Blog posts by category: Suspense

Pirates & Pieces of Eight

Submitted by nslavinski on Sat, 09/23/2017 - 18:35

At the heyday of Spain’s New World conquests, Panama’s Portobelo acted as a collection point for huge quantifies of gold and silver – the treasure chest of the Americas, so to speak. Read more here…

Trash or Treasure: the Sailor's Book Swap

Submitted by nslavinski on Sun, 09/20/2015 - 16:33

A cruiser’s book exchange can be a delightfully mixed bag, especially on a remote atoll in the Cook Islands. Continue reading…

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Cruising the Caribbean with Kids goes to press!

Submitted by nslavinski on Sun, 04/19/2015 - 05:37

Hooray! Another new title goes live! CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN WITH KIDS is available on Amazon today, and PACIFIC CROSSING NOTES is about to add a paperback edition to the eBook already on sale. Whew! Two more ticks off the list! Now I can get back to work on that novel.. Continue reading…

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A Tropical Christmas Concoction

Submitted by nslavinski on Sat, 12/20/2014 - 20:19

In Port Antonio, Jamaica, a simple errand turns into a new friendship and a glimpse into local ways… just in time for the holidays! Continue reading…

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On the trail of the Silver Spider, Part 5: weaving fact and fiction

Submitted by nslavinski on Sat, 10/04/2014 - 10:25

Research was one enjoyable part of writing The Silver Spider, especially when it came to colonial times in Panama and the canal building era in the early twentieth century. Continue reading…

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On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part 4: on location in Portobelo

Submitted by nslavinski on Fri, 07/11/2014 - 14:36

Panama’s Portobelo is a gem of a place for modern-day sailors – in fact and in fiction. After visiting Portobelo, Panama aboard my sailboat in 2012, I wrote a magazine article about the “beautiful port.” Eventually, echoes of that piece worked their way into my novel… Continue reading…

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NEWS: Announcing a third edition of Lesson Plans Ahoy!

Submitted by nslavinski on Wed, 05/28/2014 - 12:30

Whew! After years of steadily widening the scope of the original edition, I’ve just come out with a third paperback edition of Lesson Plans Ahoy, which includes new insights gained over three years of sailing the Pacific and brings the paperback and e-book editions in line with each other. Continue reading…

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On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part 3: Scouting a location

Submitted by nslavinski on Wed, 04/16/2014 - 11:15

My upcoming novel, The Silver Spider, takes place in Panama, an amazing country of contrasting landscapes and cultures. From the indigenous Kuna people of the San Blas Islands to the ancestors of West Indians who arrived to build the canal, from Spanish colonial forts to the engineering marvel that is the Panama Canal - talk about inspiration! Continue reading…

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On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part 2: the Sipan Spider

Submitted by nslavinski on Thu, 02/06/2014 - 02:10

What exactly is the silver spider? Like everything else in my novel, it’s a grain of reality that’s been put through the filter of my imagination. In 1990, I worked on an archaeological excavation in Peru… Continue reading…

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On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part I: genesis of a novel

Submitted by nslavinski on Wed, 10/16/2013 - 12:45

I began to sketch the preliminary concept of a suspense novel when we were at sea for twenty-eight days straight, sailing from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. Thirty-five feet of fibreglass - our floating home, Namani - doesn’t leave a lot of room to pace, but plenty of room for an imagination full with observations on the fun, fascinating world of cruising sailors. Continue reading…

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