Brett Martin

Alex Zharov, a musician and former teenage castaway, recounts a harrowing Jamaica Bay boat trip that leaves him stranded and rescued. Mike Paterniti, a reporter, tells the story of Chen Sah, who spends weekends patrolling a Nanjing bridge to prevent suicides. They discuss survival, solitude, unexpected heroism, and the strange edges of cities where ordinary life and extraordinary moments meet.

Mike Paterniti, a reporter who followed Chen Sa’s weekend rescues on Nanjing Bridge, and Brett Martin, a magazine reporter who chronicled Alex Zharov’s Jamaica Bay ordeal, tell gripping near‑city tales. They explore a nightmarish pleasure cruise gone wrong and a lone man patrolling a suicide bridge. Short, tense stories of survival, strange places on the urban edge, and the people drawn to them.