My name is Brad Bertelli, and I'm a local historian and author.

I'm a fiction writer by trade and I went to the University of Miami and got my MFA and graduated in 2001.

I moved down here to work on my novel and I got a book deal with the University Press of Florida Snorkeling guide to Florida, and as I was doing research for this book, every dive captain and every mate had his own story about how this reef got its name or how that reef got its name.

And I got curious and started looking into the histories, the local histories, and got really intrigued with what was going on down here in the Florida Keys and the road forked, and I kind of turned off my fiction tap and opened up the non-fiction.

And I've been working on non-fiction ever since, and history.

The history down here is amazing and I was really taken in by it, and 20 years later, I'm a local historian.

I've done eight books total.

3, 4, 5, 6, 6 and a half on history.

I count one.

I have a book called "The Florida Keys Skunk Ape Files" which is, it's fiction but it's historical fiction, but the history is good and I worked really hard on getting the history right, but I did insert the Florida's Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape, in with a lot of real people like John James Audubon, and Ponce de Leon and Thomas Edison, just to have a little fun.

But I hadn't worked on fiction in 15 years and, after writing so much history, I just wanted to have fun with words again and not have to worry about, you know, all the details.

People don't realize the stunning array of history that's happened down here and I think it's all telling stories and writing fiction or writing history, it's all, how do you present the information so it's palatable and people who might not otherwise pick up a history book, you know, can get the information, absorb it, and hopefully be entertained.

My favorite Florida Keys story was always Indian Key, which is now Indian Key Historic State Park.

It's an amazing little island.

Millions of people have driven past it on the overseas highway and never even known this little 11 acre mangrove island out in the Atlantic about a mile offshore between Upper Matta Combi and Lower Matta Combi Key was once the most important island in the Florida Keys not named Key West.

And in 1835, it had a hotel and a restaurant and a bowling alley and it was this thriving wrecking community.

My latest book, which I call "Florida Keys History with Brad Bertelli, Volume 1."

It's really helped me to define my history voice so I can tell these stories, make them fun, get people interested, and you know, if you can make history of page-turner, that's great, and that's what I'm trying to do.