If you enjoy reading Florida fiction as much as I do, I have another treat in store − Randy Wayne White. Living on Sanibel Island, he has written 48 action-packed novels set mainly in the Gulf Coast areas, with a few in Key West. Randy knows these waters well. After many years as a full-time fishing guide based at Sanibel Island’s Tarpon BayMarina, he found himself out of work when the Feds decided to close the area to power boat traffic. He had to find something new to do...in his words, “I wasn’t qualified to do anything but drive a boat.” Tinkering around on an old Underwood typewriter, he started writing short articles and adventure stories. His first books were published under the pen name Randy Striker, because he thought that they wouldn’t sell and didn’t want anyone to know that it was him. But they sold well. Based on a fictional Key West character − ex-SEAL DuskyMacMorgan− they involved adventures with drug runners, Spanish gold, kidnapping, assassination and even the famous CubanMariel Boatlift exodus of 1980. I’ve read all seven of Dusky’s adventures and each is a page-turner! Still not convinced that he was a successful novelist, Randy wrote another series under the pen name of Carl Ramm.This time, his fictional character was James Hawker, a wrongly accused Chicago police sniper who decided to go freelance and take on the baddies in different U.S. cities (OK, so this isn’t Florida). Through 11 books, Hawker has extraordinary adventures using his undercover and sniper skills. From tackling murderous street gangs in L.A. to an international group of New York ex-Nazis, these books will keep you on the edge of your seat − just don’t start reading one close to bedtime or you will be up all night! Dave Hunter is the award-winning author of “Along Interstate-75” and “Along Florida’s Expressways,” the quintessential guides for those driving to and in Florida. With his wife Kathy, he enjoys travelling around Florida, gathering unusual and mysterious local stories. The Hunters winter in Lakeland, Florida. Randy White ... and Doc Ford of Sanibel Island Travel writer Dave Hunter takes you to Florida’s Southwest, and into the dangerous world of Doc Ford. Over the years, I’ve shared with you some of my favourite Florida authors. John McDonald’s series of adventures starring fictional Travis McGee (CSA News issue 97, Winter 2015) and the three-generation classic, A Land Remembered, which follows the MacIvey family from when they established themselves as cattle barons in the mid-1800s to their role as Lauderdale swamp land developers of the 1920s (CSA News issue 109, Winter 2018). 22 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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