WAYNE STINNETT

According to his bio on Amazon: "Stinnett grew up on the central east coast of Florida, in a small town called Eau Gallie. There he and his brothers explored the beaches, the Indian River Lagoon, the swamps along the St. Johns River and all the streams and creeks that flow into both. They explored on foot or by Jon-boat, sailboat, and canoe. At 16 he began exploring further outside of his hometown and soon found that long island chain at the southernmost tip of Florida commonly called "The Keys". It was 1974 and a great time to explore.

After graduating high school in 1977, Stinnett enlisted in the Marine Corps, which opened up a lot more exploration possibilities. He visited countries from northern Europe to the Far East, but returned to Florida after 4 years. Spending a lot of his free time scuba diving, sailing, surfing, and fishing, he also began to write, creating a few fiction short stories in the early eighties. He also compiled an extensive list of beach dive spots, while exploring the many shipwrecks along the Treasure Coast.

After his second failed marriage, he bought a sailboat and lived aboard it in Boot Key Harbor, in the Florida Keys. He also lived on Andros Island in the Bahamas and on Isla de Cozumel, in Mexico for short periods, working as a Divemaster.

Today he lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near a small town called Travelers Rest. After working for twelve years as an over the road truck driver and writing in his free time in the back of the truck, he published his first novel, Fallen Palm, in 2013, based on the short stories he wrote in the eighties.

Married for the third time in 2001, the Stinnetts have four children, four grandchildren, three dogs, and a whole flock of parakeets. They grow a lot of their own food in a large garden, behind their house.

Stinnett still gets down to Florida every now and then, but more often than not, it's via his imagination and writing. All his books are set primarily in the Keys and involve a retired Marine by the name of Jesse McDermitt, a charter boat Captain who lives on a deserted island just north of Big Pine Key where he explores, dives, and fishes the back country of Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. That is until trouble comes looking for him.

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