Linda Collison's Blog, page 14

Water Ghosts Summer Give-Away on Amazon

Welcome aboard the Good Fortune, a traditional Chinese junk bound for a summer adventure (or, misadventure) cruise in the equatorial Pacific, with seven disaffected, troubled teens aboard (and a number of water ghosts.)

Old Salt Press is giving away 12 paperback copies via Amazon.com.  Every third player will win until twelve copies have been given away.  Amazon limits the give-away to those living in the U.S. You must have an Amazon account to win.

Are you feeling lucky?  Follow this link …

 

 

How do you say Power in Chinese?

Last week at the Book Expo America, the largest publishing trade show in North America, a delegation of five hundred Chinese government officials and government-controlled publishers were feted as the guests of honor. Meanwhile, blocks away, on the steps of the New York Public Library, a number of ex-pat Chinese authors who were not part of the BEA delegation actively protested their government’s censorship. Words are powerful means to shape opinions and behavior; the control of words has been an issue in China, probably since Cai Lun perfected the art of paper making in 105 AD.

photot credit San Diego Union Tribune, May 27, 2015

I attended the BEA this year, as an author at large. Foreword Reviews represented two of my independently published books. I perused the Chinese displays, tasted tea, observed a calligraphy demonstration, and wandered through the visual arts and history exhibit, observing as much as I could take in. China interests me.

Maybe I should have boycotted the display. Maybe I should have joined authors Xiaolu Guo, Ha Jin and others on the steps of the main New York Public Library, demanding China free Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo and professor Ilham Tohti from prison for speaking their minds. (Did you notice the juxtaposition of the “Destiny and Power” banner in the top photo, taken at the BEA? The control of words — the sale of words — is power.)

 

 

Water Ghosts at the BEA

Here we are in New York City at the Book Expo America, Bob and I. Today we’re looking forward to having lunch with Rick Spilman, fellow author and founder of Old Salt Press, whose imprint Water Ghosts bears.  Spilman’s book The Shantyman just received a starred review from Kirkus, no small feat! And I’m pleased with the recently published Kirkus review of Water Ghosts, posted below. Water Ghosts will be published June 1, 2015.

Foreword Reviews is showcasing Water Ghosts and Looking for Redfeather, at their booth #453. I’m looking forward to putting names to faces today when I stop by to meet them, and to see the other independently published books they are featuring.

More on the BEA 2015 to follow…

 

KIRKUS REVIEW




CHILDREN’S AND TEEN
Reviewed: May 12, 2015





WATER GHOSTS
by Linda Collison

“In Collison’s (Star-Crossed, 2006, etc.) YA adventure, a teen on a character-building excursion at sea faces challenges larger than getting along with his crewmates when the spirit of a destructive ancient Chinese ghost appears.

James McCafferty has the bad luck to be shanghaied by his mother and her boyfriend and sent aboard the Chinese junk Good Fortune. He is not a happy sailor. While the other teens possess what might pass as conventional behavior problems—the bookish boy obsessed with weapons, the tattooed punk girl, the adopted Asian kleptomaniac, the bully and his minions—James is different. He isn’t a bad kid; he just sees and hears dead people, who now pursue the Good Fortune as it wanders to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Yu Chin, the spirit of a 700-year-old Chinese eunuch in the imperial court, talks to James, berates him as a weakling, then tells him his plan to take over his body and send him to hell. Until then, readers’ are treated to plenty of irreverent Holden Caulfield–like wit along with James’ spot-on observations, which seem to keep him afloat as the situation takes on water. When the chipper youth counselor Marty—“a continuous public service announcement”—and first mate Miles disappear and Capt. Dan, who “looks more like somebody’s fat, stoned uncle,” dies, the ship is inexorably drawn toward a fate that involves a parallel spirit world and an ancient Chinese power struggle. The abandoned teens don’t become as feral as those in The Lord of the Flies; instead, their camaraderie comes in handy just as a ghost armada raises itself from the deep. Much interesting information on Chinese sailing ships and mythology is introduced, and while not all of it is essential to the plot, Collison deftly prevents the info from talking down to young readers or encumbering the story.”

“A witty YA voyage with plenty of narrative power.”

 

 

Practicing the art and craft of writing with Pulitzer Prize winners

While digging through old files today I came across a few chapters of an unfinished novel I brought to the the Napa Valley Writers Conference, eighteen years ago. My workshop leader was Michael Cunningham, who would win the Pulitzer Prize three years later for his novel, The Hours. There, in blue ink, was his signature on the bottom of his critique of my manuscript. I felt a little thrill seeing his scrawl.

I had attended other conferences before the Napa Valley Writers event in 1997, but this week-long gathering was an intensive, craft-oriented ordeal in which writers picked each others work apart while defending their own. Michael was a patient, encouraging leader. One thing he said that has stuck in my head for 18 years is “Your reader is not a dumb-fuck.” Meaning, don’t over explain. Which I just did.

After re-reading the Pulitzer Prize winning author’s critique of my submission, The Gilgamesh Society, I think it might be time now to finish the story  Eighteen years in the file cabinet doesn’t seem to have harmed it.

The Gilgamesh Society is a near-future story about organ transplantation — organs capable of eternal regeneration. It was conceived during my years working night shift as a registered nurse in critical care, back in the ’80s and early ’90s. (This was before Kazuo Ishiguro’s quite amazing novel, Never Let Me Go was published.) Funny thing is, about ten years after this workshop with Michael Cunningham I became a living organ donor; I donated a kidney to my husband. Which gives me a new and intimate perspective on the story…

I’m finding I want to give The Gilgamesh Society another look. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even finish it. Michael Cunningham seemed to think it had potential. I’d better get busy because if I wait any longer, what was begun as a “near future” novel will turn out to be a historical novel.

Stay tuned…

Water Ghosts, the cover

Here it is, the cover the professional design team came up with, based on my suggestions, and targeting a young adult audience.

I really appreciate my writer friends who critiqued the novel and provided me with feedback, pre-publication. Writing is not nearly as solitary as it seems; writers learn from one another and we help one another succeed. We’re not competing for readers — readers can consume far more than any one author can produce. It takes a reader a few days to read what it takes us six months to six years (and sometimes more) to write! Writers inspire one another. We teach, mentor, critique, endorse and support other writers whose work we admire.

Forthcoming reviews and other author endorsements will be added to the front matter of the book in the next edition.  We will have some paperback ARCs available for reviewers very shortly, as well as mobi and pdf files, so please contact us if you’re interested in doing a review.

Water Ghosts, to be published by Old Salt Press, next month — and we’ll be at the BEA next month in New York! Look for Water Ghosts and Looking for Redfeather at Foreword Reviews booth #453.

The back text:

I see things other people don’t see; I hear things other people don’t hear.

Fifteen-year-old James McCafferty is an unwilling sailor aboard a traditional Chinese junk, operated as adventure-therapy for troubled teens.  Once at sea, James believes the ship is being taken over by the spirits of courtiers who fled the Imperial palace during the Ming Dynasty, more than 600 years ago, and sailing to its doom.

Water Ghosts is a spine-chilling tale where fantasy and reality spin out of control. – Margaret Muir, The Black Thread.

When you’ve read Water Ghosts, expect to be haunted. – Seymour Hamilton, author of the Astreya Trilogy.

A tale of personal growth hammered out by the timeless ocean. – Joe Follansbee, author of Bet: Stowaway Daughter.

 ________________

Linda Collison has sailed thousands of nautical miles with her husband, Bob Russell, aboard their 36’ sloop, Topaz. She worked for over a decade as a registered nurse in Emergency, Critical Care, and in-patient psychiatric care. Star-Crossed, her first novel, was a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age – 2007.

 

Looking for Redfeather wins Spotlight Award

Looking for Redfeather (Fiction House, Ltd.) has been named the Spring recipient of Literary Fiction Book Review’s Spotlight Award. A full review and author interview will follow.

Literary fiction has always been my favorite form of literature. I love the imagery well-crafted words create; I read to find human experience revealed in a character’s thoughts, emotions, and observations. For me, a good novel isn’t so much about what happens — it’s about who it happens to, and how it changes them, or how it changes those around them. Literary fiction is also about setting and the power it has to shape our lives. When I read a good novel I feel connected not only with the characters but with the author. I hope to connect with others through my stories.

If you ever wanted to run away from home, I think we might connect through Redfeather. There are no zombies, no shoot-outs, no bodies in the trunk (only stolen wine and a little weed. Oh, and LaRoux and Ramie’s guitars.) But there is action, adventure, heartbreak, love, and friendship. Although it’s about teens, I believe mature readers will best appreciate its subtleties.

I recently adapted Looking for Redfeather for the stage and I put together a sound track on Spotify. The one song that isn’t available commercially is Outlaw Trail, written by Matt Campbell (my youngest son) and performed by Red Whiskey Blue. To hear this song, check out our book trailer on YouTube.

Looking for Redfeather is also available as an Audible audiobook, read by actor/singer Aaron Landon (plays Pesto on Disney’s hit series Crash and Bernstein.)

The novel was a Foreword Reviews finalist for Indie Book of the Year 2013.

 

Looking For Redfeather; A Contemporary Novel About Three Runaway Teens in the American West. It’s not Jack Kerouac’s road trip!

Evolution of a book cover

What is the purpose of a book cover?  What does each of these say to the potential reader? Which do you like, and why?

A special thanks to Seymour Hamilton, author of the Astreya Trilogy, Margaret Muir, author of many books including The Black Thread, Uncanny, and Under Admiralty Orders; the Oliver Quintrell Series, and V.E. Ulett, author of Blackwell’s Adventures.  I am greatly appreciative to them for their comments and suggestions on cover design.  Thanks to my husband Bob Russell, and to graphic designer Albert Roberts.  I get by with a little help from my friends!

 

Albert Roberts’ original design is my favorite. But does it lead the reader to believe the main character is female?  Does the photograph convey the right tone and setting?

Cover design by Albert Roberts

Thanks for your comments.

The rights to all photos shown purchased from Big Stock Photos

Dead Wake, Dead On

Sinking ships make for sensational stories and Erik Larson’s Dead Wake; The Last Crossing of the Lusitania does not disappoint in that respect. Yet this historical account of the 1915 disaster that played a role in America’s entry into the Great War is more than a lurid tale. It is a well-researched historical account written in an engaging novelistic style.  As popular history and as nautical literature it is dead on — or ded on, in deduced reckoning terminology.

Unlike a novelist Larson invents nothing; he doesn’t have to. He credits a wealth of information available for the abundance of significant details he incorporates. His scope is broad – he tells the story from multiple perspectives, including Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, the German submarine that sank the passenger ship with one torpedo (not two, as has sometimes been reported.) Yet Larson never presumes to know anyone’s thoughts, nor does he invent dialogue.

“What especially drew me was the rich array of materials available to help tell the story in as vivid a manner as possible – such archival treasures as telegrams, intercepted wireless messages, survivor depositions, secret intelligence ledgers…Schwieger’s actual war log, Edith Galt’s love letters, and even a film of the Lusitania’s final departure from New York,” says the author in his ‘Sources and Acknowledgments’.  What he chooses to show can sometimes be damning (as in the case of Woodrow Wilson and the British Admiralty) but mostly it just renders the historical characters fully human.

Larson achieves a cinematic illusion of being there with his marvelous, minute details, his choice of verbs,  and by employing the actual words people wrote or spoke.  He brings us on board both the Cunard luxury liner and the U-boat by explaining necessary nautical and technical concepts clearly and simply, without ever detracting from the story.

As the story progresses the chapters become shorter and shorter, quickening the pace and adding to the suspense. Even though the reader may know what happens, there is far more to the story than just facts and fatalities, who drowned and who survived, and who was at fault. Working with a wealth of related facts and observations, weaving multiple viewpoints together for a multifaceted view steeped in historical context, the author never lets the sprawling narrative founder. At the heart of this complex historical account is a good nautical story.

 

Water Ghosts, my own ship disaster story,  coming soon from Old Salt Press!

Coming of Age at Sea: The Guinea Boat

 

 

 

The Versatile Blogger

Versatile Blogger Award

 

My writing-friend, Antoine Vanner, author of The Dawlish Chronicles, thrilling naval-based fiction set in the “heyday of British Empire,” nominated me as a “versatile blogger.” Antoine’s own blogs are chock full of historical content; he highlights ships, battles, and notables of the Victorian era, illuminating the more obscure events of this time period.  As a blogger, Antoine has built a solid platform; his readers know they will learn something of the past and catch a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg of research that is behind the thrilling adventures of the fictional British Naval Commander Nicholas Dawlish.  In a previous post I interviewed Antoine Vanner about his writing process.

Antoine, I am honored to be nominated as a Versatile Blogger.  We connect through our blogs, we keep in touch and informed.

I’m not an expert.  In anything. I’m what my mother always said I would be: a jack-of-all-trades.  I am versatile, if nothing else.  I write about adventure and discovery, in historical and contemporary settings.  I write about teenagers and coming of age in various time periods.  I write about the sea, but not exclusively.  I blog about the writing process — and about people and books that interest me.  I write about my versatile life.

 

What is a versatile blogger?  The Versatile Blogger tag is a way for practitioners to introduce their readers to new blogs. There are some wonderful ones out there, and about the most amazing subjects.

So, as a nominee, here’s what I was asked to do:

Display the logo (see above)
Write a post and link back to the blogger who nominated me
Post seven interesting things about myself
Nominate up to fifteen other bloggers (and why I’ve nominated them)
Inform them of their nomination

 

Seven interesting things about me??

 

1.  A DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) historical essay contest I won in sixth grade elementary school convinced me I wanted to be a writer, and led to a life-long interest in history.  A few years ago (a dame d’un certain age) I went back to college to study History, with a minor in French.  I am of English, Scots-Irish, and French ancestry.

2.  I can’t stand the sight of blood — yet I worked in Critical Care and Emergency Departments for over a decade, as a registered nurse.  I draw from that experience in my writing.

3.  As a kid growing up on a small farm on Deer Park Road, near Westminster, Maryland, I liked to ride my pony.  I also liked to jump off of high places.  My girlfriend and I would climb to the second story of the barn and gather our courage to jump out the hay-loading door.  It would take long minutes to gather our courage before leaping. I still remember the exhilarating rush of air followed too soon by the stinging on the soles of my feet when I landed in the barnyard below.

4.  I took up skydiving when I was 27 years old.  Some years later I met Bob  (now my husband of 22 years) at the Loveland-Ft. Collins drop zone.  Together we became USPA certified jumpmasters and instructors. I had the pleasure of teaching a group of cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy, the first jump course.  Bob and I taught the Circus Flora to skydive.  We competed in Nationals in 4-way competition one year, but didn’t win.  We were part of a Guinness World Record attempt for the most people to jump at one time from a hot air balloon. (Who thinks up these things?)

5.  In 1999 Bob and I sailed aboard HM Bark Endeavour as voyage crewmembers, on her 3-week passage from Vancouver to Hawaii.  This amazing experienced fueled my interest in maritime history and inspired my novel Star-Crossed (Knopf;2006), a New York Public Library choice for Books for the Teen Age – 2007.

 

6.  Bob and I have sailed thousands of nautical miles together — the inspiration for many articles and stories.  Yet I have a love/hate relationship with boats and the sea.  Ocean crossings are metaphors for me.  I am drawn to biography and literary fiction that has to do with water.  Conversely, I love the American West.  I am happily married and happily versatile.

7. I paint (badly), sing alto (range of five notes), and love to travel by boat, foot, or car.

Now to pass on the torch.  There are so many interesting bloggers I’m connected with and many of them have already been nominated.   I nominate Margaret Muir, Sue Leonard and DJan Stewart  for their versatility.  I know all of these bloggers personally, as friends as well as writers.  Margaret and I have been cruising together, Sue Leonard is also from Baltimore but we met up at the Steamboat Springs Writers’ Group.   I taught DJan to skydive, and she now has more jumps than I do.  In fact, she still skydives.

Enjoy!