The Beach's Best Bookish Bets

‘FROZEN TIDE’

Gerard Filitti, a seasonal resident of Panama City Beach, said he wrote his first novel, “Frozen Tide,” late at night “on the relaxing back patio of a delightful cottage on the west end of Panama City Beach, following many inspirational walks along the shore.” A timely thriller, the novel follows the investigation of a terrorist attack on American soil — with plot twists that could be ripped from the headlines.

A native of New York City, Filitti holds degrees from New York University, the University of London and the University of Michigan Law School. He was a scholar of the Middle East and Central Asia and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society prior to his career as a litigator.

Filitti put his life on hold when his mother’s health deteriorated, and he took a hiatus from his law practice to take care of her. He turned to writing “both for the intellectual and creative stimulation it affords,” he said, and as a way of keeping his mom engaged in dynamic storylines and interesting characters.

The novel is available in paperback through Amazon.com ($15.99, 398 pages) or many other online booksellers, and is also available on Kindle ($7.99). An iBooks version is forthcoming, and further novels are planned.

WRITING CHALLENGE

The Panama City Beach Library, 12500 Hutchison Blvd., is hosting a writing challenge event for would-be authors and storytellers at 2 p.m. Jan. 19. “I Can Write Better Than That” will feature four local authors who will read a segment of works in progress and ask the audience to come up with their own version of the next chapter. The best new writer of each chapter will win a book from the library and a gift certificate to Hidden Lantern book store in Rosemary Beach.

Participating authors include Ruth Corley (“Illuminated Nation”), Michael Guillebeau (“Josh Whoever”), Carole Lapensohn (“Itty Bitty Titty Bar”), and News Herald writer Tony Simmons (reading from his untitled steampunk project). For details, contact the beach library at 850-233-5055.