THE BOOK(S)!

At the time, the idea of writing a travelogue of my journey did not thrill me. I had written a journal web version already and re-writing that into a book seemed like beating a dead horse. Been there, done that, didn't wanna write about it AGAIN!

But that was before I read Mi Moto Fidel, Motorcycling through Castro's Cuba, by Christopher Baker.(see travelguidebooks.com) It was the perfect companion on my visit to Havana in January. I thoroughly enjoyed the many layers that included the author's personal and political evolution. It changed my view of what a travelogue could be. It inspired me to begin work on a second book prior to the completion of my first. Slightly daunting for an unpublished author - to be working on two books! But here goes!

The novel, On the Streets and Between the Sheets has taken a temporary back seat in favor of the completion of the travelogue, Driving to the End of the World.

You will find a synopsis of each below.

***Due out September 1, 2004****

Driving to the End of the World

"I'm gonna die!" realizes the author upon the death of his father. Coming to grips with his own mortality propels Mark on the adventure of a lifetime. He takes a solitary trip, driving from his home in Tucson, Arizona to Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America.

He wrote and photographed his way through 16 countries on the way to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. Jungles, beaches, volcanoes and poisonous snakes. Cheating death and chasing women, he reveals himself and shares exotic worlds that most of us will never know.

In October of next year, watch for ...

On the Streets And Between the Sheets

A Romantic Adventure By Mark McMahon

The two main characters meet in a bus station in a small town in the mountains of Nicaragua. He is a 28 year old from Tucson on the run from a warrant for selling marijuana to his pals. She is a 17 year-old Nicaraguan whose father is a wealthy and prominent rancher. The father is a former Sandinista and not fond of anything or anyone American. His social status and business dealings in Nicaragua are a thin veil for his activities in a ring of international drug traffickers.

The new couple falls in love and flees the country southbound. The father orchestrates a chase to retrieve his princess and kill the American. The pursuit winds through Central America into Panama and Colombia. The couple is captured then escapes across the Caribbean to Cuba, the Bahamas and Key West, Florida. The tale of love and adventure is interwoven with moral dilemmas and exotic locales. The rapidly evolving relationship crosses cultures and language barriers along with all of the international borders.