Hiro Tanaka, a Japanese seaman falls out with his crew and
shortly afterward takes a dive overboard somewhere off the coast of
Georgia. He finds himself washed ashore on remote Tupelo Island
where he becomes a kind of celebrity fugitive, lurking in the
swamps and feeding on whatever scraps of food come his way. The
island is also occupied by a community of writers --- and would-be
writers. The book manages to be, at once, sexy, tragic, and
hilarious.