The Author
Joe Palmer is shown in portrait Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 at Tiger Point Marina in Fernandina Beach. Palmer is a former newspaperman, private investigator and public-defender investigator who has published a novel, "A Mariner's Tale," set in a town modeled after Fernandina Beach. It's been optioned by an independent filmmaker in New York. It's set in a boat yard, around sailing and a hurricane. "It's exciting. Knowing it could go there (to movie format) but being pragmatic about it, you know, it may not go there," Palmer said. "So it's nice just being considered." (Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union)