Ted Gugelyk

Mango Lady & Other Stories from Hawaii takes the reader on a journey not unlike a long ride across the face of a giant wave, full of unexpected turns and surprises, weaving together memories, fantasies, and personalities that stretch from long ago Hawaii to modern day Vietnam. Through all of them is the connecting spirit of the Islands, its special mana, its people, its surf, bringing times past into the present in a special, intimate way. There is Mango Lady, who lived in Waikiki since childhood, watching her ancient preoccupations become irrelevant in the new bustle of development. There is “The Man to Whom Surf Cam,” the tale of a magical Urban who never failed to attract surf. There is “A November Surfer,” an adventure of a senior surfer at remote Rabbit Island. There is “Hard Port,” an intriguing pulling together of Hawaii and Russia, when a longtime surfer visits Nakhodka in the Russian Far East, the land of his ancestors. Finally, there is the flamboyant and unsettling “Captain Aloha,” a tale of two old surfing friends from Hawaii and the horrors of the war in Vietnam, a unique portrait of psychology and culture, of friendship and passing time.