Look for the new Mac Travis Adventure Thriller – Wood’s Betrayal. I’m just finishing the first draft and expect to have the book released in mid July. After that, I plan to start writing the fourth Tides of Fortune book. Looks like the crew is going to Mexico and maybe crossing into the Pacific. We’ve got some travel plans in the fall, so the Storms may have an adventure coming soon in Italy.
She and TJ now have a larger role The Storm series. Mac had a brief cameo in Storm Force as well. There is also a trail of breadcrumbs from the first Tides of Fortune book: Pirate to Wood’s Island. I haven’t worked this in yet, but it’s too good to ignore.The Storm Thriller series is a way for me to include some locations outside of Florida, where the Mac Travis Adventures series takes place. The first book, Storm Rising, is set in London and the British Virgin Islands. Storm Force starts in Chicago and moves to Hawaii. We’ve got a bicycle trip to Italy coming up this fall, so look for the next Storm book to have some locations from Rome and Sicily.
Storm Force is mainly set on the Big Island in Hawaii. Many of the locations used are from my own explorations of the island. Here’s a quick guide and map:
- Kona – The main tourist city on the island’s west coast. A few years ago we did a diving trip with Kona Diving Company. Very different from the Florida Keys, where we typically dive. The water is cleared and the formations different. We did several dives through lava tubes and arches. We also paddled with the Waikoloa Canoe Club. Last September we were back for the Queen Liliuokalani Canoe Race.
- Kealakekua Bay – Also known as Cook’s Bay, this great snorkeling spot is down the coast from Kona. This is where the Discovery first made landfall in Hawaii. There is a statue of Captain Cook toward the northern end of the bay.
- Kaumana Caves – Located outside of Hilo, this county park contains a great lava tube. We found this to be more interesting and way less crowded than the more famous Thurston Tube in Volcano National Park
Kalapana – The city was over run by lava in the 90s and the area is still active. This is also the site of the famous black sand beach wiped out in the same lava flow, but now regenerating. A sign posted on the trail to the beach claiming the area to be protected by war crime pillaging started my research into the indigenous claims for sovereignty.- Uncle Robert’s Market and Awa Bar – The only way to describe this is like going to a Grateful Dead concert without the Dead. Beyond eclectic, the market has great music, food, and crafts and is only open on Wednesday nights.
The Big Island of Hawaii is the main setting for Storm Force, the second book in the Storm Thriller Series. I’ve made several trips to the Big Island in the last few years: one with family, and the other to paddle in the Queen Liliuokalani outrigger canoe race. The settings in the books are the result of our explorations of the island (Check out the map here). As unique and fascinating as the island is, I was having a hard time finding a premise until I saw an article in the Daily Alta California from December 15, 1884:
PIRACY
Honolulu Captured and Sacked by an Armed Force
The most audacious Piratical Raid on Record
No Attempt at Resistance
Over Three Million in coin and plate carried off.
Got your attention—it got mine. After further research, I learned that the pirates held the city overnight, and without violence looted the town. A search was mounted, but neither the buccaneers or the treasure was found.
So, where did it go?
A couple of natural phenomena came into play: lava and hurricanes.
The Big Island, especially the southeast shore has a continuously changing landscape due to Kilauea, the centerpiece of Volcano National Park. Over the past three hundred years, the volcano has been active. As a result of the continuing flows, the present day coastline is different than it was in 1884 when the raid took place.
Two hurricanes bore down on the island last September when we were there for the race. Fortunately, the 13,000-foot volcano protected Kona, where we were staying, but the southeast shore took a beating—the same shore with tons of lava pouring into the ocean every minute. What if the buccaneers put into one of these bays after escaping Honolulu on their way to the mainland. Could a storm have not only held a ship captive but blown it into a lee shore and lava flow, where it is still buried today?
The second book in the Storm Thriller series is now available to buy from amazon. It will stay at the special launch price of just $2.99, but only for 48 hours, after which it will increase to $4.99. So, take advantage of this special price while you can!
A forgotten treasure controls the fate of an island paradise
The future of Hawaii is at stake after a rare chart from Captain Cook’s third voyage of discovery is stolen placing John and Mako Storm directly in the path of a powerful Japanese businessman with his own plans for the islands. Along with two beautiful women, the father and son must put aside their differences, and fight the most powerful force in nature to stop the rebirth of the last Shogunate and save more than just the islands.
Storm Force is a gripping standalone adventure thriller from bestselling author, Steven Becker. Drawing on its history and centered around the Big Island of Hawaii’s exotic locations, the book features plenty of action, boating, and scuba diving.
Available to download on Kindle. Paperback and Audio Book coming soon.
The second book in the Storm Thriller series is now available to pre-order from amazon. It will be released on May 11th at the special price of just $2.99. But this release price only lasts 48 hours, after which it will increase to $4.99. So, take advantage of this special price while you can!
A forgotten treasure controls the fate of an island paradise
The future of Hawaii is at stake after a rare chart from Captain Cook’s third voyage of discovery is stolen placing John and Mako Storm directly in the path of a powerful Japanese businessman with his own plans for the islands. Along with two beautiful women, the father and son must put aside their differences, and fight the most powerful force in nature to stop the rebirth of the last Shogunate and save more than just the islands.
Storm Force is a gripping standalone adventure thriller from bestselling author, Steven Becker. Drawing on its history and centered around the Big Island of Hawaii’s exotic locations, the book features plenty of action, boating, and scuba diving.
Available to pre-order on Kindle. Paperback and Audio Book coming soon.
The opening scene in Pirate, the first book in the Tides of Fortune series has my main character, Nick about to help the legendary pirate Gasparilla distribute the shares of his infamous treasure to his crew before “retiring”. One last prize lures him away, but it is a ruse by the US Navy and their pirate-hunting schooner USS Enterprise. They have set a trap that ends in the sinking of the Floridablanca and his death.
The treasure has never been found
Legendary is the perfect word for describing Jose’ Gaspar—there is no documented evidence that he ever lived. No writings or artifacts of his existence appear before early 1900s. Now the Gulf Coast based buccaneer has been made larger than life, celebrated through Ye Mytic Crewe. Based in Tampa, the Crewe sponsors a yearly tribute and invasion of the city in a Mardi gras style party.
The legend starts with his birth in 1756. After serving in the Spanish Navy, he became a councilor to King Charles III. That is when the trouble started. Popular in court, he had a reputation for playing the field. The story continues when a jilted lover levied false charges against him forcing him to commandeer a ship, vowing to exact revenge on his country. From his base along the yet unsettled west coast of Florida, he raided the Spanish purportedly amassing a huge treasure.
To promote the new railroad and Boca Grande Hotel, the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad Company published the first account of Gasparilla in a 1900 advertising brochure. To add some glamour to the area they claimed many of the islands on the southwest coast are named by him. Gasparilla Island was his headquarters, Captiva Island was where he kept his women captive and Useppa Island was where he buried the body of a princess he had captured. Sanibel island was named by his first mate, Rodrigo Lopez after his lover he had left in Spain and
Taken from the legend, Pirate finds several men guarding the treasure on the beach. After watching the Floridablanca sink and Gasparilla dive from the bow with the anchor, they took off with the treasure. Follow Nick and the gang as they escape the Navy, heading deep into the unknown interior of Florida, and follow the Everglades to the Keys and what they think is their freedom.
Only $0.99 today
Mac Travis Adventures: Book Seven
“Action & Adventure In The Florida Keys from the #1 Sea Adventure Series”
Minding his own business is what Mac Travis does best until a strong storm coupled with a king tide brings dead fish to his doorstep. Mac investigates the cause, discovering a murder and wreck at a testing station in Florida Bay. The trail leads him deep into the backcountry of the Florida Keys where he uncovers a plan that could lead to the destruction of the Everglades. Along with Mel and Trufante, he sets out to save the ecosystem but soon becomes embroiled in the politics and power of Big Sugar.
Wood’s Revenge is a gripping standalone adventure thriller in Steven Becker’s bestselling Mac Travis series. Centered around South Florida and the Florida Keys, Becker’s books feature plenty of Keys counter-culture along with SCUBA diving, boating, and fishing.
Available on Kindle and paperback. Audiobook coming soon.
In the southern area of the Everglades, less than five miles from Everglades National Park is a 180-foot deep hole with the largest solid fuel rocket ever built. In the early 1960s, fueled by the space race, Aerojet won the bid to build three solid fuel engines to power the Saturn Rockets to the moon. Homestead was awarded the location and a 5,500-acre site was built in the Everglades.
Three test rockets were fired at the site, including a night test that could be seen from Miami, before NASA decided to go with liquid filled rockets. The plant was closed, but still remains, including the 260” diameter rocket.
Too large to be trucked, the rocket parts needed to be shipped by barge. In order to accomplish this, the C111 canal was excavated from Barnes Sound, in Florida Bay to the facility. The canal would give the rockets a direct route to the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Canaveral. Now known as the Aerojet canal, the waterway is one of the largest of the many that transit the Everglades and the southernmost freshwater canal in the United States.
Both projects have turned into environmental disasters. The last test of the rocket failed, showering the area with toxic chemical debris. The canal is so wide and deep that hydrologists estimate it collects 3/4 of the water that once flowed through Taylor Slough into Florida Bay. The South Florida Water Management Bureau now owns the land and has demolished some of the buildings and placed a cover over the silo. There are also plans to reroute the water from the canal.
But what if someone tried to blow the rocket and change the Everglades? In researching Wood’s Revenge, I came across first the C111 Canal, and following it to its end, found the abandoned Aerojet facility—and then the rocket. This was a setting I couldn’t leave alone, and both the canal, the facility and the rocket are featured in the seventh book in my Mac Travis Adventure Series: Wood’s Revenge.
Steven Becker 