The first book, The Turtle-Girl from East Pukapuka, is an adult literary novel about a girl who survives a devastating tsunami by clinging to an old sea turtle's shell, but is adrift and alone in the open waters of the South Pacific. The child is plucked from the currents by a salvage captain named Jesus, who hums Verdi’s Rigoletto while swilling cheap local hooch, and would rather swap the girl for spark plugs than help her find home. Its release date has been set for June 1, 2012.

Hitting the stores on November 1, 2012, will be Alpaugh's third novel titled The Spy's Little Zonbi, the story of a young man recruited by a division of the CIA to pose as a journalist in hotspots around the globe while on intelligence missions.

"Zonbi is about as autobiographic as anything I've ever written," said Alpaugh. "I spent years as a war correspondent and used a few of the places I worked as backdrops. Of course I never did any spying or killed anyone in real life, but it was great fun having my main character wreak some havoc."

Alpaugh’s debut novel is now in nearly 700 libraries in four countries. You can find him online at ColeAlpaugh.com, or on the soccer field where he coaches his daughter.