William F. Porter writes historical fiction grounded in real research — navigation, archaeology, and trade history — in service of a simple question: what if history had turned just slightly differently?

THE RISING TIDE began with a single premise: that the same Polynesian voyaging tradition which settled Aotearoa could, in another telling, have kept going. From there, the story was built outward from real evidence — documented wind reversals in the Pacific, the archaeology of obsidian and pounamu trade networks, and the material history of Java's Majapahit-era ports — rather than invention for its own sake.

South Seas Publishing is home to THE RISING TIDE and the wider Empire of the South Seas series.

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