Many of you Slowboat readers have been part of this journey—chatting with me about the project, beta-reading early drafts, and cheering me on. I’m deeply grateful, and want to officially announce here on Slowboat, that my novel, titled Untamed Coast, will be published by Ballantine/Penguin Random House in about a year.
How did we get here? Let’s rewind a bit.
Back in 2016, while exploring the outside of Chichagof Island with friends, we met a guy in Rose’s Bar in Pelican who told us about a place called “Radioville”—a tiny island where, in the 1930s, a retired Army Signal Corps officer named Joe Bauer had set up a radio outpost to link the gold mines with the outside world. Here’s our original post from that trip.
As a boater, Alaska enthusiast, and electronic engineer, I was hooked.
A little U.S. radio history
After the Armistice in 1918, the Navy argued that national security required radio to remain a government monopoly. In 1919, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels even proposed legislation to give the Navy exclusive control of all U.S. transmissions. Companies like American Marconi (soon to become RCA) and amateur operators resisted, pointing to radio’s commercial potential. Congress refused, and by 1920 commercial licenses were restored. RCA was created that same year, ensuring American ownership of the new medium while keeping close ties to defense.
All of this meant that by the early 1920s, someone like Joe Bauer could, improbably, set up a radio outpost in one of the most remote corners of Alaska.
Radioville
Bauer built his homestead and radio shack on a barren island he called “Radioville.” He rowed back and forth to the mines with messages, then tapped them out in Morse Code. If you’ve boated the outside of Chichagof, you know how formidable that would have been in a wooden rowboat.
When we found the ruins of Radioville, I was captivated: no fresh water, no power, no infrastructure—yet Bauer managed to operate some of the most advanced technology of his time. The bigger mystery was why. The mines had food, buildings, water, and hundreds of workers. Why isolate himself on that tiny island?
That question inspired my novel.
From inspiration to blueprint
I imagined a fictional reason for Bauer’s isolation, but I didn’t want to write just a historical novel. I needed an anchor in the present—someone like us discovering Radioville decades later. With more than 80 years separating Bauer’s time from ours, I added a third timeline in the 1980s: a woman named Anya, trolling commercially off Chichagof with her abusive husband.
That became my blueprint—a multi-timeline mystery of stolen gold, coded messages, and murder.
Learning to write long
I’d spent nearly twenty years writing weekly 1,000–2,000-word articles for Electronic Engineering Journal (EE Journal), but 80,000 words of coherent fiction was a whole ‘nuther story. With encouragement from Laura, I found a fantastic mentor (bestselling thriller writer Chelsea Cain) and a small writing group. They taught me, pushed me, and helped me finish the book.
The publishing gauntlet
Thousands of writers finish books every year, but getting published is daunting. First, you need an agent. Top agents get 3,000–10,000 queries annually and sign only a handful of new authors. Fewer than one in 200 queries leads to agent representation.
I got lucky.
I submitted dozens of queries, and Lori Galvin of Aevitas Creative Management read my manuscript and offered to represent me. I was over the moon.
Then the next hurdle: only a little more than half of agented debut manuscripts sell, and only about half of those land at a Big Five publisher. Putting all that together, only about one out of every 1,500 manuscripts gets an agent and a major publisher deal.
I got lucky again.
Multiple Big Five houses were interested, and my agent held an auction. Ballantine/Penguin Random House won.
Looking ahead
What’s next? Publishing is slow. My best guess is fall 2026, though there’s no official date yet. The working title Radioville has been changed to Untamed Coast (publishers have entire teams of marketing experts who study what titles resonate with readers.) Expect hardbacks, ebooks, audiobooks, and eventually paperbacks.
It’s going to be an interesting ride, so stay tuned—I’ll share more as Untamed Coast makes its way into the world.
PS> Don’t go looking for Radioville today. It’s private property and all traces of the radio shack ruins have been cleaned away (it was definitely time). The new owners are building a lovely family cabin on the spot that truly honors the history of the place.