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Thursday, May 1, 2008
Stuart McIver, Authentic Floridian Voice, 1922-2008
When I first met Stuart McIver and his sweet wife Joan (a fine writer in her own right)
back in the 90s, he was already elderly and something of a Florida institution, the quiet inheritor of the traditions of Rawlings
and Douglas. Carolinian by birth but Floridian in his soul, he took life’s scenic road, as his wife recently said
to Sun-Sentinel Travel Editor Tom Swick. His 12 books about Florida are essential to any who love and would know our
state.
Much enamored of all McIver’s work, I particularly enjoyed his 3-volume Florida Chronicles
(Dreamers, Schemers & Scalawags; Murder In the Tropics; Touched By the Sun). I would
bump into him from time-time at book fairs and readings and writer’s conferences and he always remembered me and happily
shared tales of olde Florida, and encouraged me in my own writings. My personalized signed copies of the Chronicles
stand proudly on my home-office shelf.
McIver was best known for his Hemingway’s Key West
and Death in The Everglades: The Murder of Guy Bradley, America’s First Martyr to Environmentalism.
A gentleman, a charmer, a scribe, known as "South Florida’s tribal storyteller," Stuart McIver knew and loved
Florida with a rare passion. He was what they mean when they call a man authentic. He will be missed. His slightly outdated—but
charming and authentic like him—website can be found at http://www.stuartmciver.com/
—John Bond
John Bond's story "T-Bird"
appears in Best American Mysteries 2007, edited by Carl Hiassen, and will be published as a chapbook in October by
ConJelCo Publishing. His reconsideration of John D. MacDonald's Condominium appears on our Classic Florida Reads page.
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| (Image from a Florida postcard) |
Weblinks to follow the weather:
www.nhc.noaa.gov - This is the official site of the National Hurricane Center. It's probably the most "official" site on the
web, so if you have trust issues, go here. They've made several improvements since last year, most notably the cool map
on the front and a new small news feed at the top. I'm not sure if they're still not using the "line of uncertainty."
In the past, their maps have been less definitive, with a huge cone, especially for slow-moving storms. Plus, it's not
as colorful, and we all like colors, don't we?
www.wunderground.com/tropical/ - This is Weather Underground's tropical weather site. They are good if you want easy access to a wide range of information,
including things like the "historical" diagram which shows how similar past storms have moved. They have a good
variety of computer models (which are lacking on the NHC), and they're very easy to navigate. They're also the best
source I know of for hurricane blogging - Dr. Jeff Masters blogs about tropical activity pretty consistently, although if
you're a complete beginner he may seem a bit jargonish. Plus, they're the best location for hurricane news if you're
trying to "one-stop shop" for weather info at your mansion on Fisher Island, your home in the Hamptons, the Manhattan
apartment, the London flat and the Chateau on the Loire. On the con side, they are a commercial entity, so there are ads around
the site.
www.skeetobiteweather.com - These guys have very clear diagrams that show not just where the storm will go, but how strong it will be in different
locations. They're also good for more minor systems, as they show "investigation areas" that may develop into
depressions, which neither the NHC nor Weather Underground does. Their historical records, however, have not been updated
since 2005. They have a slightly wider variety of computer models than Weather Underground, though you need to visit both
sites to see all of them. They can be a bit slow in updating (they normally have a 45-minute to an hour lag in updating after
the NHC, as compared to Weather Underground's 5-minute lag), but that's because they end up presenting much more information
with their diagrams. They come across as no-frills, with their relatively plain layout and lack of things like "wind
history" that the other two throw in. --James Barrett-Morison
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