An open "thank you" to....whomever.

[hiaasenrocks]

You know who you are (but I don't). I appreciate the kind gesture.

Thanks! :toast:

[KitchenWitch]

1. Did you get starred?

:hi:

[hiaasenrocks]

2. Yes, I did!

I wasn't sure if a post like this was appropriate, but I don't have any other way of saying thanks. So I did it anyway.

[KitchenWitch]

4. Thanks are always appropriate

even if you do not know to whom you owe the thanks.

I did not star you but am glad you got starred!

[qnr]

3. skinny dipping fishing trip? Wow, that just rolls off the tongue.. er,

fingers, that is.

ouch!

I'm referring to your avatar, of course. Congratulations on the donated star!

[hiaasenrocks]

5. That's actually the UK cover of Carl Hiaasen's "Skinny Dip."

I have no idea why they put a hook on it.

I was having trouble resizing the American cover:



And, for anyone interested, here's an excerpt of the novel (which doesn't have anything to do with skinny dipping):

At the stroke of eleven on a cool April night, a woman named Joey Perrone went overboard from a luxury deck of the cruise liner M.V. Sun Duchess. Plunging toward the dark Atlantic, Joey was too dumbfounded to panic.

I married an asshole, she thought, knifing headfirst into the waves.

The impact tore off her silk skirt, blouse, panties, wristwatch and sandals, but Joey remained conscious and alert. Of course she did. She had been co-captain of her college swim team, a biographical nugget that her husband obviously had forgotten.

Bobbing in its fizzy wake, Joey watched the gaily lit Sun Duchess continue steaming away at twenty nautical miles per hour. Evidently only one of the other 2,049 passengers was aware of what had happened, and he wasn’t telling anybody.

Bastard, Joey thought.

She noticed that her bra was down around her waist, and she wriggled free of it. To the west, under a canopy of soft amber light, the coast of Florida was visible. Joey began to swim.

The water of the Gulf Stream was slightly warmer than the air, but a brisk northeasterly wind had kicked up a messy and uncomfortable chop. Joey paced herself. To keep her mind off sharks, she replayed the noteworthy events of the week-long cruise, which had begun almost as unpromisingly as it had ended.

The Sun Duchess had departed Port Everglades three hours late because a raccoon had turned up berserk in the pastry kitchen. One of the chefs had wrestled the frothing critter into a sixty-gallon tin of guava custard before it had shredded the man’s jowls and humped snarling to the depths of the ship. A capture team from Broward Animal Control had arrived, along with health inspectors and paramedics. Evacuated passengers were appeased with rum drinks and canapés.

Later, while reboarding, Joey had passed the Animal Control officers trudging empty-handed down the gangplank.

“I bet they couldn’t catch it,” she’d whispered to her husband. Despite the inconvenience caused by the raccoon, she’d found herself rooting for the addled little varmint.

“Rabies,” her husband had said knowingly. “Damn thing lays a claw on me, I’ll own this frigging cruise line.”

“Oh, please, Chaz.”

“From then on, you can call me Onassis. Think I’m kidding?”

continued at link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375411083&view=excerpt

[qnr]

6. Sounds interesting. Thanks :) n/t

[ragin_acadian]

7. I haven't read that one yet, thanks for the heads up.

the best (for me) and the one that got me into the Dorsey/Hiassen type novels, was "one sick puppy"

how 'bout you?

[hiaasenrocks]

8. "Sick Puppy" was great! One of my favorites.

I started reading Carl Hiaasen in the early 90s. Been hooked ever since.

Another heads up for anyone interested...Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. You have to register at their site to get to his page. Great stuff. Most are about Florida politics, the environment, business corruption. But he also writes about national issues as well. There are even two books of his collected columns. Paradise Screwed and Kick Ass.

[ragin_acadian]

9. and a collaborative book he did about disney,

"team rodent" - haven't had a chance to get to that one yet.

are you originally from FL?

[hiaasenrocks]

10. No. I've had family in Florida, and visted there many times

for different reasons. Once I went down there to see the space shuttle launch. It was John Glenn's return to space, so it was an historic event, and I just wanted to see a launch anyway. I like Florida for the most part, but I really like south Florida, the Keys, etc.

[ragin_acadian]

11. you should come down here, make it permanent!

try north florida for a little while...

take a little Deliverance,
pour over St. Joe,
dash of Hiassen,
mix it with close relatives having children, meth labs, corrupt government,
and serve in a steaming 100+ degree mug
w/ a shot of Jebbles.

and you have the florida panhandle. nothing like it! cures what ails ya, trust me.

[hiaasenrocks]

12. Sounds very interesting!

I'm not sure I'd feel out of place at all. I'm from Charleston, South Carolina, and we have our share of oddballs, eccentrics, inbreds, meth labs, corruption (recent school board antics involving pay increases and lobbyists, to name one)....

This is a great place for a Hiaasenesque adventure. :)

[ragin_acadian]

13. is that what you are writing about?

just curious. :D

[hiaasenrocks]

14. Not really....

The book I'm really working on isn't like that, but I have written four chapters of something that would be along the lines of Hiaasen. Just for fun. Honestly, if I were to do that and try to get it published, I would feel somewhat like I was ripping off his style. Maybe I shouldn't feel that way. I don't know.

I can PM you a (very) rough first draft of Chapter One of the quirky novel if you'd like to read it sometime. If not, that's okay too! :) I've posted it on some other writing websites and received some feedback on it. Again, just for fun, to see what people think. I haven't really worked too hard on it.

[ragin_acadian]

15. i would love that!

and don't feel like you are ripping Hiassen off, if it is from the heart, then it is all you. - the only time you can rip someone off is when you force it.

[hiaasenrocks]

16. Good point.

I sent the chapter via PM for you to check out.

[SW FL Dem]

17. My MIL gave that book to hubby last year.

Neither one of us has read it. Should we?

[hiaasenrocks]

19. Depends on what you like to read.

If you like hilarious fiction with some serious underlying themes, all written with biting satire, then yeah...read Hiaasen! :)

[SW FL Dem]

20. Thanks. Don't know why my MIL would buy it

but it sounds like something hubby and I would enjoy reading!

[Floogeldy]

18. Somebody wants in your pants.

That's the only possible explanation. :)