The Sound of Life, a Novel by Steven Shepard

[And you thought he was only a podcaster! Dr. Steve Shepard, creator and host of The Natural Curiosity Project podcast, has just published a novel, and it’s an epic. I brought it with me on a recent vacation and found it to be a perfect beach read– fast-paced, full of new information, and richly detailed while delivering the reader to exotic settings above and below the surface of the water. SB SM]

The Sound of Life, is a sequel to Shepard’s Inca Gold, Spanish Blood, a novel that ended with protagonists Michael McCain’s and Billy McAdams’s successful recovery of a fortune within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Now that they’ve achieved wealth beyond their wildest imaginations, they must figure out what they will do with the rest of their lives as an encore. Unlike real life billionaires, who seem only to want to turn billions into ga-zillions, Michael and Billy are seeking meaning, connection, and maybe even the chance to pay back some of their good fortune.

The reader does not have to read Inca Gold to enjoy The Sound of Life. Each stands independently.

The story begins in the Bahamas where McCain has only one certainty in his new life, his love for his fellow adventurer, Lexie Moliner. The story begins with their wedding and the gift of an idyllic honeymoon onboard a yacht that allows them to explore the surrounding waters in laid-back luxury. But even dream honeymoons come to an end, and as theirs concludes, Lexie challenges Michael to come up with a plan for the rest of their lives. After a brief period wrestling with personal debates, Michael decides that he wants to continue with his academic pursuits of underwater exploration of sound and the possibilities of inter-species communication.

In short order Michael learns that Lexie is pregnant, he acquires a dream boat that will enable him to pursue his nautical explorations, and she tells him she would like to relocate permanently to Monterey, California. Challenge #1 … moving newly-acquired luxury yacht/floating scientific platform from Point A in the Bahamas to Point B, coastal Northern California.

An enticing bit of intrigue emerges when Michael receives an unsolicited email from a graduate student in Peru who has discovered a potentially significant Incan artifact while snorkeling recreationally in Lake Titicaca, high in the Andean highlands.

As Sherlock would say, the game is now afoot. McCain must navigate, literally, a journey from the Bahamas to Monterey that includes a passage through the Panama Canal. Assisting Michael is his business and treasure-hunting partner Billy, who is also negotiating his own cloudy path to life, having checked “fame and fortune” off the bucket list. As with other adventuring buddy-duos (Lewis and Clark, Buz and Tod, Thelma and Louise), the journey begins.

Jessica, the graduate student in Peru, works with mentors provided by Ocean Adventures (Michael’s and Billy’s dive and salvage business), to authenticate her find satisfying the conflicting interests of science, politics, and natural history. It is this tightrope that is the specialty of
Ocean Adventures, and it is the dual journeys of Michael/Billy and Jessica that create the primary narrative thread of The Sound of Life.

Luckily, this is familiar terrain for author Shepard. The story toggles between a who-done-it adventure, Scientific American nerdiness, and the descriptive majesty of National Geographic. There are technical explanations of marine biology, scuba diving and snorkeling, offset with detailed accounts of what it takes to get a private boat through the Panama Canal. These are spiced by ample servings of romance and human drama. It adds up to an enjoyable read on a Caribbean beach where you can imagine and enjoy undersea exploration without getting wet.

The story does not end when the Peru adventure is resolved. The focus shifts to the continued operations of Ocean Adventures and Michael McCain’s continuing exploration of the interrelation of sound and the overall state of our ocean ecology. Underwater audiology is right in author Shepard’s wheelhouse, and he indulges himself by creating an “Acoustic Ecosphere” where the media of sound and water are as important as sight and air above the surface.

As we, the human species, finally recognize and acknowledge the interrelation between our actions and the quality of our environment with climate change, an equally important situation exists below the surface. Our planet, we must remind ourselves, is three-quarters water where sound takes center stage. Only if we pay attention and listen carefully, will we hear the sound of life.

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[Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of our study of self-publishing in Silverback Digest. The Sound of Water is self-published, and proudly so.

I recently read a novel called Twist by Colum McCann that explores how an increasingly digital world is dependent upon a surprisingly fragile, and vulnerable, network of undersea cables. It is a fast-paced enjoyable read that makes an interesting comparison with The Sound of Life. As someone who has published 250 books, I can speculate about the changes that a conventional commercial publisher would make the following changes to Shepard’s book:

• Eliminate 150 pages or so. Take out the technical junk to make it more of a page turner.
• Make the female characters a lot hotter. Add some steamy sex.
• Reduce the description of a private boat passing through the Panama Canal to a paragraph.
• Eliminate the atmosphere-contributing aspects of local cuisine and marine exploration in the Bahamas.
• Create some more formidable villains. Consider adding some shape-shifting or time-travel.
• Spice up the inter-specials communications story with the sea otters. Consider adding a side drama involving rescue of a crippled submarine. Make it a Chinese submarine, nuclear-powered, that has experienced a traumatic, world-threatening catastrophe.
• Don’t have all the characters be so decent, considerate, enlightened, and reasonable. Who will ever believe such characters? Don’t you watch the Evening News?

You catch my drift even if you don’t appreciate my sarcasm. What makes The Sound of Life noteworthy is its lack of standard tropes. Treat yourself. Available on Amazon.com. And don’t forget to check what’s new and wonderful on The Natural Curiosity Podcast.