by Debbie Tuma
When tourists and locals hail a cab from Peter Bové in Montauk, they get more than a fun ride—they get to watch him write books in between trips, and they get to buy his books right out of the car!
“I love to type on my Macbook while I’m waiting for passengers,” he said, as he dropped off his Pink Tuna Taxi for the next driver to take over. “I find it exciting to write my thoughts down, knowing I only have so much time…like little deadlines.”
He wrote his latest book, “Montauk Time,” in between taxi calls, and managed to jot down 469 pages from May to November of 2019. It came out this past March, and so far he has sold over 120 copies right out of his cab, which he drives around Montauk from 6 am till 6 pm with a break in between.
“My customers love it—I have a captive audience,” he joked. “The other cab drivers told me their customers also ask about it.”
Bové , who is French and Italian, said he recently got pulled over by a policeman for a brake light that was out, and while about to get a ticket, “I sold him a book!”
“Another time, I was bringing a guy to work in Montauk, and he had so much fun watching me do all this that he gave me a $10 tip.”
“Montauk Time” is an historical caper adventure story with Sci-Fi elements. Bové got the idea one day when he was sitting in his taxi looking at the Chase Bank in Montauk, thinking how hard it would be to rob this bank because there is only one road in and one road out, with a police station right nearby, and a Coast Guard Station on Star Island.
“That was the enzyme that got the whole thing rolling,” he said. “When the fireworks start on July 4, if someone installed a smart bomb-style missile in the turret on the roof of the bank, they could get the money in the rocket and blast it out to sea, just when the July 4th fireworks start, and everyone is distracted.”
In his book, “Montauk Time,” a crew of world-class con artists head to remote Montauk Point for some R & R after their latest swindle. Learning that highly valuable gems have just been stashed in the vault of the local Chase Bank, they devise an elaborate and audacious scheme to blast the gems out to sea where they can be safely retrieved. In an incredible turn of events, they are swept up through a tear in the space/time continuum of The Montauk Project, and are transported to the roaring 20’s where they pull off their greatest con ever.
This is Bové ‘s third published book, in 2018, and all three are totally different. Prior to this he wrote “Dead Lift,” which takes place during the 1980’s in New York City, Hollywood and New Orleans. “Captivated by the alluring enticements of a beautiful woman, talented yet struggling writer Frankie Reno’s heroin addiction fuels a reckless lifestyle, driving him into a delirious labyrinth of misadventure that threatens to swallow him up like a pleasure craft caught by a hurricane in the Bermuda Triangle,” is how he describes this book.
“I sold 266 copies of “Dead Lift” off my dashboard last summer,” he said.
His other book, “Soul Weeps”….is a 40-year collection of his poetry and artwork. As Bové ‘s “Montauk
Time” book jacket states, “A poet and fine artist from an early age, he is also a musician and composer, a novelist, screenwriter, filmmaker, actor and performer—as well as philosopher, astronomer, and carpenter. He began his career studying fine art at The New School in New York City, where he delved into myriad art forms, eventually exploring performance art, theater, and film. This led to a long and successful career in entertainment and commercial media.”
Bové was born in Mineola, Long Island and grew up in Westbury. His best subjects in school were English and Art, so after an 18-month hitch-hiking stint around the country after high school, he went to the New School and also to Parsons School of Design, for fine art. He started selling his work, and also won a grant to do a 24-foot mural which was placed in the Greenville-Spartanberg Jetport. It now hangs in the lobby of the Arts & Sciences Building at USCS in Columbia, S.C. Bové eventually switched to writing… he entered the world of film production as a production assistant and became a producer of major TV commercials, documentaries, and every facet of the film world, including music videos. He has taught film production at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Bové is currently working on a documentary called “Peyote Road,” about the Peyote Ceremony of the Native American.
Besides the dashboard of his taxi, Bové ‘s books can be found on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Visit his website at www.peterbove.com or call for an autographed copy at 917-705-9875.
