View Full Version : If you can read Spanish...
tremebundo
July 15th, 2011, 12:24 AM
Hi there bilingual scubaboarders!
In March 2011 I launched my first scuba-related novel (and first novel at all). It is called "El secreto sumergido" and based on a true story. Here is a blurb:
A group of scuba divers from a small town in Patagonia hear the rumour that an English ship sank in 1770 somewhere off the coast of where they live. Only, there wasn't a town there back then. They start making inquiries and as soon as they find some valuable information, a murder makes it apparent that someone doesn't want the ship to be found.
Well, I just thought I would share it here, in case anyone is interested. The novel is available all over the world both in paper and ebook format. For more information, check out the link in my signature.
Cheers!
TSandM
July 15th, 2011, 01:15 AM
Great cover photo! I'm going to go check out your free sample -- this might be a great way for me to practice my diving-related Spanish while I'm at home.
tremebundo
July 15th, 2011, 02:41 AM
Yeah, give the free sample a go!
About the cover pic, I also love it. It was taken by an amazing underwater photographer I don't know in person (he's Cuban and lives in Spain, I'm Argentinean and live in Australia, hehe). But thanks to the internet, I got in touch with him and he kindly authorised me to use it provided if I ever make a million with the book, I have to buy him a diving cruise somewhere in Australia. I never though I would be looking forward to buying someone a cruise trip, hehe.
So, in case you want to check out more of his underwater pics, he have them publicly available on his flickr site: Flickr: fasqualo's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fasqualo)
sam miller
July 15th, 2011, 05:47 PM
Speak Spanish
Read and write Spanglish..It could be difficult or an education for me
Good luck with your book!
sdm
damage
July 17th, 2011, 08:46 PM
Sounds interesting; I will give it a try; good look with your book!
tremebundo
July 18th, 2011, 08:23 PM
Thank you, Damage! Let me know what you think.
For the rest, here's a bit of encouragement. This is a review written by someone I do not know at all:
Although my last class in literature in Spanish was 40 years ago, I undertook to read El secreto submergido because the subject matter interested me, and I thought it would be a good review for me. It was worth it. I like a good adventure story and I like a mystery, and I particularly like stories connected with the sea. El secreto submergido was both, with the dividend that it offered a glimpse into a part of the world that I was barely aware of: Patagonian Argentina. As a bonus, the unpleasantness of the "Falklands War," as the English speaking world knows it, that is, the dispute between England and Argentina over the possession of Las Islas Malvinas, in the south Atlantic east of Argentina, also figures in, mainly in the epilog.
Basically, a high school student in the (real) town of Deseado learns of a (real) British shipwreck 200 years earlier on the rocks of the mouth of the river where his town is located. As a new but enthusiastic SCUBA diver, he decides to investigate, and perhaps locate the wreck. When the retired seaman who provides him with early documentation of the wreck is mysteriously murdered, that sets off a train of events that the young man and his friends pursue to their violent end. It is a rollicking tale.
Keeping in mind that my skills in Spanish are a bit rusty, I will say that I found the book well and cleanly written. As a former non-SCUBA diving officer in the American surface navy, I'll add that the details of diving in the cold tidal waters of the mouth of a river, and of the hazards of undersea salvage, struck me as accurate.
The English-dominant reader who is intrigued by the book and who has some skill in Spanish and a decent desk dictionary should enjoy El secreto submergido as much as I did.
Dr. Al Past is the author of the five Distant Cousin novels, a popular adventure/romance/sci-fi series, the photographic collaborator for Barry Yelton's On Wings of Gentle Power, the author of a book of treble clef duets from Charles Colin, a reviewer for PODBRAM, and a member of the Independent Authors Guild. He lives on a ranch in south Texas.
tremebundo
February 26th, 2012, 07:54 PM
Just adding two amazing reviews I got from two of the most important blogs on books in Spanish:
El secreto sumergido (http://librosyliteratura.es/el-secreto-sumergido.html)
Reseņa EL SECRETO SUMERGIDO | El universo de los libros (http://eluniversodeloslibros.blogspot.com/2012/01/resena-el-secreto-sumergido.html)
Happy diving!
