Nunn is a novelist, surfer, magazine and television writer from California. His novels have been described as "surf-noir" for their dark themes, political overtones and surf settings. He is the author of five novels, including his seminal surf novel Tapping the Source. In a June 2007 New York Times article, Nunn described his interest in writing about the darker side of surfing culture: "When you think of down and gritty, you think of the slums of Detroit. But in Southern California, a place that is very funky and dangerous can be beautiful, with palm trees."