Van Chesnutt-Author

Van Chesnutt

Travel from a quirky, not middle-of-the-road perspective is what Push the Red Button is all about. A humorous travel journal, its purpose is to bring a smile to your face and possibly a laugh or two.

Brian and the Storm, Mr. Chesnutt's second book is a children's book, it is the story of a young boy and his dog experiencing and dealing with their first hurricane.

Why I Travel, Mr. Chesnutt's third book is similar to his first book, but has different tone. Its objective is to put you in the place with him, so that you can feel and be a part of what the author is experiencing.

I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. — Mary Anne Radmacher

Someday Is Today

Genre: Coming of age

Not yet published.

Dylan Marsh is in a coma. He is also in love. In his coma, he relives a summer of his youth. A summer with events, that if known, could change his life forever.

While traveling on business, a freak automobile accident leaves Dylan Marsh in a coma and fighting for his life. His wife and soulmate Nicole travels from St Petersburg to Tallahassee to be by his side. As she waits in uncertainty, she reminisces about her romance and life with Dylan, a man she thinks she knows.

Circumstances, however, reveal clues that there are things about Dylan’s past that she is unaware of. In the hospital, unable to communicate, Dylan re-lives his summer of 1962 spent in South Georgia. It was a summer of fun, swimming, pig farms, shooting, tobacco, and an incident that put Dylan in harm’s way. This incident precipitates the events that leave Dylan with his secret—a secret he now cannot reveal, even if he were so inclined.

Clouds in the Distance

Genre: Historical, Coming of age

Not yet published.

Sailing the waters of the Florida Straits in late summer can a challenge because of the potential for storms, but Paul Emerson loves the sea and sailing, storms notwithstanding. To him, sailing has always been an adventure. It will become his life.

In Clouds in the Distance, as a teenager in 1939, Paul and two friends sail a twenty-four-foot sloop from Miami to Dry Tortugas, a small island 70 miles west of Key West. In the following years, as war looms on the horizon, Paul gets a boat of his own and crews on an eighty-foot sailing yacht owned by a wealthy New England family.

When the war comes to America, Paul joins the Navy and is assigned to sailing vessels operating in the North Atlantic. One of Navy his postings turns out to be on the same boat he crewed on two years earlier. Part of one assignment supports the development of sonar by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Paul’s experiences both at sea and off, including that ultimate experience, love, change Paul from an adventure-seeking teenager into a man he never could have imagined.

Push the Red Button

Whether it's hiking in Zion Canyon, learning about the peculiarities of Peter the Great or Richard the Lionheart, traveling by train in Italy or experiencing lemoncello for the first time, this book describes the little things that make traveling an adventure. Push the Red Button is a collection of anecdotes and stories experienced by the author over years of travel. Mr. Chesnutt's dry humor and sense of the absurd is what makes you feel like you are seeing the world with him.

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Brian and the Storm

Brian and the Storm is a children's book about a young boy and his dog experiencing their first hurricane. Brian and his dog, Penny, find out that a hurricane is a bit more than just another storm and that things can happen that are unanticipated. While the story is set in South Florida, it is relatable to any area prone to severe storms. Illustrated by Alyce Wolfe.

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Why I Travel

In some respects, Why I Travel is a continuation of Push the Red Button, in that it relates travel experiences and adventures. Imagine, for example, being in an Egyptian night market, experiencing the heat of the Egyptian desert, or dealing with hordes of school children in Monet's garden in Giverny. In some situations, all you can do is wait to see how things end up.

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