The Adventures of Max Nomad:
Iguana with the Wind

A satire of travel and the expatriate life in Central America, Iguana with the Wind begins when travel photographer Max Nomad returns from a shoot in Fiji and finds his fiancée— the one true love of his life—in bed with a Wayne Newton look-alike.

After beating the Wayne Newton look-alike into a coma with a rubber tree plant he'd brought back as a gift for his girlfriend, Max flees to Costa Rica and hides out. Until Tiki Times Magazine sends him the assignment that will change his life: to photograph the only tiki bar in Guaroville, the newest little country in Central America. It's so remote, that Guaroville is not only in the Middle of Nowhere, it is the capital of the Middle of Nowhere.

Created by the United Nations to settle a border dispute between Costa Rica and Panama, Guaroville is shaped like a big tortilla. It is the site of a booming new tourism industry—or would be if anyone knew Guaroville existed, or if it had a beach, a volcano, a rainforest or any other tourist attractions. When Max and Shelby arrive, the sole attractions are a zip-line canopy tour whose cable was stolen from the elevator at the Hotel Guaro, Rainforest Rick's Eco-Tours and Logging Supplies, an exotic dancer named Argentina Turner, and lots of cute little furry animals.

On the "chicken bus" to Guaroville,

Max becomes entangled with Shelby Carson, former owner of a travel agency for blind people. Together they explore the newest little country in Central America, where they:

· Survive attacks by a giant sloth and a colossal crocodile

· Figure out how to get a room in the Motel California, whose motto is "You can check out but you can't check in."

· Encounter infamous international con men, scam artists and their victims, and Secret Agent Orange (who led the Bay of Wigs invasion of Cuba in the Sixties)

· Find the Lost City of the Guaro Indians, a legendary tribe of tiny, little pygmies

The story ends when the giant volcano outside the Lost City of the Guaro Indians erupts and kills Max, Shelby and all of the cute little furry animals in the entire country, as well as the southwestern portion of Panama. (Just kidding. It really has a different ending that is far less likely to traumatize an entire generation, not to mention the entire population of Guaroville.)

About the Author

Shay Addams, author of over 20 non-fiction books, based his first novel on his experiences in Costa Rica from 1997-2006. In addition to changing the names of the characters to avoid legal problems and ethical dilemmas for the people who inspired them, he also had to change the name of the country to Guaroville. (At the last moment, his lawyer, the illustrious Italian attorney, Nolo Contendre, advised him against changing the name of Central America to The Middle of Nowhere.)

Addams currently lives in an undisclosed border town where he is completing the sequel to this novel, called Max Nomad Meets the Mayan Calendar. He is also compiling a series of humorous short stories, many of which feature Max Nomad, the lead character in Iguana with the Wind and will include the soon to be classic mystery, How Can I Possibly Have 2,000 Pairs of Socks and None of Them Match?.