Salvagia

By Tim Chawaga

Tim Chawaga's sci-fi mystery debut, in which a diver searching for nostalgic salvage discovers the body of the most infamous man in flooded Florida and must avoid suspicion from both feds and corporate mafias. Reminiscent of Kim Stanley Robinson's New York 2140 and inspired by John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series.

Triss Mackey is flying just under the radar, exploiting a government loophole that lets her live quietly aboard the Floating Ghost--her rented, sentient CabanaBoat. In exchange, she dives for recycling, recovered from the flooded area of formerly-coastal cities known as the yoreshore. If she happens to find some salvagia--nostalgic salvage, valued artifacts from the past--well, that's just between her and the highest bidder.

But when the federal government begins withdrawing from Florida entirely, Triss must buy the Ghost outright or lose her loophole. Meanwhile, the corporate mafias are poised to seize power, especially Mourning in Miami, led by the legendary Edgar Ortiz, owner of the Astro America luxury hotel. Triss needs a score big enough to keep her free from both the feds and corporations, before the Ghost is sent to a watery, insurance-scamming grave.

In pursuit of such a score, she stumbles upon the chained up, drowned corpse of Ortiz, and winds up with more than she bargained for, including a partnership with Ortiz's hotshot spaceracing son, Riley. If she can help Riley solve the mystery of his father's death, it may lead them to a valuable piece of salvagia and with it, the hope of a sustainable, free way of Florida living.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DPLD1SMQ
• ISBN13: 9798895150382
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Ghost is great!

This was an interesting book to listen to. Taking place at a time that I could very well see the earth heading towards with rising seas, environmental disasters, and shoddy constructions which cause their own disasters, people are still surviving but with a different way of life. I love the semi sentient boats (Ghost is really awesome!) and other machines (where they don't talk normally but still get their points across with moving where they want to go). Sadly not all is well and I feel for Triss when she gets pulled into a big scheme to use Titans to build new housing on the shores of Florida (which is short sighted money making with the feds pulling out), finds dead bodies, dives for more than just salvagia, and all she wants to do is buy Ghost so it isn't sunk on a reef. I did get confused with a couple of the names but other than that, this was a fast paced fun book to listen to. It even has ship racing (up to space!) and with the biggest treasure people were looking for (A shoe and a trading card) it brought a real feel to it (because again, totally plausible and I can see people today going for stuff like that). I will say that this was a really good sci fi debut which was also a climate thriller, a diving treasure search, and finding out where you belong and fighting for what you feel is right, not just where the money is. The narrator, Amy McFadden did a great job in bring Triss and the other characters to life in this changed Florida landscape with secrets, death, and a chance for a better future by pushing the needle! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen to this great story.