A three-continent romance was not what Brian expected when he first visited Transylvania, but Bianca lured him into an entire life making a playground of all seven seas. The Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Caribbean, the Aegean ... a head-spinning list of rendezvous. Luxury liners were their vehicle, with ship life like no other. The awesome power of the big ships to cross oceans of cultures kept bringing them together ... and pulling them apart. But it was a secret past that threatened to sink them. Vastly entertaining and expansive, hilarious and true, feel-good Mr. Brown shows us that the stuff of legendary romance lies in us all, if we but have the courage to reach for it. Finalist- Book of the Year, Humor, ForeWord AwardsFinalist- Book of the Year, Travel, ForeWord AwardsGold- USA Best Book AwardsSilver- Paris Book FestivalBronze- London Book FestivalBronze- Hollywood Book festival.

A true international love affair from best-selling and award-winning author Brian David Bruns. A three-continent romance was not what Brian expected when he first visited Transylvania, but Bianca lured him into an entire life making a playground of all seven seas.The Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Caribbean, the Aegean... a head-spinning list of rendezvous. Luxury liners were their vehicle, with ship life like no other. The awesome power of the big ships to cross oceans of cultures kept bringing them together... and pulling them apart. But it was a secret past that threatened to sink them.Vastly entertaining and expansive, hilarious and true, feel-good Mr. Brown shows that the stuff of legendary romance lies in us all, if we but have the courage to reach for it.

Fred has led a mediocre life for over sixty years. He wants some adventure in his life. He bought a boat to cruise around and down the waterway. His wife will not join him. He has to get away or in his frustration he will do his first acting of violence. He loves the boat and his freedom. He finds exciting sex with a pretty boat bum. Later he is mugged and thrown off a bridge by a salt and pepper team of robbers and loses his boat and memory. He rescues a woman in dire distress and becomes judge and jury of her tormentor. The mugger team crosses his path and restores his memory. He kills the pair before they kill him and the woman. Dope smugglers tradeoffs make Fred well to do. He finds a home for the mental injured woman. He decides to buy another boat and search for his lost craft. Another woman with a young son enters his life and boat. He searches all the way to Florida and gets involved with two crooked custom agents. Violence and death occurs. He discovers his lost boat after a cruise up the waterway. Freds heart worried him as he cruises back to Fort Lauderdale for his woman there. He plans to take it real easy and share her with her young husband. The young wife wants another child. Fred enjoys his lifestyle and his new bigger yacht moored under the overhead roof up the New River. His sex life is complicated by the inclusion of the little boys grandmother. She brings the boy to visit Fred. She also announces that a new baby is on the way and she knows who the father is. She is not hoggish and will share. Long live Fred, long will he enjoy his two women. The End

The macabre and supernatural add to the atmospherics of this beguiling collection. From the descent into madness of a man trapped in the Polar ice to a gruesome American Civil War discovery far grislier than the usual horrors of war, or the oddly ribald haunting in New Orleans to the downright bizarre man who comes to a restaurant every day to gulp down vast quantities at the shrimp buffet while his forlorn waitress seems to gain weight on his behalf. Gerrard achieves a delightful balance of whimsy and the grotesque.

Returning with his award-winning wit and delightfully candid narrative voice, Brian brings us the first and only expose of art auctioneering on the mighty liners, where the tenet of 'what happens at sea, stays at sea' has always been observed-until now. Ship for Brains takes on cruise ship art auctioneers, a society brimming with odd personalities drawn to the stress and isolation that invariably lead to alcohol and a Hell-may-care attitude. According to Bruns, "They willingly give up home and family in favor of high-paced, crushing sales goals demanded while port-hopping from nation to nation; art auctioneers are undermined by the lash of tyrannical ship officers, unforgiving gallery managers, hyena-like trainers, and a skeptical public. The burn-out rate is phenomenal-but when it works, you are king of the world." Brian's true-life struggle turns both harrowing and hilarious when goaded by the lecherous but mighty auctioneer Bill Shatner, and he must navigate sexy dancers and their all-to-intimate cliques, the slapstick schemes of his mentors, and the seduction of success, all while staying true to his girl and himself. We are transported from the Caribbean to the Pacific and Costa Rica to Transylvania as our likable guide vividly describes his many misadventures, triumphs, flirtations, and, above all, his amusing and astute insights into human nature. Ship for Brains-this ain't no galley tour.