a new crime novel, and the revival of an old pen name

Back in 2011, when I first self-published a story on Kindle, I did it under the pen name Don Broma. The story I released was The ElectroLive Murders, and I decided to go with a pen-name because at that time self-publishing was still considered career-suicide for folks who had hopes of one day being traditionally published.

The ElectroLive Murders was a sort of breakthrough for me. Up until then, I'd been reading and writing "literature", meaning prose that was focused primarily on tone and theme. ElectroLive was the first successful attempt I'd made at writing from a more "pulp" perspective, meaning trying to put plot and action at the forefront. And the book that led me there was The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, one of the classic noir detective stories.

I'm a big reader, and I read a broad range of stuff. I love fantasy and sci-fi and horror, but I also love thriller and crime and mystery, especially hardboiled stuff like what Hammett wrote. After finishing ElectroLive, I was pulled farther along the range of more speculative-type fiction, the sci-fi and fantasy sort of stuff where the story takes place in a world that is significantly different than our own. But I've also wanted to try my hand at a more typical crime story, a story firmly grounded in the real world, but also capable of showing us that world from a different angle.

Dry Shores is my attempt at writing that sort of book. It's a crime novel set in Honolulu, and I'd like to think that the setting is a crucial part of the story. The book shows some of the seamy underside of Waikiki, one of the biggest and most Disney-fied tourist destinations in the world. But despite it's somewhat sordid subject matter, the book has plenty of humor and a fair share of action, too. There's even a bit of heroics thrown into the mix. I hope you'll consider giving it a try. You can click this link if you'd like to: Dry Shores: A Hawaii Crime Novel