Podcast appearance and a special price to keep you warm!

January 19, 2024 By Eric Douglas

If you’re like me, you’re burrowing in and trying to stay warm right now. Much of North America is dealing with snow and ice.

But I have two things I want to tell you about and hopefully the second one will keep you warm.

I was asked to be a guest on the Off Gassing Scuba Podcast this week. It was a fun interview and I had a great time speaking with Nick Hogle about my early diving career and making diving writing believable. Nick is an American but is currently based in Malaysia so it made time zones interesting. He caught me first thing in the morning, but at the end of his day.

Check it out!

Let me know what surprised you most about my early career. I guarantee I never expected to end up where I am today.

Tales from Withrow Key

Through the end of the month, my short story collection Tales from Withrow Key is on sale for just $0.99. It includes eight stories set on a fictional island in the Florida Keys. As I wrote these, I imagined them being television shows and I still believe Withrow Key would be a great serial program for a streaming service. Let me know what you think.

This book happens to be in “wide” distribution so you can pick up the ebook on Kindle, Barnes and Noble and Apple Books — probably a couple others as well.

Kindle

Apple Books

Barnes and Noble

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.)

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.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my friends,

December 14, 2023 By Eric Douglas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my friends,

For some of us, this has been a tough year — it feels like we’ve all been saying that for the last several years, of course. Still, I’m glad this one is nearly in the rearview mirror.

I’ve been making a conscious effort to get myself in the Christmas spirit this year. I’ve decorated my office and have gone to several events as well.

A friend of mine organizes a flash fiction event for holiday ghost stories called Advent Ghosts 2023. One hundred words, no more, no less. I haven’t participated the last couple years, telling myself I didn’t have the time. But this year, I made time. It felt good to get back to normal. The flash fiction pieces I am contributing this year are below.

I’ve also written a couple longer short stories that I’d like to share with you. They are free on my website. One is a Santa origin story. It includes time travel. Santa is from Outer Space

A more serious story called Pearl Harbor Christmas is based on the true story, and other survivor stories, from the attack on Pearl Harbor. Tony Sereno was missing for 18 days until his family got a telegram that he was alive.

On the free short fiction page on my website, you can find links to previous Advent Ghosts flash fiction submissions.

This year’s submissions.

White Christmas

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…” plays on the radio.

“I don’t know why they play that silly song here. It’s not like it’s ever going to snow.”

Announcer interrupts music.

“The first nuclear missiles have already exploded in the now white-hot war between nuclear powers India and Pakistan. It’s unknown if other countries will get involved, but fallout from the blasts is expected to cover the globe.”

“That’s on the other side of the world. It doesn’t really matter to us,” Momma says.

Momma come to the window! It’s snowing outside!

How can that be? We live in Miami!

Krampus goes up town

Ted sat at the bar dejected. All of his investments and real estate deals collapsed. He lost everything.

They wouldn’t stop playing Christmas music.

“Who cares if it’s Christmas eve? The markets are closed and I can’t fix things,” he slurred at the bar.

A distinguished man entered and sat beside Ted.

“Why so glum?”

Ted laid out his tale of woe.

“Ted, were you honest in your dealings?”

“I might have cut corners. Everything was only going up and then it just collapsed today!”

“Have you ever heard of Krampus?” The man’s smile didn’t reach his dark, cold eyes.

Lastly, I’ve put a Mike Scott novella on sale. This isn’t a countdown deal. It’s just $0.99 (or equivalent) in all Amazon markets around the world. But get it now before it goes back up to full price!

Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao

A jet plane crashes in the waters off of the island nation of Curacao catapulting international news photographer Mike Scott on a chase to figure out who brought down the plane and why. More importantly, he must save the life of the pilot he rescued from the water after the crash and his own life in the process.

Oil and Water weaves a story of international intrigue with oil cartels and mercenaries sent to disrupt their plans.

https://www.booksbyeric.com/book/oil-and-water/

That’s enough for now. Happy Holidays to everyone and see you in the new year.

Eric

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

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.”

Build up your summer TBR pile!

June 21, 2023 By Eric Douglas

Hello friends,

Happy Summer Solstice to my friends in the northern hemisphere – and, of course, the Winter Solstice for those of you in the southern.

There’s lots going on right now and I know you likely don’t have the time or energy to read a long-winded email from me. Frankly, neither do I.

I haven’t been diving yet, but I am heading to the garage to unpack my dive gear and get it ready to head to my local inland dive site and shake the rust off. From there, I hope to be back in salt water in short order.

Me (right) and Zack Harold at Summersville Lake.

Two things: I’ve been teasing a short story for the last few months. I finished it up, but I’m taking a little break from it so I can take a last look at it with clear eyes before I make it public. Should be soon.

Second, I have started a new Mike Scott thriller novel and am making really good progress. I think I’ve said it here that I felt like I needed to get that short story off my plate to clear my mind. The flood gates seem to have opened. More on that soon.

Book deal

The Mike Scott thriller series includes nine novels and two novellas. I get asked from time to time where is the best start. The books are written so you can jump in and out with whatever story strikes your fancy, but the beginning is a great place to start, too. You can see how Mike Scott developed over the years.

With that in mind, as well as the start of summer with the solstice, the first book in the series, Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure is on sale for a week starting today (June 21, 2023)in the Amazon store. (Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to set up the deal in the UK store this go-round.)

Book Description

Diving in Grand Cayman, magazine photographer Mike Scott notices a series of unusual occurrences including the death of a girl, a protest of new development and the systematic destruction of coral reefs. It all comes together when armed men warn him away from a dive site. Investigating, he witnesses a specially-equipped submarine destroying the reef. Before he is able to report the destruction to the authorities, he and his dive buddy, Kelly, are kidnapped–along with Kelly’s girlfriend Tanya. Friends rescue Mike and Tanya, but the assassin gets away with Kelly, taking him to die. They must race against time to save Kelly and bring down the greedy developer putting his own wealth before the beauty of the island and the welfare of the people.

Jump on it now before the price goes up.

By the way, Cayman Cowboys (and a few of my other books) is available as an Audiobook. If you’re taking a road trip this summer, take the adventure with you while you drive!

That’s enough for now. I hear the water calling me.