When Ordinary Seaman Nicola Peffers boards the Winnipeg for her first deployment with the Canadian Navy, she embarks on a psychologically deadly voyage rife with unimaginable life-altering challenges. At a break-neck pace Peffers undergoes intense training, fierce hierarchies, endless fatigue, and unjust mistreatment by her superiors. In The Black Deck, Peffers offers a revelatory and visceral glimpse into a harsh world at sea. We are days away from the nearest port. There are kilometres of water under us. We are completely alone out here. We are not a shark, and we don't go hunting. Instead we are a spider stuck in its web, cursed with waiting. What am I doing here? No one comes here unless they have to. I'm as deep inside her now as I can go, and furthest away from the endless stares of the men and the bitter glances of the women. It's a confused kind of relationship. I love my ship in a way I've never loved an inanimate object before, but every time I do rounds I'm terrified that she'll blow up. I feel the fear as I sit here in the hot darkness. Maybe it's just my own brokenness that I'm projecting. Maybe the cracks have already formed. Maybe it's me that's about to explode.