan no longer fits reality.

The beginning of Black Voltage

The result was a story in which modern technology fails in a single moment—not to portray technology as the enemy, but to reveal how much rests upon it. The crew of the Polaris have knowledge and experience, yet they too must improvise. Every solution has consequences, and every decision moves the boundary of what remains possible.