Arguably THE voice of dysfunctional Florida, Hiaasen's Florida is a hive of greedy businessmen, corrupt politicians, dumb blondes, apathetic retirees, intellectually challenged tourists, hard-luck redneck cooters, and militant ecoteurs. It is the same Florida of
John D. MacDonald and
Travis McGee, but aged another 20 years and viewed with a more satiric or sardonic eye.
A graduate of the University of Florida, at age 23 he joined The Miami Herald as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the paper's weekly magazine and later its prize-winning investigations team. Since 1985 Hiaasen has been writing a
regular column, which at one time or another has pissed off just about everybody in South Florida, including his own bosses. He has outlasted almost all of them, and his column still appears on most Sundays in The Herald's opinion-and-editorial section. It may be viewed online at
www.miamiherald.com or in the actual printed edition of the newspaper, which, miraculously, is still being published.
Hiaasen's fiction mirrors his concerns as a journalist and Floridian. His novels have been classified as "environmental thrillers" and are usually found on the mystery shelves in bookshops, although they can just as well be read as mainstream reflections of contemporary life. His books have been published in 33 different languages. He has also penned three environmentally-themed books for young readers: "
Hoot," "
Flush," and "
Scat."
http://www.carlhiaasen.com/
