We’re cleaning out the files here in the offices of The Skinny Island Post, so that we can move on to other projects.  Starting with “Bringing Back Canasta” last month, we’re bringing out books we’ve spent a long time researching and writing.  Next up will be another historical fiction, “River of Dolphins,” the very true story of the bloody conflict in 1565 between two great sailor-generals, Frenchman Jean Ribault, and Spaniard Pedro Menendez, that resulted in the founding of St. Augustine.  I have taken a special interest in this story for close to twenty-five years.

Back in the early 90s our son attended Father Lopez High School in Daytona Beach, and I got to wondering who this Father Lopez was the school was named after.  Turns out he was the priest who celebrated the first Christian Mass on the American continent.  Further research revealed an amazing story of how he came to do so, and the events leading up to and following the founding of St. Augustine by Menendez, for whom Lopez acted as chaplain.  My research dragged on for about fifteen years, during which time we moved into and began renovating The Little Hacienda.  I found myself living about midway between the site to the north where Menendez dispatched the French, an inlet now know as Matanzas, and Ponce de Leon Inlet, to the south, known in 1565 as Mosquito Inlet, where Ribault and a large contingent of French shipwrecked in a hurricane while attempting to engage Menendez.  From that inlet the French trudged north along this very beach to meet their fate at Matanzas.  One end of Skinny Island to the other! These are all historical facts, so I’m not giving much away.  The real story of “River of Dolphins” lies in the incredible interweaving of events, personalities, and major social and theological currents– this all took place in the wake of the Reformation, which was shaking Europe at the time– and in a delicious bit of real life I uncovered that just begged to be fleshed out.  Available soon on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle versions, and at amazon.com/author/sharrison3.  Watch this space.

Another novel we’ve been working for quite a few years, this one a fat tome called “The House of Ephraim,” tells the story of an ex-slave who entreats the son of his former owner to sponsor his study of law in 1880s Tampa, Florida, in the midst of the explosive establishment of the cigar industry (and Cuban revolution) in Ybor City.  We hope to have that out by Christmas.  Then it’s on to new stuff.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to pick up your copy of “Bringing Back Canasta,” on Amazon.  We’re building up some nice customer reviews.  Check it out, and Keep Coming Back!

amazon.com/author/sharrison3