New novel Seacliff Park' tells fictional story of famed Cement Ship

"Looking today like the ghost of a ship that once was, mostly crumbling and serving as a perch for seabirds, this vessel has a long history. It was constructed during World War I as the SS Palo Alto but launched too late to serve in that conflict and was mothballed for a decade until it found a new home off Seacliff, remaining a source of fascination for decades and even outliving the pier that provided access to it."

"Seacliff Park is the third novel for Marinovich, who previously authored The White Boats and A Boutique Safari, and has been a writer for 50 years and an avid reader for even longer, absorbing the works of John Steinbeck and Mark Twain. I've always been a reader, he said. I started reading at a very young age. I would have spells of being fascinated by one writer or another and read everything they ever wrote, including their letters and personal papers."

Seacliff State Beach is dominated by the century-old concrete vessel SS Palo Alto, now largely submerged and crumbling while serving as a perch for seabirds. The ship was constructed during World War I, launched too late to serve, mothballed for a decade, then permanently grounded off Seacliff where it outlived the pier that once provided access. The year the ship found its new home is chronicled in a noir fiction novel titled Seacliff Park, which centers on corruption, criminal activity and the pursuit of the American dream. The novelist drew on a long career in journalism, screenwriting and marketing, and a lifetime of reading.

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