Another “life influences art” moment: after the release of Deep Cut, Wayne Stinnett convinced me to join ninc, Novelist’s Inc., of which he was the current president. I had a wonderful time at the conference that year, down in St. Petersburg, Florida. Got to meet my editor, too. (Hi Marsha! Is this Afterword too wordy yet? Fight me!) Anyway, the tie-in. On my way to the airport after the conference, I was in a taxi with an Aussie driver, so with his accent I was already off to a good start. As we drove over a long bridge, headed toward Tampa, I remarked to the cabbie: “The water looks really shallow. Is all of the bay like this?” And he informed me that yes, much of it was extremely shallow, and that the biggest cruise ships couldn’t go under the bridge we were crossing, and even the medium-sized ones could only go under…riiiiiiight… here. And at that moment we hit the highpoint between the two towers of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Instantly, I imagined a ship passing beneath with baddies rappelling down and the opening scene was born.
A brief word about the Apollo. I learned a lot about cruise ships and mega-yachts writing this book. For one thing, the terms superyacht and mega-yacht are frequently used interchangeably, with even yachting associations arguing over exact nomenclature. The Apollo would fall under a category called “giga-yachts,” and I based it on several of the largest yachts in the world, borrowing aspects from four amongst the top ten. I then combined those elements with several exclusive luxury cruise ships. You may have thought at some point, “Hey, the Apollo seems a lot bigger than the one on the cover.” You would be correct! While I do strive to have cover images that tie into aspects of each book, the yacht on the cover of Deep Devil is a “superyacht” at best, but it had a helicopter, tender-bay doors, and the colors of the sunset were too good not to use.
A quick shout out to Cameron Akins of Caradonna Adventures dive travel agency for her assistance, and for pointing me to Jorge Marin of Cozumel Marine World. Thank you, Jorge, for answering my questions! I was very sad to learn of the passing of Dawn “Shelley” Snow, of Caradonna Adventures. Dawn put together nearly every dive trip I’ve ever taken, ending with my journey to Saba to research Deep Cut. She clearly loved the islands and was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about every adventure she planned for us.
If you are a fan of “Tropical Authors,” I should mention a couple tie-ins here: A big thank you to novelist and occasional Cozumel resident Paul Mila, for providing Boone and Emily with a condo to rent. And to Nicholas Harvey—whom I sometimes call Brit Nick—for allowing a certain Cayman Islands divemaster to enter Boonemily’s world and offer an endgame for the subplot of the sewage-spewing Nordic Starr.
On the subject of “Tropical Authors,” if you haven’t checked out our website, swing on over there and take a look: www.tropicalauthors.com. See some authors there you like? Then sign up for our newsletter! We will alert you to all new releases and any deals on books that come up.
Sadly, we lost one of our own last year: Author Ed Robinson, known for his Trawler Trash Series with its legendary waterman, “Breeze,” passed away in November. He was nearly finished with his last Breeze book, and reached out to fellow author/boater Wayne Stinnett, asking him to finish it. Cayo Costa Breeze will be available this year.
Thank you to all of my beta readers: Chris Sorensen, John Brady, Kevin Carolan, Stuart Marland, Alan and Joan Zale, Mike Ramsey, Dana Vihlen, Patrick Newman, Drew Mutch, Jason Hebert, Glenn Hibbert, Deg Priest, Alan Fader, David Margolis, Bob Hickerson, Malcolm Sullivan, and Brooke Johnson. Many of you have extraordinary backgrounds in diving, boating, and writing and you all kept me on my accuracy-toes and made some wonderful suggestions.
A big thank you to Shayne Rutherford of Wicked Good Book Covers for taking a stunning photo of a yacht off the coast of hilly Croatia and making it look like flat Cozumel. And additional thanks to Martonio Paleka for that wonderful sunset photo, Marsha Zinberg of The Write Touch for her on-point editing, Colleen Sheehan of Ampersand Book Interiors for her pristine formatting, and proofreaders Gretchen Tannert Douglas and Forest Olivier for their error-seeking eyeballs. My thanks to Karl Cleveland for his work on my DeepNovels.com website, and thank you to everyone at Aurora Publicity, who are taking some of the marketing load off my shoulders so I can spend more time spinning words into stories.
A little Nick News… after giving Boone and Emily a rescue dog in Deep Roots, I decided I ought to follow their example. Last summer I adopted a seven-year-old pup named Momo. She can be a handful… and sometimes I refer to her as Momostopheles, Devourer of Souls. But she’s been a welcome, fuzzy companion who usually lets me work.
And finally, as always, thank you to my readers (and my listeners, you audiobook fans). I know where “Boonemily” will be next—and having read this book, I suspect you may have a pretty good idea, too. Until then, stay safe, stay sanitary, stay sane… and keep seeking the sun.
Born in East Tennessee, Nick Sullivan has spent most of his adult life as an actor in New York City working in television, film, theater, and audiobooks. After narrating hundreds of titles over the last couple of decades, he decided to write his own. Nick is an avid scuba diver, and his travels to numerous islands throughout the Caribbean have inspired this series.
For a completely different kind of book, you can find Nick Sullivan’s first novel at:
www.zombiebigfoot.com
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