Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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Extra day = Special sale on books!

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For Leap Day, I’m running a 12-hour sale on the Kindle version of three of my books.

Starting at 8 am EST, they will be on sale at a 61% discount. As the day progresses, the price will increase in increments, returning to the regular list price at 8 pm EST.

cayman cover finalThe books included in this special offer are:

Don’t hesitate. This offer is as fleeting as a Leap Day and won’t come around again before the next one.

If you already own all three of these books, thank you. Why don’t you pass this along to a friend or two who might be able to take advantage of this limited time offer?

Heart Blog

On a totally unrelated note, I’ve posted three blogs to my website from my weekly column in the local paper about my open heart surgery and the recovery from quintuple bypasses. I’ll be doing this throughout my recovery process to help my friends and readers learn from my experiences, hopefully avoid what I’m going through, or at least be prepared for what’s to come.

You can read them all on my website at Heart Blog

Capturing Memories: Recording Oral Histories

oral histories book webOn an even more unrelated note, check out my new “How To” book on recording oral histories. The book covers: Research, Interviewing, Getting Releases, Recording the Interview, Telling a Story and Editing. It also includes a foreword on the importance of collecting oral histories by the Editor of Goldenseal and West Virginia State Folklife Director Stan Bumgardner.

Capturing Memories: Recording Oral Histories will guide you through the process from choosing your goals, writing advance questions and making the recording using your smartphone, a recorder or your computer. It is available in softcover through all major online retailers for $9.99 and in Kindle format through Amazon for $5.99.

Christmas present to my readers

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Withrow Key cover Christmas presentMy annual Christmas present to my readers comes in the form of a price reduction and some FREE fiction as well.

For the month of December, I’ve reduced the price on the Tales from Withrow Key collection and Lyin’ Fish. This covers both the softcover and ebook versions.

The softcover of Tales from Withrow Key is now $11 (down from $12) and the Kindle version is now $3.99 (down from $4.99).

Lyin’ Fish’s prices dropped to $5.75 for the softcover and $1.99 for all ebook versions.

Free Reading Material

On my website, you can also read two short stories and a couple flash fiction pieces with an Advent/Christmas/Yule theme:

Time to curl up in front of the fireplace and imagine that you’re someplace warm and sunny for the next couple months.

Merry Christmas!

“Sea Turtle Rescue and other stories”now available!

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sea turtle near Grand CaymanEveryone gets excited when they see a sea turtle in the water. They are just cool and fun to watch.

When my girls were young, after reading innumerable Magic Treehouse books with them, I decided to write them their very own chapter books to read. The first story was Sea Turtle Rescue and sea turtles still hold a special place for us today. Over the years, I wrote three more children’s chapter stories with the same characters and now, for the first time, all four stories are available in one place. Three of these stories were published as part of the Newspapers in Education program, making them available in serial form for kids from all over the country to learn about the ocean. They were published in places as far apart as Bermuda and Iowa.

Sea Turtle Rescue cover artThese stories are great for kids (or grandkids) interested in the ocean, history, sea turtles, sharks and science. The two main characters are young girls, but boys like the stories as well. My step-nephews tell me how much they like the stories all the time.

“Sea Turtle Rescue and other stories” is available in softcover for $10 and in ebook format for $5.99. The ebook is available through Kindle, Nook and most of the other ebook retailers. You can download it in multiple ereader formats through Smashwords.

Many thanks go out as well to Rick Melvin for three of the inside illustrations and to my older daughter Ashlin Douglas for the cover art.

Description

Two young girls move to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and learn about the ocean and life on the coast. There are four early chapter books in this collection, written for readers six- to nine-years-old. The stories are exciting but also include information on science, the ocean and history.

Sea Turtle Rescue is an ocean story about protecting sea turtles. When an injured sea turtle shows up near their home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Jayne and Marie, along with their friends Javier and Monique, search the beach to find the turtle’s nest and protect it from danger. They know the time is getting short and if they don’t find it soon, the eggs might not get a chance to hatch.

Fight for Fort Hatteras is a history story about the civil war. Jayne and Marie take a school trip to visit the site of a Civil War battle near their home on the Outer Banks. Marie wanders off and finds herself in the middle of the battle and afraid she may never see her family again.

Hurricane! is a science story on hurricanes hitting the coast. Jayne and Marie are faced with Hurricane Erin bearing down on their seaside town. Do they evacuate or stay with their father and protect the aquarium?

Swimming with Sharks is an ocean story about sharks and their value. Jayne and Marie love the ocean and enjoy spending time out on the water with their parents. For them, sharks are beautiful creatures, not something to be feared. But an up close and personal encounter makes Marie think twice.

You can read a number of reviews from the separate stories on the book page..

Fiction becomes reality on Grand Cayman

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Ten years ago, my first novel (Cayman Cowboys) revolved around the conflict that happens when development squares off against the environment. In that case, a developer was destroying coral reefs in search of treasure while building a cruise ship dock. There were protests, corrupt politicians and good guys trying to save the reef. At the time, I honestly thought it was a little farfetched because the reef in Grand Cayman is a main draw for visitors. The idea that anyone would allow a developer to come in and haplessly destroy coral reefs that have earned the island the distinction of being one of the top diving destinations in the world was a bit out there. I thought.

Sea turtle on a reef on Grand CaymanFlash forward 10 years and the government of the Cayman Islands is planning to build a new pier that will allow cruise ships to dock in the harbor and not have to rely on shuttle boats, called tenders, to get the tourists back and forth the dock. The problem is, to build the dock, the government is going to have to destroy acres of viable coral reef and a historic wreck dive site that is in the middle of the approach to the harbor. They have discussed the idea of moving the reefs, but that’s just about the most absurd thing anyone without a financial stake in getting the dock built has ever heard. Those who have a financial stake in the dock think it makes perfect sense.

Spotted moray on Grand CaymanThe short version is they would have to cut loose and lift thousands of tons of rock and then relocate it to a new area. It’s all underwater, of course, and you just can’t blast it loose and then scoop it up. It would have to be cut loose from below the sand and carefully lifted and moved. On top of that, wherever you would move it to would have to have similar conditions of currents, depth and sunlight to allow the coral reef to continue living.

In short, it’s impossible. Read this opinion piece on the subject.

As an additional layer of absurd, beyond the reef that will be destroyed by the construction of the dock, many additional acres will be destroyed by the silt from the construction and dredging. That will devastate many existing hotels just outside the harbor by destroying their house reefs and the dive sites they frequent.

Arrow crab on Grand CaymanNone of this makes any sense. Unless you consider that the cruise ship lines want the dock. And they spend a lot of money on the island. It all comes back to short-sighted decisions in the interest of money.

The above video is just a simple collage of eight different dive sites in the area near the harbor. All of it will be destroyed or seriously degraded by the actual construction and the dredging. The conditions weren’t perfect the week I shot the video. As a matter of fact it rained every day so the visibility was a little degraded. A couple days, it was raining while I was in the water. Still, it shows the amazing diversity of undersea life on Grand Cayman. And it shows what we all stand to lose all in search of money. In the long run, tourism will suffer.

IMG_6005~2I think I’ll try to get back to Cayman one more time before they move forward with this disaster. Because once construction begins, the island will be permanently off my destination list..

Sunday Gazette-Mail: Review of Return to Cayman

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Option 1WV Book Team Review: Diver challenges a war on coral in the Caymans

By Cat Pleska
WV Book Team

“Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage” by Eric Douglas. 238 pages. Visibility Press (2015).

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “Return to Cayman” is the sixth in a series of novels Eric Douglas calls the Mike Scott Adventures.

In each book, Mike Scott is a photojournalist and diver who gets himself involved in some serious crime-fighting. In the latest novel, the plot involves a crime that has global repercussions riding on a “red herring” — that is, it seems what’s at stake are the coral reefs around the Grand Cayman Islands and being able to save them, but in fact the possible damage is much more far-reaching than anyone dreamed.

The story begins with the arrival of Mike Scott to visit old friends Kelly and Tanya, residents of Grand Cayman, an island with a population of 56,000. Kelly and Tanya own a dive resort, Sunset House, but Tanya is also working with the Department of the Environment to protect and restore the coral reefs surrounding the island, which are crucial to the diving industry.

A coral reef represents hundreds of years of growth of tiny, living sea creatures that form hard (mostly) outcroppings on the bottoms of oceans, especially around islands or just off shores of continents. Coral beds are the nurseries for small fish, who in turn are in the feeding chain for larger fish, the kind humans use for food. Besides natural disasters, such as hurricanes, that can devastate coral colonies, man-made destruction — by the massive anchors of cruise ships, agricultural runoff and dock development — is increasing.

An eccentric billionaire, Jay Taylor, arrives on the island with the stated intent to save the coral. He’s planted sensors in the water that can detect problems, and he also pledges a million dollars to the Caymanian government for coral recovery and protection. But Tanya, a marine biologist well-versed in protecting the coral environment, has her suspicions. Free help is nice, but it could mean strings attached.

Mike, ostensibly along for the ride, helps his friends assess the state of the coral. He and Kelly dive to begin the survey and are almost killed when an off-course cruise ship drops anchor nearly on top of them.

Each link in the anchor chain weighs hundreds of pounds. Besides nearly ending their lives, massive amounts of coral are destroyed — and also Bubba, a huge, 1,000-pound grouper, who is considered an “old man of the sea.” How can such a massive ship be off by 100 feet coming in to dock? Could the drone flying overhead have anything to do with it?

And after Tanya is nearly killed in a bizarre car accident — also when a drone is present — the three, led by Mike Scott, begin a race not only to save the coral, but also the international banking systems that are present on the island — more than 600 banks where billions of dollars are at stake. Someone masterminds a complete shutdown of all electronic interaction with the world, essentially erecting a “cone of silence” around the island.

The chase is on to stop whomever is creating havoc. The island divers, or “cowboys” as they’re called, saddle up (that is, they don scuba gear) and vow to help the threesome save the world. Plenty of action and deception ensue, and Douglas is good at developing tension and getting a reader to turn a page, the hallmark of thrillers. A few passages seem repetitive, but my hat’s off to Douglas for creating a complex mystery involving computer sabotage. It reminded me a little of “Mission Impossible” plots.

Douglas’ own decades of scuba diving provide a realistic environment. Perhaps my favorite passage was the swim through the coral “tunnel” with its “windows” (gaps in the coral wall) that allow sunshine to come through, which is crucial for coral growth.

“Return to Cayman” is a good summer read — fast and furious — with the occasional slowdown to admire the scenery. In true thriller fashion, the novel provides not only an exciting ride, but a greater awareness of what’s happening in our oceans.

Long live the coral and Bubbas of the sea! And maybe then we’ll thrive too.

Read the follow up Q and A here:

– See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/article/20150816/GZ05/150819788/1178#sthash.EssugIIn.dpuf.

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