Treasure Key: Too Close to Key West, Too Far From Reality (Bric Wahl) - Softcover

Gales, Mr Wayne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1482707985 ISBN 13: 9781482707984

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

In this first novel of the series, we find former Navy Seal, Russell Bricklin “Bric” Whal as the guy that every Key West local knows and every tourist wants to be. Relaxed, tanned by island sun and comfortable in his skin, he slides onto a barstool next to you at Schooner Wharf and lets you buy him a beer. Ex-Navy Seal, Key West native and full-time treasure diver, Bric has been searching for a fortune in gold and silver in the Florida Keys his whole life.Today he may have found it, but not the treasure he expected. Diving on a sunken Spanish Galleon, he finds three massive gold bars, not from the wreck that sunk in 1733, but apparently from the Civil War. Bric thinks he’s finally unearthed his fortune.Or has he?

About this title

From the Author:

Acknowledgements
 
My late father, Frank Gales, reminded me several years ago to "write about what I know." I've been writing most of my adult life, mostly travel stories with a few stabs at some fictional short stories.  I've always felt I had a book in me, and the concept of this story, about living on a houseboat in Key West, has been rattling around in my head for years.   The true definition of fiction is a story about things that could happen.  Everything in the novel definitely could happen, and in fact, much of it did happen. Fiction is blurred by truth in much of this story, both the historical part and the contemporary story.  There was a fleet of Spanish ships sunk in 1733, and there are several stories about a large horde of gold and silver that was hauled off and hidden by Jefferson Davis and his Confederate cabinet at the end of the Civil War.  Greek spongers did invade the Keys and were not welcome, and there was an attempted coup in Grenada.  Look it all up.
Personally, I lived in Key West off and on for nearly seven years in the 90's, and the last year I was there I lived in the exact houseboat that I write about.  I do play music, and I'm an avid snorkeler, if not diver, but my son is an experienced diver and is accurately portrayed in the story.  Both my kids are black belts in Tai-Kwan-Do.  Virtually all the remaining characters in the novel are real people, or based on real people.  My friends in the Keys have learned to be kind to me to avoid being killed in the sequel.   I guess the only truly made-up person in the book, is me.  But then again, who gets to live their life vicariously through themselves?  A true paradox.
I released this book through a publishing company in 2010 under the title Doorstop on a Houseboat in Key West.  While it did get my book published, it was full of typos and errors, and the publisher did diddly squat to market my product and then added insult to injury by putting it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble at highway robbery prices. My last royalty check was a dollar eighty four cents.  I got the publisher to release the book back to me early in 2013.  Now it has a new name, fewer mistakes, a much better ending, and leads well into the sequel, "Key West Camouflage."
Thanks to Karen Thurman for her help in developing both of our characters. Thanks to Stumpy (Rumpy) for being a character.  Thank you Lisa Owens for the non-stop patience it takes to edit my poor punctuation.  And of course a special thank you to my lovely wife Tina for enduring endless hours of my reading phrases, snippets and chapters while I tried to turn an idea into a novel, and taking the amazing photograph we used for the cover.
I want to give special thanks to my ex landlord (the houseboat owner) and very good personal friend, Bob Moran, former Vice President of Treasure Salvors, Inc,  the late Mel Fisher's company.  Bob was part of the team that eventually discovered the most famous shipwreck in history, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha.  Bob was able to provide both technical assistance and some great anecdotal stories about diving for treasure in the Keys.
I dedicate this book to Bob.
 
Wayne Gales
       May 2013

About the Author:

To look at Wayne Gales' life story, you would either think he has a great imagination, or has really packed a lot into his life. Wayne's career includes being an off road motorcycle and car racer, gourmet chef, world traveler (24 countries and all 50 states), airline employee, tour operator, rock & roll and country musician, hotel Sales and Marketing Director, and most lately, published author. "Thirty years ago, I did lots of articles and stories about off road racing," Says Gales. "When I moved to the Florida Keys,I started doing stories for the Key West Citizen. When my wife Tina started working nights a few years ago, I sat down at the keyboard and cranked out most of "Treasure Key" 89 Days." His new novel focuses on a native Conch treasure hunter, Russell Bricklin "Bric" Wahl. Nearly homeless and penniless, Bric finds three gold bars while treasure hunting. While dealing with his apparent newfound wealth, he encounters drug dealers, thieves, an attempted murder, and an unexpected adventure while he tries to navigate his houseboat on a voyage from Key West to Tarpon Springs, experiences that are often humorous, and rarely dull. "Treasure Key" is a fictional novel but many parts of the story ring true. Gales has two teenage children and lived for a time in a houseboat like his fictional main character in the novel. His family heritage goes back in the Keys over ten generations, and the time spent pouring over microfilm in the Key West library presented him with a wealth of historical information that also contributed to the book. His years in Key West gave him opportunity to weave both local people and familiar places into the story that both locals and tourists will enjoy. Waynes retired and lives in central Florida with his wife Tina.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1482707985
• ISBN 13: 9781482707984
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 283