Ten Great Put-in-Bay Books How Many Have You Read?
Fifteen Years and Ten Put-in-Bay Books Later, Bob Adamov continues cranking them out Thank you, Put-in-Bay fans, for supporting his writing dream! If you are looking for a way to pass this brutally cold winter, grab one of his books and read yourself right back to a summer day at Put-in-Bay Ohio!
On October 19, 2002, at the Park Hotel’s Winter Bar, I launched my first novel, Rainbow’s End.
I wasn’t sure if anyone would show up for the launch party, and was I ever surprised by the turnout and the sale of 75 books that day? You all were just so awesome! A few days later, I was even more nervous when I called Lynne James, then Park Hotel manager, to see if she had started the book. To my astonishment, she had finished it and passed it along to a friend as a “must-read.” We were on a roll. I didn’t realize how that would snowball.
I dreamed of writing since I was eight years old and decided to take the plunge when my fifty-first birthday hit me like a brick wall. Using Johnson’s Island and the Civil War in the opening was easy since I was a Civil War buff. Put-in-Bay’s selection was based on my first trip to the island when I was eighteen. As the ferry rounded Gibraltar Island and I saw Put-in-Bay, I thought what a perfect setting for a novel.
After launching the first novel, the reader reacted to the Put-in-Bay location so strongly that I moved our protagonist, Emerson Moore, to his aunt’s home on East Point (The House of Seven Gables.) I also decided to include more scenes in Put-in-Bay in my books. There have been so many folks who have encouraged me. Folks like Jeff and Kendra Koehler, Maggie Beckford (who initially intimidated the hell out of me), Tim Niese, Kerry Burris, Pauline Garsteck, Bob and Judy Bransome, Kelly Mohn and Jill Rosenwald Crandall. I really miss the encouraging chats with Kevin Novak, who passed away a while back.
Then there was the one and only Mike “Mad Dog” Adams! Mike would stop and chat with me when I was hawking my Put-in-Bay books in front of The Country House. He and I became fast friends. He helped set up my visit to the Cayman Islands for The Other Side of Hell novel, which included a CD of his songs and featured Mike as a former Navy SEAL. That was the start, and Mike has been included in all my novels. I’ve also worked in scenes with several other island entertainers, including my fellow Norton High School alumni Westside Steve.
When I was stymied with an escape scene for one of my Put-in-Bay Books Tan Lines, Billy Market told me of a Homeland Security drill with a bomb threat on the docks and how there would be a mass exodus of watercraft from the bay. That worked perfectly for the scene. The story about a stalker at Ashley’s Island House that Judy Bransome shared with me made its way into Promised Land. Tom Ohlemacher and Dairy Air Bob were other excellent sources of stories, and only as they could spin them in their unique way.
We’re still plugging away at doing a film. I have an agreement with a Hollywood producer and director who have the screenplay for Tan Lines and are trying to obtain financing. They both are from Ohio and love Put-in-Bay. In August, I signed an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter to develop a screenplay for The Other Side of Hell.
We also have a screenplay in development for Rainbow’s End, thanks to Dom Sena, the director of Gone in Sixty Seconds and Swordfish. It’s been smoke and mirrors working through several contacts in Los Angeles, but we pursue each one. One day, I hope we can achieve this dream. What a huge benefit it could be for our enchanted island and all the excellent Put-in-Bay Rental Homes, attractions, and restaurants!
Again, thank you, Put-in-Bay, for your support, but most of all, for your friendship. I’m just a regular guy having one heck of a great
time writing Put-in-Bay Books!
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