I attended San Diego State University and earned a degree in teaching. I thought I’d be spending my working career in a classroom but life had different plans for me.

When I turned 40—not a spring chicken at that time—I remember asking myself what else is out there in my life. The answer came in the stories I’ve been reading.

I was listening to a thriller on an audiobook or maybe it was a love story while driving to the beach.  I liked both of them—the hero gets the girl, the money and lives to tell the tale—and right then, I had a serendipitous moment. Naively, I told myself, I could write a novel.

Storytelling is easy. All that’s needed is a beginning, a middle and an end, and about 53,000 words. Not true. There is nothing more difficult than inventing a story. With nothing but bits and pieces of inspiration here and there, I began writing stories in my spare time. I joined writing groups and enrolled in a creative writing class at a local college.

Not really knowing what to write, I thought of my trip to the Philippines in 1993. I went backpacking throughout the country just a few years after graduating from college, visiting the country’s three main islands of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The seed for writing this novel was born.

Since I love reading thrillers, love stories, history and travel books, I decided to combine all categories and turn them into a novel. Words became sentences, then paragraphs. Finally, the compiled chapters turned into a book!

I hope you enjoy reading my novel just as I enjoyed writing it.

You can find out more about Dennis on his website and he is on Twitter.

A thriller about best friends, scientific data, hired guns and a harrowing race with a past lover to stay alive. Marine biologist Danny Maglaya must meet with his best friend and fellow scientist Blake Mason to upload the data demanded as ransom by the kidnappers of Blake’s fiancée. The task might have been simple, but every time the two scientists try to rendezvous, two contract assassins show up. With Danny and Blake’s phones hacked and each move they make monitored, the only way to survive is to outwit the men wanting to eliminate them. With an ingenious but risky solution, Danny teams up with his ex-lover to piece together secrets that only she, Danny and Blake know. A series of perilous events follows as Danny and his old flame, Valerie, race through San Diego County, solving clues about Blake’s whereabouts and about their possible future together. Will their love for each other be the catalyst for success or will the bitter pain of their breakup be a recipe for disaster?

Somewhere in San Diego was released in the UK 6th April 2017 by October Leaf Press.

Dennis Macaraeg also published Somewhere in the Shallow Sea: A Novel of Suspense in 2015.