In the tradition of other great ex-patriot stories like The Sun Also Rises or All the Pretty Horses, Native Moments is a coming-of-age adventure set among the lush landscape of Costa Rica. After the death of his brother, Sanch Murray leaves for a surf trip to Costa Rica as a way to cope and sets out on a quixotic search for an alternative to the American Dream. Set in 1999 Costa Rica, Sanch and his friend Jake Higdon wander the dirt roads of Tamarindo and surrounding areas chasing waves as a way to live out the romantic fantasy lifestyle of traveling surfers. Jake Higdon, six years Sanch's senior, takes on the role of the wise leader and Sanch as his young apprentice. Sanch's adventure leads to encounters with people who share world views he had never considered and could potentially shape his own changing perceptions about life. Through sometimes humorous episodes such as trying his hand as a matador at a roadside rodeo or in his not so humorous battle with dysentery, Sanch explores life's beauty and wonder alongside the darker undercurrents of humanity. Along his journey, Sanch befriends a shamanic traveler named Rob, young revolutionaries from Venezuela, numerous expatriates from around the world trying to escape whatever it is that keeps chasing them, and a beautiful local girl named Andrea, who Sanch suspects is a prostitute but can't help falling for.

Native Moments: A Costa Rican Surf Adventure

Literature & Fiction

Schuck, Nic

Literary

Panhandle Books

Product Description Nic Schuck follows up his debut novel, Native Moments, with a gritty tale of family drama. Mostly set in the fictional lumber town of Sullivan, Florida, a sleepy forgotten place on the Florida-Alabama border. Panhandlers: a novel in stories, follows Hank Ackerman as he grows up in poverty and attempts to escape the same demons that haunted his father. Sometimes dreams are all people have and it's those dreams of far-off places that can be the difference in embarking on a life of adventure or being complacent in the life you were born into. Review "Things have changed little in the profound South since the days of Harry Crews and Larry Brown. If you like the gritty South noir that began with Sanctuary, you will find Panhandlers--from the piney-woods northwest Florida region--very satisfying. Nic Schuck knows his territory and he knows the inhabitants and their mores--cock fighting, dog fighting, beer drinking, shooting, and the never-ending, gut-wrenching age-old art of mere survival--first-hand. If you want the real story, this is it." - Allen Josephs is the author, most recently, of On Cormac McCarthy: Essays on Mexico, Crime, Hemingway and God "Nic Schuck captures the nuances of the seedier side of the Florida Panhandle like few have in this collection of interwoven short stories. The characters bear eerie resemblances to the people we have investigated and covered over the years. Well done." - Rick Outzen, publisher of Pensacola's Independent News and author of City of Grudges"As an instructor of literature and the co-owner of an indie bookstore, I have the opportunity to read a number of young authors. By far, Nic Schuck is one of the most talented new writers I've come across in years. With echoes of Hemingway and McCarthy-- as well as newer Southern writers such as Tom Franklin--Nic Schuck adds a unique contribution to both modern Southern literature and the emerging Florida canon, with the truly authentic voice of the Gulf South." - C. Scott Satterwhite, University of West Florida and co-owner of Open Books About the Author Nic Schuck of Pensacola, Florida teaches high school English and leads historic tours of Downtown Pensacola with Emerald Coast Tours, a company he started in 2012.

Panhandlers

United States

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Books by Schuck, Nic

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Schuck, Nic. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Native Moments: A Costa Rican Surf Adventure

Panhandlers