Stephen Colter

Writing a book never crossed my mind until the summer of 1991 on a weekend that claimed the life of nine swimmers, including a CNN reporter, on a short stretch of beach in the Gulf of Mexico. I was just seconds away from being number ten but some force energized me. Was it just the strength and will power fueled by the thought of my wife and 17 month old daughter going on without me? Was it an angel, or was it some kind of supernatural force? I didn't know, still don't and it really isn't something I can explain.

I was several feet under water caught in a riptide. I had been battling for over 15 minutes to get to shore, lungs on fire, going downward instead of up and on the verge of a black out. From nowhere came a push and I climbed the water like I was on a ladder. So fast that I felt like my head popped two feet out of the water as I gasped in a breath, a breath of survival and a breath of life. I continued to swim, now syncing with each wave to keep above the riptide until I was about thirty yards from land. My nephew, Philip, Chris, newly enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and Mike Lindy, a life guard on vacation came into the water and helped me to get to where I could feel sand under my feet. After collapsing face first from exhaustion they carried me from knee deep water.

I hadn't written anything more than a resume since college but after contacting the American Red Cross, who oversees the training of life guards in the United States, I decided to write the story of what happened that day so that Mike would receive an accommodation. Writing that story gave me several feelings. I felt sadness for others who were lost that day, triumph for surviving, and intrigue as to what could have been the force that got me out of the situation. It felt good to put my feelings on paper, though I didn't go into the part about almost blacking out and not really knowing what pulled me through.

My experience on the beach that day planted a seed in my mind and several other events fertilized that seed to grow into the idea of the Shadow form in Shadow Casters.

Shadow Casters is my first published literary work.