Alien Coast

by V. E. Smith

June 1981, Galveston Harbor. Historian Urban McLean, newly retired from the American Embassy in Bogotá, takes his yacht Aluna on a dramatic speaking tour along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida. He’s reenacting characters and incidents from an ill-fated Spanish expedition to La Florida in 1528, led by the mercurial Pánfilo de Narváez, a flawed character McLean portrays all too easily. Joining the McLean’s half-Colombian daughter on college vacation from California; an exiled Bolivian family friend; two federal agents under cover; a young Floridian fisherman, who shares McLean’s fascination with Narváez. All come to the tour with different agendas. But other events—past and present, near and far—entangle them in ways they never could have imagined. The consequences prove deadly. Along this historic coast, the seamarks of the lost Narváez expedition are haunting reminders that disaster can stalk even the best-laid plans.

378 pages, Paperback

Published June 5, 2025