So when small-time dealer Broza offers Logan and his dropout pal, Z-boy, a summer job that could make them rich, it seems his problems might be solved. But between Z-boy’s constant screwups, a band of Nazi surfers out for blood, and a mysterious stranger on their tail, Logan is starting to have some serious doubts about hauling contraband across country, and hopes just to make it home alive.

What is Surf Mules?

Surf Mules is not about surfing donkeys, as entertaining as that story might be. This is my buddy road trip novel where two California surfers find themselves embroiled in a world of disorganized crime. Or more succinctly, it’s a coming of age story set in the world of drug trafficking surfers.

What is Surf Mules really about?

Surf Mules is about choices: the choices we make when we leave our adolescence behind, and the friends and lifestyles that go with them. Walking into an uncertain future after high school is a scary and foreboding moment. How we do it and whether we make a true break from the past or try to hold onto our childhood can sometimes lead to missteps that can take us down the wrong path. Surf Mules is about these choices and the price that adolescent dreams can bring.

On the surface, Surf Mules is an epic buddy road trip into the unknown. It’s a tale of surfing and drugs, friendship and loyalty. But underneath, it’s about the choices we make moving from adolescence to adulthood and the price we pay for holding onto our childhood dreams. Two lifelong surfers, whose only dream of the future was to surf their days away, must now confront the cold hard reality of adulthood and whether or not to abandon the only life they’ve ever known. Thrown for a loop by the death of another buddy, they are offered an easy way to keep their dream alive…becoming surf mules, i.e: drug smugglers. They take a stab at the easy way out, only to find out nothing in life comes easy.

Is this story autobiographical?

Only in a sense of capturing the southern California surf scene of my teen years. All the smuggling elements came from research on a film project I worked on in the 90’s, where I heard about all the crazy true-life stories these surf mules had. But no, I am not Logan, I had great parents, and I went away to college. My best friend was not Z-boy and I didn't have a friend die in a surfing accident. All the events in the book are inspired by real events from my research, but in the end, its fiction.

I grew up in the world Logan inhabits: the southern California beach town where surfing is a way of life. As I grew older, I became aware that many surfers just never grow up. All they want to do is surf and surfing is their religion, their be all and end all for life. Many refused to sellout to the corporate world (we’re talking the 90s before the huge sponsorship deals kicked in) and knocked about for other means to support their way of life. One of these ways was to get into the pot dealing world. Back then, it was a mellow surfers business. Everyone was cool and it was low-key. It was a good business that allowed you the time and money to surf on your own schedule. Then things got nasty when it became too lucrative and the cartels took an interest. That was kind of the beginning of the end of a way of life and it was that transition that captured for me the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

How did Surf Mules come about?

The story was inspired by an accidental encounter I had one morning in Hermosa Beach. I was going for a walk and way down the shore, I noticed a big commotion. There were about 50 surfers in the water, with two coast guard boats, their water canons shooting high into the sky. On the beach, a large crowd had gathered with several lifeguard trucks, their lights blazing. My first thought was: beached whale. They must be trying to lure a whale back out to sea. But when I got up close, I saw it was some kind of ceremony. A young surfer in his teens had died a few days earlier in a surfing accident. I looked around and saw surfers from age 7 to 70 and many others from the community. They were spreading his ashes out to sea, and I thought, who was this kid to inspire such a turnout? When I got home, I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I started writing a scene, which eventually became chapter 4. I was just trying to capture the moment and what these people were feeling about this young surfer. It was just supposed to be a short story, but my writing group liked it a lot and wanted more. How did this kid die? What was his story up till that moment? I wrote more. And the more I wrote, the more they wanted. I never thought I could write a novel, but they tricked me. Before long, it became too lengthy to be a short story, or even a novella. I was in too deep and couldn’t turn back. Luckily, I had seen folks in my group write their novels. They were just like me and watching their stories evolve week by week made me think that maybe I could do it too. Eventually, I remembered a script I had written with a friend of mine, back in my filmmaking days. It was a comedy about drug smugglers who were surfers and somehow, that idea entered into this world I was creating. It happened organically and by accident, but soon, the two threads were off and running. The second half of the novel sailed quickly by and suddenly, 310 pages in, I realized I no longer needed what I thought was the third act. This is where the story ended. I had somehow written my first novel!

What do you hope readers get out of this book?

I hope they get something real out of Logan's fictional journey to adulthood. The choices we make in that transition are choices that can sometimes affect the rest of our lives. Those decisions are very real. The key is to learn from them and to keep moving forward. Outside of that, it’s a good summer read: a thrill ride, a road trip, a buddy movie, a crazy adventure; it’s life times two, a comedy and a tragedy rolled into one.

Really? A teen book about drug trafficking?

My books are provocative by nature. They deal with subject matters many adults might feel uncomfortable talking about: Gangs, drugs, teen violence, sex, stalking, life in the inner city. I try to show these topics honestly without dogma or stigma attached. They show the truth as I have seen it and hopefully, they provoke discussion and thought. I’d like to think that these books can plant seeds in young people’s head, so when they encounter these situations in real life, they might have some knowledge to help them navigate through these waters. Just saying NO does nothing. Teens are young adults and need to be treated as such, with honesty and directness.

So what is the end result for you?

Creating compelling, unique stories for young people, especially boys and reluctant readers, is what I live for. Whenever I talk to a school, the first thing I do is to ask “Who here does NOT like to read?” Hands shoot up and I talk about how I would have raised my hand too when I was their age. But I’ve found many authors who were not readers and the difference maker was about finding THE book: the book that change their idea of what a book was and what it could do. So when I write, I write for my teen self, trying to make THE book that opens a mind to reading. I have actually witnessed it many times in classrooms, some kid in the back who doesn’t want to be there. Bored, he picks up a copy of the book and thumbs through it. Next thing I notice, he is reading it. 20 minutes later, he is still reading. At the end of the class, the teacher comes up to me and says, that kid in the back never reads anything and he just read your book!

I cannot tell you the number of times that has happened with Chess Rumble (though many times it happens before I get there), but I will hear about it or see it on every single visit I do.

What do you have to say to teachers who doubt your intent?

When I talk to teachers, I talk about building a bridge to Jane Austen. I visit a lot of Title 1 schools and I see there is such a disconnect between these students lives and the lives of the characters they are supposed to relate to in books, that Darcy or Miss. Bennet might as well use a bullhorn. I chose to write Chess Rumble with a very urban contemporary voice. Most urban kids are shocked to see a voice they know in a book. It actually makes them sit up and take notice. I’ve had kids in Harlem, the Bronx, South LA, southside Chicago, tell me this is their story. If they see their voice in a book, they might feel welcome to the world of literature. I like to think of my books as stepping stones in on bridge to Jane Austin. If they recognize their voice, they might be open to another and another…

Your books are very visual even if there are no pictures in them.

I came out of the movie industry, so when I write, I see my book as a movie. It feels like a movie and teens seem to like that. In fact, one of the first questions I get is: when is this gonna be a movie?

How do you think parents will feel about Surf Mules?

When I wrote Surf Mules, I used to say this was “not your mother’s YA book.” That this is the book the teen would buy and hide from his mother. But in fact, many mothers have read it and surprised me. They get it. Some of the most unlikely candidates get this book.