Metropolia

About the Book

Metropolia is a  work of fiction that explores intercultural conflict and displacement on a small Island off the South Coast of Australia. The characters and story line are fictional, the circumstances that inspired the book are not. What exactly is “intercultural conflict” or “displacement?” Is it the proverbial melting pot gone bad? Is it the fall out or by-product of special interests groups and their tools on the hill lobbying congress for special privileges?

In the case of America, perhaps. In the circumstances of this novel, perhaps not.  

   On the Island, there are those who are trying to subsist, those who are trying make a buck, and those whose interests will change its physical and cultural landscape.

Crash Corrigon is the American ex-pat, who, with his Australian wife Ellen, is trying to make a go of it as a kayak outfitter and guide in the Island’s burgeoning eco-tourism trade. Kaji Miyamoto is the Japanese Investor whose money is fueling the sudden, and rapid transformation of the Island. Governor and Magistrate Cornelius Richtoven is the broker who is attempting to forge an alliance between all the business interests involved. Jim is the solitary Aboriginal who’s Island ramblings both  immerse and remove him from the conflict of change. Then there is Fujiko Narramoto, a beautiful, young Japanese woman who arrives on the Island with the proposal to mount an exploratory kayak expedition on the treacherous eastern coastline.

With her arrival all of their paths intersect, with explosive results.

About the Author

Scott Thomas has worked and traveled extensively in Australia. He now teaches at a small college in the Southeast, in the areas of environmental education, interpretation of natural resources, and park ranger technology. Metropolia is his first novel.