Books by Eric Douglas

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You are here: Home / Archives for diving

Using stories about the ocean as teaching opportunities

December 29, 2023 By Eric Douglas

(This week’s substack article is below. Follow this link for previous essays.)

https://www.booksbyeric.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2015-06-02-01.44.22.mp4

I’ve been fortunate to have a career that has involved telling stories and working around the ocean. I’ve gotten to write about the things I’ve seen above and below the waves. 

One of my goals when I started writing novels was to expose readers to the magic of the ocean. Coming from the recreational dive industry, I hoped divers would enjoy my books so I attempted to make the diving as realistic as possible. 

But, I have written with nondivers in mind as well. I want those readers to be excited about my stories. I want some of them to decide to learn to scuba dive and explore the ocean. And I want everyone to learn a few things about the ocean itself. 

Recently, I read an essay called Why We Need New Stories About the Ocean: Natalie Hart on the Urgency of Literature That Brings the Ocean into the Climate Story

One thing Hart discussed was the difference between literature about the climate versus the ocean. With climate-based stories, the reader is likely predisposed to have an interest in the overall topic. But with the ocean, it is typically just a setting for a love story, adventure story or even a story of personal reflection like a memoir. 

“People can come to books that feature the sea, with no motivation to understand the ocean at all, but they can learn or feel something about the sea through the process of reading. And perhaps these people that we don’t normally reach are the most important of all.”

I don’t write science fiction, but I’ve always understood the genre as taking what is known and extrapolating it into the future. Think about concepts like Warp Speed and digital tablets from Star Trek or Isaac Asimov’s Three Rules of Robotics. 

With my books, there is always something readers can take away when it comes to oceans, water, the environment, or reef systems. 

An example of that is the 10th novel in the Mike Scott series. It’s all about the shortage of fresh water and the international upheaval that causes. 

Recently I saw a story that drought conditions and sea level rise had allowed more salt water intrusion into the Mississippi River causing problems for municipal water supply systems. So many things I extrapolated in Water Crisis are coming true and causing problems. 

There are times, as a fiction writer, I question whether I am doing any good. I want to influence people to love and respect the ocean while being in awe of everything we don’t know about it. But it’s easy to get frustrated and wonder if anyone is listening. 

And then I shake that feeling off and go back to writing. I continue to tell my fiction stories with truth as the background to help people learn whether they want to or not. 

 

Filed Under: Adventure, Diving Tagged With: adventure, diving, Fiction, Mike Scott thrillers, Substack, thriller novels, Water Crisis

Read my latest essay on Substack

August 17, 2023 By Eric Douglas

I’ve started a new weekly outreach on Substack. This platform is popular with journalists and other writers discussing a number of topics. 

Give me a follow if you are interested in stories about writing, diving and whatever else comes along. 

Check out my latest post on the tragedy of the dive boat Conception

Boat wake in a blue ocean heading away from land.

The dive boat Conception tragedy and learning lessons

I was in Houston a little more than four years ago when I heard about the Conception dive boat tragedy. Thirty-four lives were lost that day. I think about every diver heard that story with a sinking feeling in their stomachs, imagining that it could be them. It has been termed the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

Even if they’ve never taken a liveaboard dive trip, nearly every diver has spent time on dive boats often out of sight with land. There are times you aren’t sure exactly which way land is. And that inspires thoughts of worry — even if just for a moment thinking “if this boat sinks, what do I do.”

Read more.

See previous posts. 

Filed Under: Diving Tagged With: diving, free fiction, Mike Scott thrillers, Substack, thriller novels

Going to the circus!

February 20, 2023 By Eric Douglas

To unfamiliar eyes, everything around them was chaos. Men and women scurried around. Some were in costumes, others in athletic training gear. A half dozen songs played as dancers practiced their choreography.  

But, to a circus performer, this was the real magic of the show. Everything it took to produce a modern-day circus was happening at once. Acrobats, clowns, gymnasts, and daredevils came together from nearly as many nations as existed on the planet. And they did it for that one kid in the front row at his first circus who was just blown away by the magic of it all.

Nearly every performer had a story about “that” kid. No matter what was going on around them, the kid would stare, and smile and yell and cheer and cry. That was what made it all worth the effort. That was why they loved it.

Before they could take the show on the road, before they could affect that child in the front row, it took hundreds of hours of sweat, blood, tears and screams of their own.

Photojournalist Mike Scott was there to capture that part of the story – the spectacle behind the spectacle at the circus’ winter home in Florida. It was circus school.

On his third day there, one of the administrators of the training program, Karl Klapproth, lead Mike around. Karl was a former performer in his own right, so he was able to give Mike special insight into some of the acts that were still in development.

“What’s this thing for,” Mike asked as they passed by a 30-foot-tall acrylic tube filled with water. The tank was like one you would find in a large public aquarium where the fish swim in the water column.

“Oh, that’s a new underwater act. The tube is six feet wide. A group of swimmers does an underwater ballet inside. They swim down in twos and threes to the bottom and perform. It’s very impressive to watch. They stay under an incredible amount of time and you wouldn’t think there was enough room for all of it, but they make it look amazing,” Karl said.

“I’ve done some freediving myself. Thirty feet is about my limit on a good day and I’m sure I wouldn’t have time on the bottom to do stunts,” Mike said. “Are they going to be practicing any time soon. I’d like to watch.”

At 6’2” and 220 pounds, with dark wavy hair, Mike was a big man. He stayed in shape mostly by traveling and being active. He loved scuba diving when he wasn’t working, and he combined his two loves into underwater photography when he wasn’t on assignment. He spent a lot of time diving the Caribbean but also loved to dive the shipwrecks near his home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

“I’m not sure when they’re going to practice again, but I’ll be sure and find out for you,” Karl told him.

“So, is that performance going to make it in the show this year? How do you decide what acts are featured each year and which ones never leave Florida,” Mike asked as they walked away from the tank.

“It’s interesting you ask that. There is a very involved process where choreographers and designers at our headquarters review possible acts, including the staple performances that everyone expects at the circus – the clowns, the high-flying acts, that sort of thing – and decides what else can fit with the theme of the show. Each show has a look and feel, and each act has to work with that look. Then they design costumes and figure out how to make it all work together,” Karl explained.

After a particularly grueling assignment in a war zone, Mike’s boss had suggested the circus school as a story and Mike jumped at it. After just a few days, he was surprised how much the experience had affected him. Lately, telling the big stories felt like it was wearing him down. Maybe he was getting older, but it was harder and harder to move on to the next assignment. But being here was inspiring Mike all over again. People doing this for the pure joy and satisfaction of it. They couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

Like most closed groups, the performers and stagehands met Mike with some skepticism. They had all seen their fair share of reporters and photographers come to the training ground with an angle or an axe to grind. But they soon discovered Mike was different.

“Help!” came a terrified scream from behind Mike and Karl. “Ridian fell into the tank. Someone please help!”

Mike had walked about 20 feet from the acrylic tube with Karl. He could clearly see a lifeless body sinking in the tank.

Unconscious.

Mike tossed his camera bag to Karl as he bolted for the spiral staircase that led to the top of the tank. “What happened?” Mike shouted as he ran, taking the steps two at a time.

“Ridian said his father was going to let him in the act and we snuck up here as soon as you left. He was showing off and then slipped and hit his head. He just sank,” the young girl said as she began to sob.

When Mike reached the top of the stairs, he immediately stripped down to his shorts.

The sprint to the tank and charging up the stairs had Mike nearly out of breath.

He took a moment to focus on what he was going to have to do. Looking around, he saw what he would need to get down. Two weight belts were lying on the floor. The performers had been using them to train with. Each held five pounds of weight.

Mike picked up the belts and draped them over his shoulders, took three quick breaths and did his best to relax. Then he simply stepped in the water and let himself sink.

Cool water rushed all around Mike and shocked his system. It almost caused him to gasp, but he quelled the urge. He forced himself to stay relaxed and still – twisting, turning or struggling would only slow his descent. Mike wanted to save his energy. He was going to have to grab the boy and then swim up with him. That was going to be the hard part.

Mike would also be fighting a quickly dropping supply of oxygen in his system. The exertion of the swim would demand more oxygen from his body than normal. He would be cutting it close by the time he got to the surface.

Touching the hard acrylic bottom of the tank with his feet, Mike’s lungs were already beginning to burn and his mind was telling him to breathe.

Without a mask, Mike could only see blurry shapes. The performers had some equipment in the bottom of the tank that broke up his line of sight making it even harder to see.

Mike knew he had to find the boy quickly. There would be no way he could swim to the surface and make it back down again. And there was no telling when other help would arrive. He was the boy’s only hope.

Then he saw Ridian lying on the floor against a block that formed the base of one of the performer’s supports. Mike dropped to his knees and lifted the boy over his shoulder. Dropping the two weight belts, and with all the energy he had left, Mike sprang from the bottom, propelling the two of them toward the surface.

Mike kicked with his legs as hard as he could and swam upward with his free arm. His mind was screaming for fresh air. His lungs were burning. Mike swallowed, trying to put off the urge to breathe. He had no idea how far he was from the surface. Doubt started to creep into his mind. Can I make it? What if I’m too late? Should I have done this differently? What if I had…?

Mike’s vision began to grow dark and he knew he was close to blacking out.

And then his head broke the surface. As he felt the water fall away and air on his face, Mike took a deep breath. And a second one. And then he was able to focus his eyes. There were people on the stand. Hands reached out and grabbed Ridian from Mike. Others helped Mike climb out of the water.

The performers immediately began caring for the boy. One rescuer opened his airway and delivered two rescue breaths. Another performer called 911 while a third began CPR and started giving him oxygen.

After just a minute, Ridian began breathing on his own.

By the time emergency medical services had arrived the boy was beginning to regain consciousness.

There was no question in anyone’s mind that Mike had saved the boy’s life.

Mike would have won the performers’ confidence anyway, but his selfless effort to save the boy opened every door and broke down every barrier that anyone could have even thrown up. They accepted him as family and allowed him inside their homes and allowed him access to their lives without hesitation.

Finally, the circus was putting on a dress rehearsal before taking it on the road. While each of the performers had done their acts hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, this was a chance for everyone to see exactly what the show would look like. And Mike was there for that, too.

Mike didn’t look forward to editing through the images for this article. Ultimately, he might end up publishing 10 photographs from the thousands he took, but he knew he had amazing images that would reveal the circus life to his magazine’s readers. And that was what was important to him.

For him, the stress and the intensity of the assignment were over. Now, he got to enjoy this last night with his new group of friends, not as a photographer. He got to sit in the front row, in the owner’s box, and enjoy the show. He got to be the wide-eyed kid again. And he loved every minute of it.

Filed Under: Books, Free Fiction Tagged With: adventure, diving, free fiction, Mike Scott thrillers, scuba, thriller novels

Giving the Gift of Adventure

December 14, 2018 By Eric Douglas

Eric was a guest on ScubaRadio recently as host Greg Holt was preparing for the holidays. While reading about it is never as good as diving, you can’t always be traipsing around the world on a fresh adventure. That’s where Eric’s books come in.

When you’re feeling landlocked and need to get away, join Mike Scott or Jackson Pauley on a fresh adventure above and below the water.

One great feature with all of Eric’s books, when you order a softcover through Amazon, you get the Kindle version for free. Give one as a gift and keep the other for yourself. We won’t tell.


Listen to an excerpt of the show with Eric talking to Greg on ScubaRadio.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: adventure, diving, Mike Scott thrillers, scuba, thriller novels

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Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

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