Between the Devil and the Deep...

About the Book

Ames wants to escape from intercity gang life in the Mission District of San Francisco, which challenges his physical, emotional and spiritual life. Attempting to break out of the gang related activities in which he is involved; he has to rely on his inner strength. His journey takes him through dangers in gang fights, into the back streets of Hong Kong, to the city room of a newspaper where a deranged reporter wants to kill him, to missionary in Central America, to prison chaplain and to storms at sea. Shadowing his life is the feeling he will slip back to being as evil as he was in the street gang. In the church, he has a reputation as a “maverick.” His path to escape his problems is the sea and sailing to far distant lands. Myasthenia Gravis, a neuromuscular disease, debilitates Ames. Suddenly he looses his ability to preach, to sail, to sing. Now what does God have in store for him? Those who are interested in real life adventures, in mission work, prison ministry, or sailing will find this book entertaining and exciting. Many will find hope in this book for making their own escape from the ghettos of their lives. They also, like the author, can escape.

About the Author

The Rev. Ames K. Swartsfager, an Episcopal priest, arrived in San Francisco in 1951, at the age of thirteen, where he had his first taste of inner-city ghetto life. At this time, he began living the life related in this book. He married and started his career in journalism at the San Francisco Call-Bulletin where he worked for several years and then became a photojournalist for the Vallejo Times-Herald and News-Chronicle. Graduating from college, he entered seminary, in three years received his Master of Divinity, and was ordained an Episcopal priest. He was a missionary in Central America for three years, when he returned to the States. His journey took him to New York as an associate priest, the Woodstock Rock Festival and the Federal Bureau of Prisons as chaplain, which led him to twenty-two years of working with incarcerated people. He retired in 1991 and devoted his life to sailing. He cruised down through the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Colombia for three years and lived in Cali and Cartagena, Colombia for almost two years. He was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis (MG) in Columbia, which ended his ministry there. After ten years recuperating, he has assisted in churches in Texas and Washington, and now he is an Honorary Assistant Priest at Trinity Church, Tariffville, CT.