Under the Gulf Coast Sun
By Skip Rhudy
The last thing on Kassie Hernandez’s mind is falling in love. But when she meets surferConnor O’Reilly at one of Port Aransas’s famous Pod House parties in 1978, everything changes.
Kassie and Connor can’t keep their hands off each other. Kassie senses a growing threat to her lifelong dream of working in the space program. Connor is falling for her fast, but Kassie is attracting the attention of every man on the Island. The inexperienced couple navigates their feelings and passions, struggle through conflict and jealousy against a backdrop of wild parties, epic surf sessions, and family dynamics that have formed their most sensitive vulnerabilities. Port Aransas, Texas is a beloved vacation destination for millions of Texans. This story of second chances, ambition, and love captures nostalgia for summers past and the mysterious draw of the places we return to again and again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Skip Rhudy
About the Author: Skip Rhudy grew up surfing in Port Aransas, Texas. He has translated poetry and prose from the German and translated Wolfgang Hilbig’s novella Die Weiber for his master’s thesis in 1990 at UT Austin. His short stories were published in numerous small press magazines in the mid 1990s, and his novella One Punk Summer was published in 1993 and reprinted in2021.
Skip works as a software developer. He holds a patent in TCP/IP acceleration, has a post graduate certificate in Artificial Intelligence, and is building an airplane.He and his wife live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have two daughters, three dogs, and a horse named Pierre.
