Thriller fiction and Non-fiction
Over the weekend, Eric had the chance to speak with Greg Holt from ScubaRadio. Eric has been a friend of the show, and Greg’s since nearly the beginning of the show.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted any of these on-air conversations, but this felt like a good clip to post. This segment aired Mach 23, 2024.
Much of my fiction is rooted in history and nonfiction. I’m not the kind of writer who spends a lot of time “world-building.” No disrespect to that at all. I cut my teeth as a reader on the Dune series, everything by Asimov and of course Tolkien and high fantasy.
For me, the history of shipwrecks and ancient civilizations brought forward to today makes a great backdrop for the Mike Scott stories. One of my favorites in that regard is Guardians’ Keep. I was working in Italy along the Adriatic Coast when a friend told me a story about some archeological research Dr. Allesandro Marroni performed on a city that had sunk just off the coast. That sparked my imagination, of course.
And in a twist, I was able to work in ancient Jewish history and the still-missing Breastplate of Judgment from the Old Testament. It was looted by Roman soldiers during the fall of the temple in about 70 A.D.
I like to think it is the first book where I blended real history and modern day into one entertaining story. You’ll have to be the judge of that, of course.
Until March 26, Guardians’ Keep is on sale in both the Amazon and Amazon UK stores. The price will go up slowly between now and Tuesday so get it now!
A nonfiction book I co-authored with friend and former coworker Dan Orr is called Scuba Diving Safety. The book was originally intended as an update on an even earlier book on the subject. Ultimately, we completely rewrote it. That was 17 years ago. Just a few months ago, we got the rights to the book back from the original publisher and have been updating the chapters and reorganizing it some as well. I hope to bring you the good news soon that a new publisher has picked it up. We hope to have it ready this fall.
Audiobooks
Most of my books are now available on Audible Plus where you can listen to as many books as you want. For some reason, Audible is dragging their feet on five of my audiobooks, though. They are still available to download directly, however. You can check them out here.
I love diving on a beautiful coral reef, enjoying the circus of colors and fish in front of me. It is warm, relaxing and exciting at the same time. Of course, the topside atmosphere in places with those reefs is just as fun. Warm sand, sun and boat drinks.
But, what really fires my imagination underwater are shipwrecks. A good artificial reef is fun, too, but I do prefer to dive on true shipwrecks. The ship may’ve been lost in a storm, accident or during war time. When I am diving on a wreck, with nothing but the sound of my own bubbles in my ears, my thoughts always go to the question of what was going through the minds of the passengers and crew at the time. Were they fighting and angry? Were they afraid?
I’ve dived on shipwrecks from the Carolinas to the Caribbean to California and they are all mysterious and intriguing. My fiction author’s brain immediately goes into high gear and I’ve been known to literally start writing stories in my head during a dive.
One of my favorite books around a shipwreck is Wreck of the Huron. It went down right off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
That’s what makes this story I read a few days ago in the Washington Post so intriguing. The headline teases it really well.
A 1940 shipwreck was discovered in Lake Superior. Its mystery endures.
(This is a gift link so it’s free to read.)
The short version is, the captain went down with his ship. But he didn’t have to. The captain should be the last person to leave, but when the crew was safe, he could’ve gotten off, too. It’s easy to speculate what his motivations might’ve been but we will never know.
Audiobooks
I sent out a quick note at the beginning of the month about the complete Mike Scott series now being in audiobook format.
This is an AI reading, and it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good. I’d love to hear back from listeners to see what you think.
You can check out the links on my website. The list starts with Cayman Cowboys and there is a link to the audiobook from each one.
Also, most of them are on Audible Plus so you can listen to all you want. The remaining few have been accepted into the program and should be there soon.
I don’t do a lot of these, but I have joined a multi-author promotion full of free thriller novels. It’s a short one, though. When February ends, so does the promotion so download them now!