My left arm’s been in a sling for the past month (rotator cuff surgery), with four more to go before I can start surfing again. So I’ve been scribbling, scribbling, scribbling. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” — a classic scene from the book and film The Shining, but don’t worry, I don’t have an ax stored in my closet with which to give visitors the greatest (and last) surprise of their lives. Instead, I channeled my inner pyscho into this new novel, drawing on my numerous surf adventures throughout the Indonesian archipelago. At the moment available on Kindle or iBooks for only USD 3.99, so download and bring along on your own surf trip! (You can read a beginning excerpt at each of the links below)
Something’s hinky on board the Orient Star, and Vannevar “Budiman” Wells can’t quite figure out what.
His friend and skipper Alexandra Cooper, a sea-salted Australian who charters the boat for Indian Ocean excursions, is uneasy about her guests. She’s asked Budi to come along as the cook and watch her back. He’s good at that sort of thing. A Westerner born in Indonesia, he’s been around the tropical garden more than a few times, and through the seamy underbrush of paradise, too, where the poisonous shadows scuttle.
The Orient Star‘s been chartered by Elroy Kapuni, famed Hawaiian big wave surfer and leader of the Heavy Water brotherhood, once a gang but now gone legit as a sport company that sponsors charity events. This time of year, Elroy should be home on Oahu’s North Shore surfing the big juice instead of groveling in small waves off remote jungle islands. Elroy’s brought an entourage–an unhappy girlfriend who does not like sand or sun, his AA sponsor who does not like water sports of any kind, an Iraqi War veteran with an attitude problem, and a couple henchmen, Thing One and Thing Two.
Elroy’s also brought along a metal detector and camping equipment and a high-end Iridium satellite phone. He furtively keeps calling someone, asking about satellite imagery that he’s expecting.
Surfing seems to be the last thing on his mind.
Bali and Indo Surf Stories 