Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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  • Mike Scott Thrillers
    • Held Hostage: Search for the Juncal
    • Water Crisis: Day Zero
    • Turks and Chaos: Hostile Waters
    • The 3rd Key: Sharks in the Water
    • Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao
    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Heart of the Maya: Murder for the Gods
    • Wreck of the Huron: Cuban Secrets
    • Guardians’ Keep: Mystery below the Adriatic
    • Flooding Hollywood: Fanatics at the Dam
    • Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
  • Withrow Key
    • Lyin’ Fish
    • Tales from Withrow Key
  • Agent AJ West
  • About the Author
    • Publicity and Interviews
  • Nonfiction
    • For Cheap Lobster
    • Heart Survivor: Recovery After Heart Surgery
    • Oral History
      • Batter Up!
      • Memories of the Valley
      • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
      • Capturing Memories: How to Record Oral Histories
    • Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story
    • Keep on, Keepin’ On: A Breast Cancer Story
    • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
    • Russia: The New Age
    • Scuba Diving Safety
  • Free Short Fiction
  • Other Fiction
    • Sea Turtle Rescue and Other Stories
    • River Town
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Diving opens doors for disabled

May 19, 2024 By Eric Douglas

Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story

Throughout my diving and writing career, I’ve written hundreds of magazine articles, newspaper stories, books and now digital essays. I can say without any doubt that I’ve written well over a million words on the ocean, diving, adventure and the environment. 

Below you’ll find links to some of the more recent essays about the ocean I’ve written on Substack. If you aren’t a subscriber there, I highly recommend it. For me and others. There are a lot of great writers using the platform to talk about a wide range of topics. 

One of my books, though, is probably one of the most amazing stories I’ve written and it is a work of nonfiction. 

My friend Leo Morales lives in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Fifteen years or so ago, he discovered he had cancer. It was in his hip and he had to have his entire leg amputated to get rid of the cancer. 

Depressed and struggling, a friend suggested he try diving as a form of physical therapy. He did and he hated it. But his friend convinced him to try again. At that point, Leo never looked back. 

Leo is a dive instructor. He is also a cave diving instructor as well as a technical diver. That means he can go places and do things most divers never imagine doing. And he does it all with one leg. Leo also travels the world as a motivational speaker. 

In 2018, we worked together to publish a book about his life called Dive-Abled: The Leo Morales Story. Check it out. The ebook is on sale, too. 

Semi-related, I also spent some time working with Jim Elliot, the founder of Diveheart, helping him and his crew develop the training program he uses around the world to teach dive instructors to work with the disabled. He does amazing work and the bravery and excitement from people who use wheelchairs and then are weightless in the water is awe-inspiring to see. It puts my own challenges in perspective. 

It just goes to show that diving opens doors for people who never knew they could even walk through those doors. 

Substack Essays

Some of my recent essays about the ocean and the environment. 

  • ‘You should’ve seen this 20 years ago’ becoming more and more real
  • PFAS is a major problem for the oceans — and us
  • Mourning the loss of 34 fellow divers
  • Shark ‘Infested’ Waters makes me angry

Filed Under: Diving Tagged With: books, disability, diving, nonfiction, scuba

Travel around the world without leaving home with Mike Scott

April 19, 2024 By Eric Douglas

Summer is on its way in the northern hemisphere, but I’m sure some of my friends in the southern hemisphere are happy it is almost over. The heat has been alarming and is leading to severe coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. 

At home, though, it’s almost time to get 60 feet underwater here in West Virginia. Which means I have to get my tanks inspected and refilled. Last year, I ended up waiting until nearly the end of the season to go diving. A whole lot of life things got in the way, but that won’t happen this year. 

I know I’ve been saying this for months, but I am also finally getting back to writing. For real. I’m about a third of the way into what will be the next Mike Scott thriller novel. It’s a good one and a cool story. But I got myself stuck. I finally figured out it was the location. I was trying to put it someplace I didn’t know very well. Once I realized that, the logjam started to open back up. 

Right now, I am reading back through what I’ve written and identifying the places I need to adjust. And getting some new ideas on how to move it forward. Stay tuned. 

Lately, I’ve been doing some more writing on Substack as well. It’s an interesting place where essayists write on a wide variety of topics. It’s taken me a little while to find my voice there. I wanted to make it informative and based on my personal travels and experiences. Below are my two most recent essays. 

  • PFAS is a major problem for the oceans — and us
  • ‘You should’ve seen this 20 years ago’ becoming more and more real

You can subscribe there to get notified whenever I publish a new essay. 

Audiobooks

All of the Mike Scott novels and novellas are now available as audiobooks. Some are read by a professional voice actor; others are read by an AI voice. I’m satisfied with the AI reads, but obviously, they can never touch a human professional. 

Now that spring and summer road trip season is beginning, if you haven’t listened to any of my audiobooks, I invite you to check them out. 

Take a look at all of them. 

And speaking of road trips, if you want to get away, but can’t find the time right now, all of the Mike Scott stories are located on the ocean, on beaches and on islands. 

Locations in Mike Scott stories include:

  • Cayman Cowboys – Grand Cayman
  • Flooding Hollywood – Catalina Island and Los Angeles
  • Guardians’ Keep – Adriatic coast of Italy
  • Wreck of the Huron – North Carolina and Cuba
  • Heart of the Maya – Riviera Maya, Mexico
  • Return to Cayman – Grand Cayman
  • Oil and Water – Curacao
  • The 3rd Key – Florida Keys
  • Turks and Chaos – liveaboard dive boat in Turks and Caicos
  • Water Crisis – Moscow, The Bahamas and Miami, along with a couple shorter stops.
  • Held Hostage: Search for the Juncal — North Carolina and the coast of Mexico.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: audiobooks, books, diving, Mike Scott thrillers, scuba, 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

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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