Life Experiences Lead To A Second Book By Brendan Carson

By Shannon Hicks

For his second book, Newtown native Brendan Carson continued to follow the oldest rule of writing. He wrote about what he knew.

Mr Carson’s first book, Tug Of War, released in June 2000, was a story of an American man and a Korean woman who defy family disapproval and cultural taboos when they fall in love. The book was inspired by the author’s experiences while he was teaching in Pusan, South Korea.

That book has now been followed with the February 2003 release of The Boatman Gang. The new novel is a work of fiction but it i’s again loosely based on events of Mr Carson’s. The book follows a group of Alaskan river guides, “five different life tributaries [that merge] into one tumultuous river with flows of … hippies, feline-aliens, blissfully ignorant tourists, cockfighting Mexicans, one voluptuous bartender, laughable adversaries, and the will to shake up the small Alaskan capital.”

Since graduating from Newtown High School in 1989, Mr Carson graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1993, and then arrived in Alaska to work as a white water river guide. He has since worked on the Mendenhall, Nenana and Talkeetna rivers, earned an MA in teaching from the University of Alaska Southeast, spent the next 18 months in South Korea teaching English as a Second Language (ESL).

Mr Carson is again living in Newtown these days, teaching US history at Ridgefield Academy, ESL at Teikyo Post University during the week, and also working part-time as a wine steward at McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook.

He will be at McLaughlin Vineyards in Sandy Hook this weekend to sign copies of his new book. The book signing will be on Saturday, May 17, from 1 to 4 pm. Wine tastings will also be offered.

 “Whenever you’re writing something you base it on experiences, but this isn’t really autobiographical,” Mr Carson said this week of the new release. “Although all those quotes by the Tourists are direct quotes.”

Interactions between the principal character Jack Kelly and his friends –– The Boatman Gang –– throughout the book do not paint a nice, or intelligent, picture of some of the people who travel long distances and pay hefty prices for the thrill of river rafting. The author purposely kept Tourists capitalized through his new book, and Kelly does not exactly hide his disdain of those who in effect pay his salary.

“I was kind of making it like they were a race of people all their own,” explained Mr Carson.

The Boatman Gang was written after Mr Carson had finished a rafting season and was heading toward home. He was due to begin promoting his first book, in fact, when inspiration struck for the second.

“I always seem to have projects going,” he said. “Now this one’s finished, so I’m able to sit down and really work on something else. I’ve been starting a few new projects, but nothing to talk about yet.”

The target audience for The Boatman Gang is anyone 18 and older. It has some salty language, drug use, and sexual situations, but it is a good read.

“People in their 20s and 30s would probably get a kick out of it, but if one can laugh one will enjoy it,” Mr Carson says.