~ praise for Surfing with the Devil ~


- DAVE BIDINI, Author/Musician

'A super unique book.'

- MICHAEL CHRISTIE, author of The Beggar's Garden (Finalist for the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Award)

'In his captivating follow up to Cedar Surf, Grant Shilling goes global to investigate surf culture as asecret unifying force for humanity, and has here crafted a daring ode to the transformative power of that usually dismissed and disregarded human drive: fun. For surfers and shore-huggers alike, Surfing With the Devil dives down into the depths of what makes us truly human, and proves that in the midst of war and endless conflict, perhaps paddling out into the waves is the only reasonable act left.'

- TERRY GLAVIN, author of Come From the Shadows: The Long and Lonely Struggle for Peace in Afghanistan

'The stories in this book unfold where it matters, out on the water, away from the wars and the hatreds that sometimes seem to engulf the whole, sorry world back on dry land. The people he meets on the beaches along the way share their own accounts of the 'moments of peacefulness' they find out there. Shilling surfs, he writes it all down, and the result is this hopeful, funny, strange and brave book.'

coverIn February of 2009 Grant Shilling arrived in the Middle East with a knapsack full of wetsuits to deliver to the Gaza Surf Club. A year later on the crest of the Arab Spring Shilling traveled to Egypt to meet the surfing Bedouins of Egypt.

SURFING WITH THE DEVIL asks if surfing can be used as a grassroots peacemaker. This question was also fielded by an incredibly diverse group of surfers Shilling interviewed in California during the week of 9/11 including: Sama Wareh a young Syrian-American Muslim woman who surfs in a burqini; Rabbi 'Shifty' Shifren aka The Surfing Rabbi; Mike Ali a Muslim born in Jerusalem, Vietnam Veteran, surfer and owner of the biggest surf shop in California; Karma Tsomo Lekshe a former Malibu pre-Gidget surf rider and Buddhist nun; Pat Farley surfer and Vietnam veteran; Shaun Tomson, South African Jew and former World Surfing Champion and Dorian 'Doc' Paskowitz, 91, the father of Israeli surf who says: 'God will surf with the devil if the waves are good.'