Hemingway in Hawaii

by Ray Pace

Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn visited Hawaii on their way to China in early 1941. Did a prize Marlin and a hunt for Bighorn sheep on the Big Island lead to a literary classic and the Nobel Prize? One of Hawaii's leading writers, Ray Pace takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the possibilities.

134 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 2, 2017

About the author

About Ray Pace

Veteran print and broadcast writer Ray Pace is a member of the Authors Guild and the Alliance of Independent Authors. He is founding President of the Hawaii Writers Guild, and a member of the Waimea Writers Support Group.

His works of fiction are:
Disappearing Act: A Las Vegas Love Story, Sort Of...https://amzn.to/2MYIBKy
Hemingway in Hawaii http://bitly.ws/3Y6u
Bearstone Blackie, Detective http://bitly.ws/3Y6x
Captain Mike's Honolulu Fright Night Tour, a ghost story. http://bitly.ws/3Y6z

His book, Hemingway, Memories of Les is a memoir dealing with Pace's friendship with Leicester Hemingway, author of My Brother, Ernest Hemingway. http://bitly.ws/3Y6D

Some of the places Ray Pace has worked as a writer:
Newspapers:
The Miami News, Miami, Florida
The Ft. Lauderdale/Broward Tribune, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
West Hawaii Today, Waimea, Hawaii

Magazines:
Miami Magazine, Miami, Florida
Florida Keys Magazine, Key West, Florida
Honolulu Magazine, Honolulu, Hawaii
Beckett Baseball,
Beckett Football,
Beckett Basketball, Dallas, Texas

Broadcast News and Public Affairs:
WAXY, Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale
WSBR, Boca Raton
WCAI, Ft. Myers
WIIS, Key West
KHVH, Honolulu

Pace has also worked for a consortium of record and video labels, handling publicity for the San Francisco Bay Area. The fifty labels featured jazz, country, new age, and blues. He lives in Waikoloa Village on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixture of nonfiction and historical fiction, this little book shines an interesting light on Ernest Hemingway's relationship with his brother Leicester "Les." In the form of a letter written to Les, it also tells a fictional story based on a few facts and artifacts about his short time in Hawaii with Martha Gelhorn as WWII heats up in the Pacific.

[Amy Reade · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book combining historical fiction with factual memories. The parts of the book that represent a letter from Ernest Hemingway really do sound like something he might have written. A fascinating look at Hemingway and his brother at a time when the United States was coming closer and closer to WWII.

[Rudolf Waldner · Rating 5 out of 5]

My goodness was I entertained. Ray Pace, many thanks. I could not put the book down. Bouncing back and forth between the "letter" and "reality" was pure genius.
An absolute must-read for anyone even remotely interested in Hemingway.

[Seth Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost like a “What if” alternate reality adventure involving one of America’s most famous writers in one of America’s most fabulous vacationlands.

We all know Hemingway was a prolific letter writer, but there’s very little on record chronicling his trip with wife-at-the-time Martha Gelhorn to Hawaii just a few short months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The author here frames the book around a letter written by Ernest to his brother Les about some of his adventures, re-read decades later before his brother’s death. Yes, there’s hunting, but there’s also encounters touching on his involvement with top US military brass as rumors of Japan’s imminent WWII strike loomed on the periphery.

A very quick read (I’ll admit I bought it while on vacation in Hawaii just for the title alone as I had no idea the famous writer had been to the Hawaiian Islands), an imaginative setup for the story, and the fact that it includes a few random experiences that may very well have be later memorialized in The Old Man and the Sea make it worth considering.