Meet One of our Knight Authors: Hep Aldridge ’80
The Book Nook at UCF Knight Market this year will showcase 12 alumni authors. Leading up to the event, we will be spotlighting our Book Nook authors!
Meet Hep Aldridge ’80!
Tell us a little about yourself!
I am a 50-plus year Brevard resident and a self-published author. I write action/adventure, mystery novels, usually involving treasure and/or treasure hunting by a team of friends who are part of the fictional company they have formed, Risky Business Ltd. Their base of operations is in Cocoa, (where I live, go figure).
My stories all have this local connection and in my first 3 books, the “Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds” trilogy the area around Port Canaveral, Merritt Island and Cocoa are all featured. Local locations, businesses, bars and marinas are settings for much of the stories, including Cocoa Village. My other two books, “Buried Treasure: The Search for Aztec Treasure is set in the Southwest of the United States and “Hidden Treasure: The Secret of Cleopatra’s Gold,” is a globe hopping adventure from Egypt and the middle east to the waters off Florida’s east coast. All books still maintain the local connection to Cocoa, Florida and core group of characters: The Risky Business Team.
My author’s web page is hepaldridge.com. A few more facts about me. My father worked for NASA from the beginning of the Apollo program. From White Sands New Mexico, to Johnson Space Center in Houston and finally to the Cape. I have always been interested in space, both science fiction and science fact. My treasure hunting and archaeology interests really blossomed during my time in New Mexico and Texas. I received my SCUBA certification in 1969 while stationed at Homestead AFB and had the opportunity to dive on a Spanish Galleon from the 1733 fleet which had gone down in the Florida Keys. When I moved to Brevard I became an avid cave diver. Diving in many of the springs and cave systems in Central and North Central Florida.
I moved to Brevard after my discharge from the Air Force in 1970. I am a graduate of Brevard Community College, AA degree, UCF BS degree (1980), Norwich University, MA and Doctorate from the University of Florida. I worked at BCC for 35 years and retired ‘Dean Emeritus,” in 2009. I have published 5 books (first one in 2019) two of which earned the Amazon #1 best seller ranking and am currently working on number 6. My books sell exclusively on Amazon and from my homepage. They are being sold/read in U.S. of course, Canada, the U.K and Australia. With previous sales in Germany and Ecuador.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Not until I retired. I had this story in my head that had been bouncing around for years and I finally decided to put it on paper. Knowing nothing about writing a novel. I just jumped into the deep end and learned as I went. As I wrote I realized my story was too long for one book, hence the Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds trilogy was born. Combining all my interests in treasure hunting, sci-fi, action/adventure and archaeology.
What’s your writing process? What inspires your writing?
I love science fiction, legends, mythology, treasure hunting and archaeology. Specifically, Pre-Columbian archaeology. I write with the idea that every legend or myth contains a grain of truth, and so my stories ask the question, “What if…”
What was a class or club at UCF that helped you grow as a writer?
As an elective for my BS in Social Science degree at UCF I took a course entitled, “The Sociological Implications of Science Fiction.” It helped develop an expanded way of thinking about the genre and its application to the world around us
Who are some of your favorite authors?
H.G. Wells, Jules Vern, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, W.C. Jameson and the vast array of science fiction writers contemporary and historical. In the fantasy realm I do lover Jim Butcher and his “Dresden Files” series. His world building puts the reader in the most visually fantastic settings and characters that you feel like you know personally or would like to.
What are you currently working on right now?
Book six, “Forgotten Treasure: The Mystery in the Grand Canyon.” involves a legend purporting the discovery of out of place ancient artifacts (Egyptian) in a cavern located in the Grand Canyon. As one article reported in the Arizona Gazette in 1905. Debunked over the years I take the position of “But, What if…”
My Books: Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds trilogy
- Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds
- Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds: Revelation
- Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds: Encounter
- Buried Treasure: The Search for Aztec Treasure
- Hidden Treasure: The Secrets of Cleopatra’s Gold
- (In progress) Forgotten Treasure: They Mystery in the Grand Canyon
