Tumby Bay author, Eric Kotz self-published his second book in February 2016. It is titled “The Jawsome Coast”, sub-titled “A Social History of Australia’s Southern Coastline and the Effect on it of the Great White Shark, its Conservation ‘Industry’ and Shark Tourism”.
We assisted Eric in presenting his new book at a meeting of the Underwater Explorer’s Club of SA on 6th April. I attended that meeting to hear Eric speak about the book and I was able to purchase an autographed copy of it (from the first print run).
I have a friend who regularly visits Tumby Bay and I mentioned Eric and his book to him. My friend said that he had Eric’s book himself, but we were talking at cross-purposes because my friend was referring to Eric’s first book titled “The Butcher’s Son from Tumby Bay”, published in 2015. He agreed to lend me his copy of the book, as long as I agreed to lend him my copy of “The Jawsome Coast” after I had finished reading it.
“The Butcher’s Son” is a humorous book but, more importantly, it tells of (all of?) Eric’s diving and shipwreck past. Several of the chapters within the book were actually published in our old newsletters a few years ago!
Our November 2011 newsletter (No.387) included Eric’s article “Local Sea Mysteries – Part 1 (The Vivid), written by Eric in September 2011. This article features in Eric’s book “The Butcher’s Son” as “My Search for the Vivid”. It is Chapter 22 in the book, the first chapter under the heading “Local Sea Mysteries”.
An article titled “Local Sea Mysteries Part 2 – The buried keg of Reevesby Island” featured in our February 2012 newsletter (No.388). This article features in “The Butcher’s Son” as “The Buried Keg of Reevesby Island”. It is chapter 37 under the heading “The folklore of Reevesby Island”.
Our March 2012 newsletter (No.389) included Eric’s article titled “Local Sea Mysteries Part 3 – The ‘Lost Jetty’ at the Sir Joseph Banks Group”. It features in “The Butcher’s Son” as “The Lost Jetty”, chapter 24 under “Local Sea Mysteries”.
“Local Sea Mysteries Part 4 – The final location of the Governor Gawler” is in our May 2012 newsletter (No.391). It features in “The Butcher’s Son” as “Finding the real location of the Governor Gawler”, chapter 23 under “Local Sea Mysteries”.
“Local Sea Mysteries Part 5 – ‘The Lady’ and her Gold bullion” is in our June 2012 newsletter (No.392). It features in “The Butcher’s Son” as chapter 19 under the heading “The Diving Daze”.
“Local Sea Mysteries Part 6 – Port Lincoln’s ‘Nemos’“ features in our July 2012 newsletter (No.393). It features in “The Butcher’s Son” as “Chapter 16, “Normie’s Diving Academy”, under the heading “The Diving Daze”.
An article titled “The Ina’s revenge (The reverse depth-charge at Sibsey Island)” featured in our September 2012 newsletter (No.395). It is in “The Butcher’s Son” titled “The Revenge of the Ina –the Reverse Depth Charge”, chapter 18 under “The Diving Daze”.
Readers may have noticed that we had skipped Part 7 of the “Local Sea Mysteries“ series in publishing “The Ina’s revenge” in our September 2012 newsletter. This was all rectified, in a way, with the publication of Part 7 in our February 2014 newsletter (No.408). That newsletter issue included the article titled “Local Sea Mysteries Part 7 – “The Body on the Beach and Mutiny at Bolingbroke”. That article is in “The Butcher’s Son” as chapter 26 under “Local Sea Mysteries”.
So, all in all, we had published some eight chapters of “The Butcher’s Son” (out of 47 chapters) in our newsletters. If you enjoyed reading any of those newsletter articles, you should buy the book to read the other 39 chapters in it.
“The Jawsome Coast” is written on a much different level, but it is still similarly entertaining. Eric’s name also featured in some of our other newsletters, particularly relating to shipwrecks such as the Vivid and the Lady Kinnaird.
[…] I have also seen several ‘shark’ movies, and I now have a good collection of ‘shark’ DVDs and books. I have attended several ‘shark’ talks by people such as Rodney & Andrew Fox, Charlie Huveneers and Eric Kotz. Eric self-published “The Jawsome Coast – A Social History of Australia’s Southern Coastline and the Effect on it of the Great White Shark, its Conservation ‘Industry’ and Shark Tourism” in 2016. I wrote about Eric and his book in Tumby Bay author, Eric Kotz. […]