Part history, part biography, part memoir, Galveston author Forest Riggs has crafted a book that is, in essence, an homage to the island he loves.

In Galveston Memories & Related Stories, he tells the tale of a beloved elderly woman, whom he called “Other Mama,” who shared her experience living through the most horrific natural disaster in U.S. history: the 1900 Storm, a category 4 hurricane that decimated Galveston Island.

He recalls how, sitting together on a hot summer porch, shelling butter beans together, she carried him back through time to memories that haunted her throughout her life.

“As a boy living in east Texas, a trip to Galveston meant a great adventure. The ferry ride, the dolphins, pelicans, the beach, fishing, sunburns, and humid sticky nights sleeping under a fan on a galley porch. Most of my summers were spent on the island,” said Riggs, who was born in Beaumont, Texas, and raised in nearby Vidor.

“My grandfather was a building contractor and would bring me and my brother to the island for our summers. I loved it. It was a living ‘Hardy Boys’ adventure. Riding my spider bike with a banana seat up and down the seawall, going to Sea-Arama, meeting folks fishing on the piers and basking in the sunshine. Looking back, it was a dreamy time of no responsibilities and challenges. I played hard and slept at night, with dreams of Jean Lafitte and pirate treasure: I just knew it was somewhere on the island,” Riggs said.

“Those magical summers taught me a lot about life, people and what is really important—and most of all, a lesson in slowing down, soaking in all things around you and to not take it for granted.” Riggs moved permanently to Galveston in August 2005, and opened a bed and breakfast on the corner of 18th and Avenue M, complete with a saltwater pool and hot tub.

“The building was old and beautiful, the former home of early island jeweler, merchant and clock-maker John M. Jones,” he said, which is where he found inspiration for the inn’s name, Island Jewel B&B.

“I was drawn to the house when I first saw it. …Over the next few years, hundreds of people stayed at the Inn and I loved telling them stories about the island and all the history.”

Riggs said his relationship with Galveston runs deep and adds he’s met and gotten to know “some of the greatest people here. …The island is filled with interesting characters and I feel blessed to have met, known and interacted with many. When friends from other places ask about the island and life, I tell them there is no place like it. A thick mix of Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans and Key West. I say we are a laid-back bunch of islanders that know how to relax, to party, to celebrate and to welcome all to our little island.”

Riggs captures that Southern charm and hospitality in his book, which can be read from cover-to-cover or picked up and opened to any chapter, without losing track of a story, he said.

“In 2011, I began to compile my Galveston stories. I wondered how and what would make them interesting to readers. I wanted to write about Galveston and how the island impacted my life, from childhood to the present. I wanted to tell the tales of slavery, pirates, and island icons, but I wanted the stories be part of my life, somehow connected to me. It would make the island more real and perhaps present aspects of it in a way that was not so textbook and dry.”

A fan of the “Chicken Soup” series of books, Riggs decided to think of his collection of stories as a sort of “Galveston Soup for the Soul”—where each of the 42 stories would stand on its own.

One of his favorite spots on Galveston is the Broadway Cemetery Historic District, which is comprised of seven burial grounds plotted between 1839 and 1939.

“I can spend hours there walking amongst the graves, reading and thinking about who is there. I think about what it must have been like, the day of the funeral; hot, everyone in black, horses and wagons, mourners gathered in clumps, smelling of sweaty cotton and wool, weeping for their lost loved one,” Riggs said.

“I admire the intricate, upright stone structures reaching up. Each shouting, ‘Hey! I’m here. don’t forget me.’ There is a sense of peace in strolling around the aisles of graves, just reading names and dates, thinking of their stories and in a small way keeping them amongst us, the living.”

His stories include recollections and tales about the Galveston Train Station, haunted and cursed locations on the island, favorite fishing holes, and Galveston’s Mardi Gras, among others.

Riggs offers his readers a selection of choice vignettes that open a door on a very personal, yet universal, exploration and history of The Oleander City.

“I think my book would certainly appeal to folks traveling, on the go, and wanting to pick up an easy read that does not take a huge amount of time. An old fashioned ‘reader,’ if you will,” the author said.

“I think the variety of stories have something to offer every reader; some may spark a memory and some may cause the reader to stop, think and ponder some little tidbit of Galveston, be it from long ago or fairly recent.

“There are a zillion books about Galveston, from history and architecture to scandals and death, but I wanted to include a little of all in a combined collection told through the eyes and mind of someone who is connected to the stories.”

Galveston Memories & Related Stories is available from the publisher at outskirtspress.com, local bookstores and gift shops, as well as on Amazon, eBay and other online booksellers. Books also can be ordered at forestriggs.com or forest40@yahoo.com.

Riggs also participates in Galveston ArtWalk at The Antique Pavilion located at 23rd and Postoffice, where he signs and sells copies of his book.