Doug Alderson Author Page

02/27/2026

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/things-to-do/2026/02/27/tallahassees-doug-alderson-reflects-on-a-florida-dance/88869717007/

Tallahassee writer Doug Alderson's 'A Florida Dance' traces a life shaped as much by chance and adversity as by purpose.

02/12/2026

https://southernlitreview.com/reviews/a-florida-dance-life-stories-from-the-sunshine-state-by-doug-alderson.htm

I have enjoyed all of Doug Alderson’s award-winning books, but I was truly blown away by his latest, A Florida Dance: Life Stories from the Sunshine State (Earthways Press 2026). I know Doug through Tallahassee’s writing community and consider him a friend, but the praise I’m offering here is ...

01/05/2026

This book has been in the works for 20 years and I finally put it all together in the last few months. I should have my physical copies in a couple of weeks for book events, but you can order online or read the kindle version:

Award-winning author Doug Alderson illuminates Florida’s beauty, quirkiness, cultures, and challenges in these true first-person tales. They range from being the first White sixth grader in a previous all Black school in 1968 to helping to blow the whistle on an alarming proposal to develop Flori....

12/03/2025

Here is a blog I wrote for the Florida Writers Association that was published today.

It’s difficult enough to be a writer. You slave over words and edits and strive to get published and recognized. And then the scammers move in. Some give flowery praise of your work and promise to get it in bookstores, gift shops and book clubs. All for just a few hundred bucks. I did fall for one...

11/12/2025

My wife Cyndi thought I was crazy when I began buying alligator related postcards and vintage souvenirs. "I'm writing a book," I would respond. She replied, "But you don't even have a publisher yet." She was right, of course. Two publishers I had worked with rejected the idea of a book about the cultural history associated with the alligator, but when I approached Lyons Press, they immediately accepted it. I was very proud when they published America's Alligator in 2020: https://bit.ly/3JR5Q6I.

People have long been fascinated by the American alligator. Ever since humans arrived on the continent more than 15,000 years ago, the American alligator has been both feared and revered, celebrated and scorned, and often hunted for food and hide. Once tourism began to take hold in the South as ...

11/07/2025

When I started work on Traveling Florida's Seminole Trail (then called The Great Florida Seminole Trail) in 2011, I wanted to get the blessing of then Florida Seminole Chief James Billie. We had a couple of mutual friends, so this made the connection easier. I sent Chairman Billie some draft chapters and two ci**rs since to***co is a traditional Native American gift. He called a couple of weeks later and said he liked what he read and urged me to proceed, so that made me feel good about the project. Since that initial book, Pineapple Press had me update it for a second edition in 2021: https://bit.ly/43SSz4j.

10/26/2025

I'm not sure why, but my book Waters Less Traveled is now being sold for a wholesale price on Amazon: bit.ly/42Sv0bA. I've never seen it cheaper. I even ordered some copies!

10/24/2025

The origins of Spooky Stories from the Swamp began when I worked as summer camp director at the Tallahassee Museum in the 1990s. We would take young people on multi-day camping trips to the mountains and the other counselors and I rediscovered the ancient art of storytelling. I remembered stories my elders told when I was growing up. They were gifted storytellers and my fellow counselors at the Museum told some great yarns, too. I came up with several spooky stories of my own over the years, partly as a way to educate young people about Florida history and the environment, and I eventually started to write them down. For this Halloween, I will be kayaking the Apalachicola River as part of RiverTrek and camping on a sandbar near Wewahitchka, so I will be sure to tell some of my favorites to fellow paddlers.

10/22/2025

Perhaps my most obscure book is Simon's Wondrous Garden. It is fiction and it was inspired when I ordered a tractor trailer load of mushroom compost and the only place they could safely dump it was in my brother's dirt driveway next door. Luckily he was tolerant of the steamy pile and its strong manure smell. It took me all summer to move it wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow load, but we had a rich garden that year! We live in the country, but I started wondering about what would happen if someone in Suburbia was inspired to turn their entire yard into a vegetable garden, starting with a giant compost heap. That's how the main story was born.

“A stunning story collection of mystical figures who seek meaning and inner peace in a world plagued by turmoil. These stories exhibit the deep connection to nature and respect for the South’s environment and rich history that we’ve come to expect from Alderson. No one does it better.”—Don...

10/21/2025

In 2005, the University Press of Florida published Waters Less Traveled, the first volume to chronicle the unique history, culture and environment of Florida's Big Bend Coast. It was also my first published book. Part of the story thread was a nine day sea kayaking trip along the coast with friend and co-worker Liz Sparks. We met many colorful characters (a guy named Sh*tty Bill being our favorite) and witnessed a part of Florida few ever experience. Liz's commentary added a special flavor to the book. While the book was not a bestseller by any means, it did have a small faithful following and a few copies still sell each year. Now, ironically, the book is becoming an historical document since many of those people in the book have passed and some of the places have changed due to recent hurricanes. I want to thank the Press for taking a chance on me. bit.ly/42Sv0bA.

Florida’s Big Bend Coast is one of America’s longest and wildest continuous wetlands. Seminole Indians once sought refuge from American soldiers along its shores. Today, visitors find a different kind of refuge, a refuge from a hectic world. In the first comprehensive armchair guide to this regi...