ISLAND ODYSSEY: A novel set in Negril in the early 1970's.

[francis]

ISLAND ODYSSEY - previously titled Island Boys, a novel set in Negril druing the early 1970's when the flower children of the counter-culture generation lived side-by-side with Jamaican villagers, discovering a paradise that was a perfect fit for hippie idealism - is now available. The name had to be changed because of copyright issues, for this I apologize.

The book can be found at the following URL and if you search the site you will discover that it is available as an e-book as well. Lulu is the publisher and it is 100% safe to purchase through them. Enjoy!

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperbac...yssey/16676095

Island Odyssey and other books written by this author can also be found at the following storefront:

http://stores.lulu.com/francislynn

Oh, I am the author.

Francis Oliver Lynn

[rjonsun]

Francis, I read the book while at the Jersey shore last week before the hurricane. What a great read. As someone who spent some time in Negril between 1971-73 it pulled me back into the special memories of the mind. I stayed mostly in Red Ground, and you mainly on the cliffs. It was my first traveling experience and changed my life considerably as it did yours. Congrats to all the Ghetto Flowers. I understand that some of the book is fiction, but I'd love to know what all the characters are doing today.

Regards,

Bob

[Jim Nasium]

Francis,

I too was in Negril back in the early 70's (mostly up in The Red Ground area) and I really enjoyed my time there then. I've attached a photo of Negril the way it looked way back then in the early 70's. I KNOW the attached photo of Negril will bring back many'a fond memories for you. The photo was taken standing on the old bridge near the old round-about looking down towards town.

rjonsun gave me your book when he was done with it and although I haven't read much of your book yet, I look forward finishing it soon. I too have written many a short story and poem about my time there, in Negril, way back then. If you want to read some'a my stuff you'll find it here: http://www.gymart.com/adventurepoems.html

Jim Nasium

[suzengrace]

Look forward to checking out you book Francis.. Enjoyed your site Jim..Would had loved to have been apart of it all....alas, my first visit to negril in 83 when i was a teen..
Use to Love the red roof club back then-and of course the un-crowded beach and very rustic west end...

[Jim Nasium]

re:
and of course the un-crowded beach


As hard as this may be to believe the beach was wide open then, not a fence anywhere, not a building any where, just sugar cane and breadfruit groves, swamps and sand. Then, a guy could walk or run on the beach all the way down to Boobie Kay... the small island at the tip of long bay. see the attached photos.

[Nick]

Jim; I believe that I met you as you were walking back up the red ground road, just after got back from your rubber raft float out to sea. Memories from that time and place might get a bit distorted, but it was either you or someone who told me about your experience right after it happened(you know how news travels in Negril).
When that event was mentioned on Negril.com, a while back, the memory of hearing about a guy who fell asleep on his raft and woke up, sunburned to hell and out of sight of land came roaring back. It must have been something to wake up like that and only see the glow of the beach on the horizon.

[Jim Nasium]

Nick
you very well could have met me way back then; i can't be sure. Where in Negril when Jimmy Cliff was down there filming for his 2nd movie, the one that only recently has been released? Where you there at the filming?

[Nick]

That would have been the summer of 1974 or 75 for me. I had been there often since 69, but I recall it being 75 that I heard about your raft trip.

[francis]

Great photo of the once pristine Negril beach - I was fortunate to live on that beach and spend time on Booby Cay when it was like your photo; the West End was the same - the cliffs were completely undeveloped, and amazing time to be in Negril. I intend to explore other parts of the island to find places that are still native and try to re-live the lifestyle I wrote about in Island Odyssey - when I'm 64! Can you email me a copy of that photo and any other photos you have from that time period? Send me your email and I will send the few photos I have from when I was there; I used to have lots but they got lost over the decades. I would attach the photos I have on this post, put I have to learn how - I don't see a way to do it at this moment. Perhaps you could guide me on that. Send me your email.

[francis]

Bob,

Thanks for taking the time to read the book! Many things have happened to the characters in the book, death being one of them. I have some photos of that time period but need to learn how to attach them on this post. As for the Jamaicans during that time period: Elkannah the fisherman died two days before I returned this past May but I went out in a canoe fishing with his life-long fisherman friend, Eli, who told me lots of good stories as we canoed along the West End from the Blue Cave Castle - it was while you were there with your daughters wedding. In fact, the land of the Blue Cave Castle was part of my old stumping grounds in the 70s - I have a picture of me sitting on a tree branch on that property. At one time I camped on the land across the road, Croton Grove, which is mentioned in the novel; and one of the characters in the book lives there, although in the book I change his name - his real name is Everton and his parents were Daisy (not Millie as in the book) and Charlie. I visited Lord Joseph's cave in May as well, and Lord Joseph's sister was there; she informed me that Lord Joseph had died and she took over the cave-land, and man, she had it all caged up - and they tried turning the cave in to sea-cave bar which took lots of concrete and a hurricane wiped it out - such a shame - I took nice pics of it though, which I will post on this thread once I figure out how to (I am a techno-idiot). Harold, the wood carver, I ran into in 1984 while strolling along the beach. He and Michelin (the Danish woman) went their separate ways. He told me that Karl lived in Jamaica for over 10 years and one day left never to return. Helena and Michelin returned to Denmark, taking her half Jamaican child with her. Nathaniel (renamed Patrick in the revised version of the book per his request) and Julie and there children now live in Bloomington, IN, on a farm inherited from Julie and Jamie's parents. Their twins, Francis and Jamie, both live in Bloomington, IN as well and have their own families. As for their property in Little Bay, they sold it awhile ago as their children went off to college in the states and decided to make a home there, the main reason that Nathaniel and Julie moved to Bloomington. As for the Ghetto Flower freinds, wow, so much to tell about them - a novel worth. They continued living in Jamaica for many years, owning and selling land, and some of them got the travel bug and went to points all over the globe; a few returned to Philadel
phia, to my surprise, eventually settling in Wildwood, NJ of all places.