White’s spinoff series isn’t just for young readers
Writer often asked about next Doc Ford book, but it’s already here with ‘Crocs’
Bestselling author Randy Wayne White says, “People ask me, when are you going write another Doc Ford book? Well, I just came out with another one. People think they’re just for kids, but they’re for young adults and adults, too.
“I just take out the profanity and the sex. And there’s a lot less violence.”
The Sanibel, Florida, writer has published 26 novels about Ford, a marine biologist and undercover government agent. The latest, “Salt River,” was published in 2020.
The Ford books for grown-ups combine evocative writing about Florida and its history with tense action and an often high body count. They might not seem likely to spin off a series of books for young readers. But in 2020, White, 71, published “Fins,” the first in his Sharks Incorporated series, followed by “Stingers” in 2021 and “Crocs” in March.
“Crocs” is not about the shoes but about, among other things, American crocodiles, which White calls “sweethearts.” All three books recount the adventures of a trio of youngsters who work for Ford as a research team, tagging blacktip sharks.
They’ve become a good team, and Doc and Hannah Smith give them a new assignment in “Crocs”: hunting for feral citrus trees on the scattered wild islands around Sanibel, trees whose seeds might have been planted by the Spanish five centuries ago.
There’s scientific opinion that such trees might be immune to citrus greening, the disease that has devastated Florida’s citrus industry in recent years. Grafting onto rootstock from the feral trees might be a solution.
The three kids find traces of a feral tree soon enough. On the same island, they also find what they first think is a really big alligator, until a closer look reveals it’s an American crocodile, a mother guarding her brood of babies. They also meet an eccentric older woman, who tells them the mysterious and tragic story of a little girl who found a gold medallion buried in a shell mound, a medallion thought to have belonged to King Carlos, a Calusa leader.
This interview with White has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Are the books for kids easier to write than the ones for grown-ups? A:
I’d like to say they’ve been a delight to write, but it’s never gotten any easier for me. It’s still a pain in the rump. I labor over every sentence and paragraph. I strive for clarity, and one day maybe I’ll achieve it, I don’t know. I have enjoyed it. … I’m still moving the Doc Ford story along with his (relationship with Hannah) Smith. They have a child now. I’m a sap when it comes to kids. So it’s fun.
But they’re all difficult to write. Every book I’ve ever started, I tell myself this one is going to be simple, boom boom boom, plot, and I just go off on tangents, getting into all the research. It’s just one terrifying day after another.
Q: Will the Sharks Incorporated series continue? A:
I have another book in the contract, and I’m working on that now. It’s called “Megalops.” It’s about tarpon. … It was hard to convince the editors at Macmillan to use the word Megalops, but I finally convinced them. It’s a
lovely word, isn’t it? Very dinosaurlike. Tarpons are dinosaurs, they’re very dinosaurlike.
Q: As in all of your books, one of the most appealing things about “Crocs” is your vivid, knowledgeable use of the Florida setting. Can you talk about that? A:
In the Ford novels, the only place I’ve ever used as a setting where I had not spent a lot of time, not spent any time, is Disney World. That’s the only place I’ve never been that I ever wrote about. Every other place I’ve spent time in, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, Colombia, much time in Cuba. And I’ve lived in Florida for years. I had a great deal of fun with various elements in this book, like looking for archaic Spanish citrus, which I’ve not only done, but I found it. I got a patent on my own
Seduced archaic rootstock.
Q: Is it called “Seduced” because the feral citrus is also an element in your Hannah Smith book by that title? A:
I was talking to Jeff Carter (a son of former President Jimmy Carter), who is an expert on this, and he said that if the Spanish had planted a citrus tree in the 1500s in an isolated spot, where it had not cross-pollinated, and it had dropped fruit, that would produce a clone of the original tree. I was thinking maybe that would be immune to the flies. So I went through the same process Hannah did. I actually did it.
On remnants of what I see as shell pyramids but most people call shell mounds, you can still find feral citrus, oranges, grapefruits, perhaps from seeds brought over by the
Spanish in 1500s. I love that linkage. I love bringing in all this history. It’s true here and certainly where you are (in St. Petersburg), so much history of the Tocobaga and Timucuan people.
Also the gold medallion, which I owned for many years. That’s based on the true story of a child who found it and tragically died not long after. I donated it to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Q: How about that crocodile? A:
Years ago, my buddy Peter Matthiessen and I went out with Frank Mazzotti, the United States’ leading crocodilian expert. He’s in the book. Peter and I actually did crocodile tagging with Frank. He’s the one who called saltwater crocodiles the sweethearts of the crocodilian world. I wanted to use that, so I asked him. I said, “Can
I use your real name? I’ll say you’re good-looking.”
Q: What kind of reaction do you get from kids who read your books? A:
A child will come up and say, or his parents will say, he loves the books, he loves the characters. Kids don’t tend to write reviews, and I don’t blame them. Kids are smarter than I think we remember. I don’t try to write down.
Q: Will there be another Doc Ford for grownups soon? A:
Yes, there will. I’m going to write at least two more. In one, Doc Ford and his uncle, Tucker Gatrell … trace Florida history from the cow-hunting days around Punta Rassa to Disney World. I’ve got some stuff here that’s done better than I ever fathomed, and I think I’m going to do just what I want to do.