Linda Collison's Blog, page 9
October 21, 2017
Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series — Book 3
“An insightful look at life at sea during the colonial era, this novel offers a combination of adventure, discovery, and intrigue.”
– The BookLife Prize
“Entertaining throughout, the expansive saga charts high-seas adventures between New England, the West Indies,and ports in between in the eighteenth century. The third novel in the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure series picks up the engaging narrative of a cross-dressing surgeon’s mate who strikes out as a ship captain in a profession that was then solely the province of men.
Set during a period of social unrest in the American colonies after the Seven Years’ War, when people are rioting over the newly imposed Stamp Act, the meticulously researched novel tracks Patricia MacPherson, an upperclass woman in boarding school cast adrift after the abrupt death of her Caribbean plantation–owning father. Setting off on her own, she poses as Patrick MacPherson, a former surgeon’s mate in His Majesty’s Navy, disguising herself as “a rising young merchant seaman dressed to go to a wedding feast where he will rub shoulders with Newport’s best.” Determined to make her fortune, she becomes a smuggler who sneaks in molasses for “Yankee Gold” Rhode Island Rum and ends up captaining the schooner Andromeda as it embarks on a dangerous international voyage.”
— Foreword Reviews
Based on the novel Star-Crossed (Alfred A. Knopf; 2006), a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age – 2007 , The Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series is adult historical fiction featuring an orphaned young woman — illegitimate daughter of a profligate Barbadian sugar baron — who takes the identity of her late husband’s dead nephew in order to survive.
Rhode Island Rendezvous, the third book in the series, finds the cross-dressing Patricia master of a colonial trading schooner. It’s 1765 in Newport, Rhode Island. The Seven Years War is over but unrest in the American colonies is just heating up. Maintaining her disguise as a young man, Patricia is finding success as Patrick MacPherson. Formerly a surgeon’s mate in His Majesty’s Navy, Patrick has lately been employed aboard the colonial merchant schooner Andromeda, smuggling foreign molasses into Rhode Island. Late October, amidst riots against the newly imposed Stamp Act, she leaves Newport bound for the West Indies on her first run as Andromeda’s master. In Havana a chance meeting with a former enemy presents unexpected opportunities while an encounter with a British frigate and an old lover threatens her liberty – and her life.
Collison’s own extensive medical background, combined with her expertise as a blue-water wind-and-weather sailor, gives incredible natural authority to her writing.” — Steven E. Maffeo; A Perfect Wreck
“An excellent job has been done with MacPherson… There is a well-rounded duality of gender that allows both male and female perspectives: a clever trick, and one that comes across perfectly.” – Alaric Bond; The Fighting Sail Series.
“Barbados Bound is a rousing and engaging tale of the almost impossible challenges facing a young woman cast adrift in 18th Century British Empire.” – Rick Spilman; The Shantyman.
Available from your favorite bookstore to order, and from Amazon.com.
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September 19, 2017
Pre-order Rhode Island Rendezvous
Rhode Island Rendezvous
Newport Rhode Island: 1765
The Seven Years War is over but unrest in the American colonies is just heating up…
Maintaining her disguise as a young man, Patricia is finding success as Patrick MacPherson. Formerly a surgeon’s mate in His Majesty’s Navy, Patrick has lately been employed aboard the colonial merchant schooner Andromeda, smuggling foreign molasses into Rhode Island. Late October, amidst riots against the newly imposed Stamp Act, she leaves Newport bound for the West Indies on her first run as Andromeda’s master. In Havana a chance meeting with a former enemy presents unexpected opportunities while an encounter with a British frigate and an old lover threatens her liberty – and her life.
ISBN: 978-1-943404-12-4 Old Salt Press, LLC Softbound. October, 2017
“An insightful look at life at sea during the colonial era, this novel offers a combination of adventure, discovery, and intrigue.” – The BookLife Prize
“Linda Collison’s Rhode Island Rendezvous thrills as a hard-to-put-down historical novel of nautical derring-do. Entertaining throughout, the expansive saga charts high-seas adventures between New England, the West Indies, and ports in between in the eighteenth century. The third novel in the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure series picks up the engaging narrative of a cross-dressing surgeon’s mate who strikes out as a ship captain in a profession that was then solely the province of men.
Set during a period of social unrest in the American colonies after the Seven Years’ War, when people are rioting over the newly imposed Stamp Act, the meticulously researched novel tracks Patricia MacPherson, an upperclass woman in boarding school cast adrift after the abrupt death of her Caribbean plantation–owning father. Setting off on her own, she poses as Patrick MacPherson, a former surgeon’s mate in His Majesty’s Navy, disguising herself as “a rising young merchant seaman dressed to go to a wedding feast where he will rub shoulders with Newport’s best.” Determined to make her fortune, she becomes a smuggler who sneaks in molasses for “Yankee Gold” Rhode Island Rum and ends up captaining the schooner Andromeda as it embarks on a dangerous international voyage…” — Foreword Reviews
Rhode Island Rendezvous, Book 3 of Patricia MacPherson’s Nautical Adventures (e-book) is available now for pre-order on Kindle
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July 26, 2017
Women on board
Transgenders serving on ships is nothing new.
I’ve long been interested in women on ships in the Age of Sail — particularly women posing as men, passing as men, doing what was considered men’s work. This interest arose when I signed aboard HM Bark Endeavour, a sailing replica of Captain James Cook’s historic ship, and lived the life of an 18th century seaman for three weeks. This life included heaving, hauling, standing watch, taking my trick at the helm, and going aloft, out on the yard arm to make and furl sail. It included stringing my hammock from the deckhead, snug alongside the other recruits, and taking my turn in the galley. (Although my husband was aboard as crew too, we never once slept together — nor did we even sleep next to each other!) What I learned was that although the work is hard and requires some training, it doesn’t require a Y chromosome.
I’m not by definition transgender. Nor is my fictional character — though in her mid-18th century world she has found it more convenient to be male than female. Actually, she’s found it expedient to be male. The term transgender first appears in 1974, according to Miriam Webster’s online dictionary, so the concept, as such, doesn’t exist in my series. But the problems are similar: Individuals not allowed to serve in the military because of their apparent sex.
As I’m writing my way through Patricia’s story in the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventures, I’ve learned a lot about life in the 18th century from a female perspective — a young white female of British heritage. Much depended upon parentage and social standing. Much depended on luck. And of course much depended on their sex.
Hannah Snell, Royal Marine. Born 1723, died 1792. Buried with the old soldiers at Chelsea Hospital, which was her wish.
The Age of Sail was an Age of War. The emerging nations of Europe waged battles — entire wars — at sea. The need for sailors, marines, and craftsmen continued for several centuries, offering a few hardy and daring females an opportunity to escape social and economic confines, to find adventure – or maybe they were just looking for three meals a day and a hammock to sleep in. For a destitute young woman, life aboard a ship was safer than life on the streets.
What we know about these desperate imposters comes mostly from naval records, broadsheets, and the romanticized biographies and fictionalized memoirs written by or about these cross-dressing or transgender figures. One of the most well known and well documented 18th century female soldier/sailor was Hannah Snell who served first as a soldier in General Guise’s regiment, then as a Royal Marine in Frasier’s Regiment under the name of James Grey. She saw action and was wounded several times in India “Here is a Woman, and an English Woman, who, notwithstanding the many Dangers and Vicissitudes she underwent for near the Space of five Years, during her Travels, was never found out to be of the feminine Gender.” — from The Female Soldier; the Life and Surprising Adventures of Hannah Snell. (Project Gutenberg) Hannah herself couldn’t write but she sold her story to a London publisher Robert Walker. After she left the service she performed military drills on stage in costume and sang military songs and The Gentleman’s Magazine reported her story for its readers’ enjoyment. Hannah Snell’s story is unusual in that the Royal Hospital recognized her military service and granted her a pension.
Stories like Hannah Snell’s have inspired my historical novels. I’m not out to prove that cross-dressing or transgender women existed — we know they did — but to explore why they chose that path and how they might have carried it off. Although Hannah Snell’s memoir (published anonymously but likely penned by her publisher) claims finding her estranged husband was her inciting reason, I suspect that was a literary convenience for the publisher, and one the readers might readily accept. The chance of her finding her errant seaman husband was slim — but the chance of her earning a living was guaranteed. Not to mention respect, opportunity, adventure — and a pension.
There may not have been great numbers of cross-dressing women on board ships in the Age of Sail. But there were some. They existed. They carried it off. At least, for a while.
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July 19, 2017
Rhode Island on the horizon
Shipping News: Rhode Island Rendezvous, Book Three of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventures, scheduled to arrive in port September 1, 2017.
Newport Rhode Island: 1765
The Seven Years War is over but unrest in the American colonies is just heating up…
Maintaining her disguise as a young man, Patricia is finding success as Patrick MacPherson. Formerly a surgeon’s mate in His Majesty’s Navy, Patrick has lately been employed aboard the colonial merchant schooner Andromeda, smuggling foreign molasses into Rhode Island. Late October, amidst riots against the newly imposed Stamp Act, she leaves Newport bound for the West Indies on her first run as Andromeda’s master. In Havana a chance meeting with a former enemy presents unexpected opportunities while an encounter with a British frigate and an old lover threatens her liberty – and her life.
What began as Star-Crossed, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2006 as a Young Adult historical novel, has become the Patricia MacPherson series — adult historical fiction. Not that there is graphic sex and gratuitous violence in the adult editions, but because I always intended it for adult readers, which includes many mature teens.
For me, chronicling Patricia’s story has been a way to rediscover history through the eyes of an orphaned teenager, born of a rich English planter in Barbados, who matures as she is forced to make her own way in the world. Writing in first person as I have done is a very immediate and personal experience, almost like reliving a past life. So intense is the immersion, and challenging because of its limitations, I’ve added a prologue to Rhode Island Rendezvous; a prologue written in close third person from Patricia’s former lover’s perspective.
Writing a book is indeed a journey. A fourth book and final book in the series is planned and the voyage is soon to begin…
The inspiration for the fictional vessel Andromeda comes from the historic Schooner Lewis R. French, pictured here, and used with their generous permission. While not from colonial times, the Maine-built schooner was launched in 1871 and is very traditional in her design. According to her website, “she freighted bricks, lumber, firewood, granite, fish, lime, canning supplies, Christmas trees, and now people.” Bob and I were among those people, having had the pleasure of cruising aboard the French some years ago. Highly recommended, if you get the chance!
Today she is still powered by sail alone (no engine) — with occasional assistance from a motorized dinghy. To learn more, visit the schooner’s website schoonerfrench.com
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July 5, 2017
Let’s make a book trailer!
I don’t know if video book trailers sell more books; I rather doubt it. The real value of making a book trailer is for the writer herself. The process forces the writer to condense her novel to an intriguing, concise visual synopsis, sixty seconds or less. The purpose of a book trailer isn’t to summarize the plot or to introduce characters, it’s simply to stimulate interest in the story through images and visual effects. Music helps convey the tone and maybe the setting.
Making your own book trailer can be a good exercise if you’re suffering from writers block; it’ll help you rediscover what it is that drives your story.
For screenwriters, making a short book trailer is an exercise in storyboarding and building shot lists.
A book trailer might even be an art form in itself.
Most importantly, making a book trailer is fun!
You can make your own trailer using apps and programs such as iMovie, Vine, Movie FX Director, YouTube Editor, Windows Live Movie Maker, Animoto and many others. I made this trailer for Water Ghosts using Animoto. I made one for Looking for Redfeather with Windows Live Movie Maker. I’m very much a novice, I’m still learning the ropes and experimenting.
No matter which program you use, make sure you’ve got a lot of good images to choose from — whether your own or stock photos. Keep the text minimal. As David Mamet said, “The job of the film director is to tell the story through the juxtaposition of uninflected images — because that is the essential nature of the medium.” (David Mamet On Directing Film). Don’t ponder too long over that, just jump right in and make a book trailer. You’ll learn what works as you go.
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July 3, 2017
More Barbados Bound give-aways
Barbados Bound Amazon E-book Sweepstakes
Congratulations to those who won trade paperback copies of Barbados Bound in our recent Amazon give-away; may you enjoy the voyage. Now we’re offering ten e-book editions of Barbados Bound to be given away in a new Amazon sweepstakes. Enter for a chance to win by clicking on this link.
Good luck! And thank you for the thoughtful reviews.
“I came aboard with the prostitutes the night before the ship set sail. It was a rash scheme, but I was a brash girl with nothing to my name but a promise. Half of Europe as at war, but the grappling between kings held little interest for me. Though the conflicts were far flung across the globe, my troubles were of a much more personal nature. My fear was not that England might lose her place in the world, but that I might lose mine…” — Barbados Bound copyright 2010 by Linda Collison.
Rhode Island Rendezvous, the third book in the series, will be available this September from Old Salt Press.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
Placing the freshly groomed peruke on my stubbled head, I looked in the mirror hanging above the dresser of my rented room, adjusting the wig slightly. Acceptable. Yes, except for the ears – rather too small and pink – I passed muster. The only feminine feature about me was my delicate ears – and perhaps my pillowed lips, though they were often sunburned and wind-chapped. I regarded the young man staring back at me from the looking glass. Patrick MacPherson, a rising young merchant seaman dressed to go to a wedding feast where he will rub shoulders with Newport’s best. Good day to you, sir! In this colony anybody could be a gentleman, if he had the means to dress the part. Here, the lowest born man could rise above his station through cunning, hard work, and the right connections. Oh, and luck, I should add. Luck always plays a role. Thus far my luck had been most unpredictable.
The wig had been made from my very own hair, shorn from my head and at last tamed into submission by the peruke maker’s hand. Two smooth ginger-colored rolls just above my ears and a compliant queue held at the nape by a blue satin ribbon. A shaved head was so much easier, especially at sea, when all I needed was a snug Monmouth cap to keep the wind out of my ears. A shaved head was free of tangles, free of lice. My hair, perfectly groomed, kept in a box, ready for going ashore. No need for powder, no one in Newport bothered with powder anymore. Men were flaunting natural colors – black, brown, and auburn too – though none were as vibrantly colored as mine, the flaming red-gold of a Guy Fawkes bonfire.
I should have been born male, I thought with chagrin, regarding my reflection. I cut a fine figure in my pressed linen shirt, lace stock, and brocade waistcoat that completely hid my breasts, the size of two quail eggs. My long legs were shown off to their best advantage sheathed in the finest of silk stockings, the tightest of breeches buttoned just below the knee. I had the hind end of a young boy and, as for that part of my anatomy that was decidedly lacking, an old pair of stockings knotted into a ball and stitched inside the crotch of the breeches added the necessary slight bulge.
Trinity’s bells pealed the hour. The biggest wedding feast Newport had known in months was about to begin. I slipped into my coat, fastened the pewter buttons, adjusted my cravat, and placed the tri-corn on top of my wig. One last look at the young man in the glass, then down the stairs I bounded, a greeting to the innkeeper’s wife, and out onto Thames Street, busy as always this Saturday, with ox carts and carriages drawn by fine Narraganset-bred horses. No carriage for me, but the walk was a short one and I welcomed the opportunity to stretch my legs and catch a glimpse of Andromeda, tossing on the harbor chop and pulling at her dock lines like a restless filly.
The schooner Andromeda was more often my home than the drafty rented room above the Osprey Inn; I loved her as my own. That morning I assessed her exterior quickly, with a practiced and loving eye. Her reddish brown sails were neatly furled on the booms, her rigging had been freshly tarred, and although her faded hull was in need of a fresh coat of paint, it could wait until spring. Paint was dear. I inspected the dock lines for signs of chaffing, making certain she was well before turning toward Spring Street, shoving my hands, red and cracked, deep into my coat pockets to warm them. The sun was bright but the late October air was raw, smelling of tidewater and wood smoke from hundreds of chimneys.
My own wedding day, I couldn’t even recall what the weather had been, foul or fair, but I remembered well my mood was gloomy and resigned. Ah, but Aeneas had been a good old man, a firm but kind husband for the brief time I was his wife. And I might have married again, to the man whose memory remained a burning ember, but no. The one man who had known me well, the man who had accepted my ruse but had loved the woman inside, that man was gone from my life. The sorrow over losing him, I still felt it; he was my first love, though I never could have lived as a warrant’s wife, kept like a cat in dark, close quarters belowdecks on the very ship I once served as surgeon’s mate. It wouldn’t have worked, not for me. Not after who I had been and what I had done…
— from Rhode Island Rendezvous; Book Three of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series, copyright 2017 by Linda Collison
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June 25, 2017
Enter for a chance to win Barbados Bound
With Rhode Island Rendezvous, Book Three of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series, on the horizon we’re offering five copies of book one — Barbados Bound — as a give-away through Amazon. To enter the sweepstakes click on the link at the end of the post. We’ll also be giving away some Kindle copies soon.
I came aboard with the prostitutes the night before the ship set sail…
Portsmouth, England, 1760. Patricia Kelley, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy Barbadian sugarcane planter, falls from her imagined place in the world when her absent father unexpectedly dies, leaving her no means of support. Raised in a Wiltshire boarding school far from the plantation where she was born, the sixteen-year-old orphan stows away on a ship bound for Barbados in a brash attempt to claim an unlikely inheritance. Aboard the merchantman Canopus, under contract with the British Navy to deliver gunpowder to the West Indian forts, young Patricia finds herself pulled between two worlds — and two identities — as she charts her own course for survival in the war-torn eighteenth century.
Barbados Bound was first published as Star-Crossed in 2006 by Alfred A. Knopf, and chosen by the New York Public Library to be among the Books for the Teen Age – 2007. The story is basically the same but the author has made minor changes to the manuscript, in some cases replacing words and phrases edited out from Knopf’s Young Adult version.
It all started with a ship. On April 14, 1999, I saw in the newspaper a startlingly anachronistic photograph of a three-masted wooden ship under sail. It looked like it had just sailed out of the eighteenth century. Below it, an intriguing advertisement:
Help wanted: Deckhands to man floating museum…a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sail as crew on Endeavour, the replica of Capt. James Cook’s ship that will visit Hawaii in November. Crewmembers sleep in hammocks slung together on the lower deck. They must be prepared to go aloft and work the sails at any time of day in any weather, not suffer from chronic seasickness or fear of heights, and be physically fit. Sailing experience is not essential…
Six months later Bob and I were at the dock in Vancouver, signing ship’s articles.
We spent three weeks aboard the Endeavour, as part of the foremast watch, crossing the Northern Pacific Ocean. We learned the names and functions of the hundreds of lines, sails and spars that power the ship; we learned to climb aloft on the ratlines, stepping out on the foot ropes under the yards to make and furl sail. We took turns steering the ship and were responsible for cleaning and maintaining her in eighteenth-century fashion. We slept in hammocks we strung from the deckhead every evening.
The voyage crew, as we green-but-willing sailors were called, bonded quickly, for we were all in it together and we all felt the same swing of emotions — anxiety, fear, fatigue, exhaustion, sea-sickness, hunger, occasionally resentment – but most of all, exhilaration and awe. For me, those weeks on the Endeavour were nothing short of a time machine.
When Bob and I disembarked in Kona, Hawaii, I carried with me the seeds for a novel. It would not be about Captain Cook or his extraordinary voyages, but it would begin in the mid-eighteenth century aboard a ship much like the one I had sailed on.
It would take me more than five years to research and write the story born aboard Endeavour. In 2006 Alfred A. Knopf published it under the title Star-Crossed, as a stand-alone, young adult historical novel which the New York Public Library chose it to be among the Books for the Teen Age – 2007. I had not written the story for teen readers per se, but I had written about a teenager, from her narrow and still immature perspective. Star-Crossed became Barbados Bound, the first book in a series about a young woman coming of age in the 18th century who tries to find her place in the world, disguised as a man.
Click on the link for a chance to win a trade paperback copy of Barbados Bound; Book One of the Patricia MacPherson Nautical Adventure Series. Open to readers in the United States who have an active Amazon account.
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June 10, 2017
Adventures on the Colorado Wine Route
Colorado’s oldest winery
The next quarter of a century saw a boom of new wineries and vineyards in the six states, along with the recognition of three new American Viticultural Areas (AVAs): West Elks in Colorado, Eagle Foothills in Idaho, and Lewis Clark Valley in Idaho and Washington). Similar to the French wine system AOC, AVAs are regions recognized for their historic growth of wine grapes — and for their unique properties of geography, soil, altitude, and micro-climate that lend character to the wine. The French call it terroir. AVA boundaries are defined by the U.S. Treasury’s Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.
Today there are more wineries in the state of Colorado alone than there were in all of the six states we covered in our book. Rocky Mountain Wineries is twenty-five years out of date and long out of print — but it’s not entirely obsolete. Many of the wineries we wrote about in 1992 are thriving in 2017, winning medals and new drinkers every year. Salut to Carlson Vineyards, Colorado Cellars, Grande River Vineyards, Plum Creek Cellars, and Terror Creek Winery.
Bob and I recently spent a weekend cycling through the vineyards of Colorado’s Grande Valley AVA. This was a supported 40 mile bike ride called the Palisade Piccolo Fondo. Cycling the wine route is very popular now — but in my opinion bike touring and wine tasting aren’t very compatible, especially when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Cycling is good fun and great exercise — but for wine tasting I recommend a vehicle with an engine and a sizable trunk. For carrying cases of wine, of course.
Bob rode with the fast pack (finishing the forty miles in under three and a half hours) but I lagged behind, stopping to take photos (my excuse for a quick rest!) My time was considerably slower, but hey, I finished all forty miles.
Wine made from honey — nectar of the gods
In the twenty-five years since Bob and I wrote the book we’ve seen the proliferation of micro-breweries in Colorado — and recently the legalization of marijuana. All have had a positive effect on tourism within the state, and the economy in general. There have been brewery guides written and there will soon be grow-house and dispensary guides, no doubt — but wine remains my favorite beverage and mood adjuster.
Fruit growing in the valley dates back to the 1800’s. Homegrown wine was once a part of life in Colorado, as it was throughout America (before Prohibition). The 1890 state census reported 1,744 gallons of wine produced on forty-nine farms on the western slope of the Rockies. The West Slope town of Palisade (Grande Valley AVA) was once called Vineland. (Collison and Russell, Rocky Mountain Wineries; A Travel Guide To The Wayside Vineyards (Boulder: Pruett, 1994), pg. 30. Yes, I just quoted myself.
Our recent bicycle tour of Palisade revealed how the industry has come to fruition in Colorado’s Grande River AVA. Much has changed since Bob and I last traveled the wine route. Wine tasters now stay in charming B&B’s or in the resort-like Wine Country Inn, just off Interstate 70 and surrounded by vineyards. Some of the estate wineries have expanded, going from the simple but serviceable corrugated metal buildings we encountered in 1992 to elegant California-style gift shop/tasting room/event centers.
For us a trip to Palisade wouldn’t be complete without stopping at two of our favorite world class Colorado wineries, Plum Creek Cellars and Grande River Vineyards. Grande River was hosting what appeared to be a bachelor-ette wine-tasting excursion the Saturday afternoon we visited after the bicycle ride. The horse-drawn hay wagon with sunshade is what passes for Uber or Lyft in Palisade.
Over at Plum Creek, early Sunday morning, Melissa gave us a personalized tour and tasting.
Years ago I asked a Rocky Mountain winemaker what his favorite wine was. “The one I’m drinking at the time,” he answered. That’s become my motto for life.
Salut!
***
Rocky Mountain Wineries; a travel guide to the wayside vineyards
Pruett Publishing Company; Boulder, Colorado. 1994
The wineries of the Rocky Mountains are producing good wines, in some cases great wines, with many national and international award-winners among their ranks. There are no world-famous designer labels to rely on in the six states covered in this guide, but the adventurous oenophile whether beginning or experienced, will discover here a wealth of interesting vintage expertly and lovingly crafted by people with a passion for their wine — and many interesting stories to tell.
The husband-and-wife writing team of Linda Collison and Bob Russell are adventurers on land and in the air. They met while skydiving, which they still practice when not traveling, writing, or tasting wines… (from the back cover, designed by Jody Chapel. Printed in the United States. Text printed on recycled paper)
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June 5, 2017
Sea Trials (or, How NOT to sail around the world)
Wendy Hinman is an adventurer, speaker and the award-winning author of two books, Tightwads on the Loose and Sea Trials; Around the World with Duct Tape and Bailing Wire.
Tightwads on the Loose is a travel adventure book about the seven-year, 34,000-mile voyage the author embarked on with her husband aboard a 31-foot sailboat, performing a wide range of shipboard duties worthy of both “Wonder Woman and Suzy Homemaker,” as Wendy describes it. Tightwads on the Loose was selected for the literature program for Western Washington University, won the Journey Award for best true life adventure story and was selected as a top travel book for women.
Her latest release, Sea Trials, is the story of the Wilcox family who set off to sail around the world in four years. Thirteen months into their voyage they are shipwrecked on a coral reef, with surf tearing a huge hole into the side of their boat. With years invested in saving money, preparing the boat, and learning to navigate by the stars, parents Chuck and Dawn refuse to give up. Fourteen-year-old Garth is determined to continue, while eleven-year-old Linda never wanted to go in the first place. To triumph, they must rebuild their boat on a remote Pacific island. Damage sustained on the reef and a lack of resources haunt them the rest of the way around the world as they face wild weather, pirates, gun boats, mines and thieves, scurvy and starvation in a trial that tests them to their limits.
When asked about her writing process Hinman says,
“Always an avid reader, I secretly longed to write books one day, but no one in my family was a writer nor did we know any professional writers personally. After years in international business, during the dot com boom I shifted into working as a technical writer, a web content manager, and an online magazine editor, as we prepared for an offshore voyage. During our 7-years of traveling, I loved sharing our adventures on a popular blog and through our growing email list. Upon our return, readers encouraged me to put my stories into a book. They loved my humor – an essential ingredient when traveling aboard a 31-foot boat. Marrying my love of sailing and adventure with my love of writing seemed a natural place to start writing books and has kept the voyage alive for me while we build a boat and prepare for another offshore adventure.
After I finished writing Tightwads on the Loose, I was ready for another challenge. Over the years since I met my husband I’d been hearing snippets of the epic voyage he had taken with his family around the world and their shipwreck when he was fourteen. Family dinners had been filled with do you remember whens:
“Do you remember the time when gunboats forced us to sail across mines in the Red Sea?… the time when our pilot Abdul got lost in the Suez Canal?… when the boat starting sinking in Israel? mom tried to poison us? we ran out of food and nearly starved?
Such tantalizing anecdotes intrigued me. I got possession of the famous letters the family had mailed home. Hundreds of them. Inside them was more detail than any writer could hope for. Too much, sometimes. But in combing through them I fleshed out the outline of the story that I’d developed in my mind of their voyage. I asked a lot of questions of the family members and took copious notes. I consulted guide books and sailing directions, maps, and the ship’s log to ferret out the details. I read the newspaper articles, listened to the interviews with the family. And started writing. And double checking details with the ones who had lived through it. With a rough draft completed, I had them read every word to check for inaccuracies or things that didn’t seem true to their experience. It was a family bonding experience.
What I uncovered was such a dramatic story, that I could hardly believe anyone had truly lived through it. Especially people I knew. The challenges they overcame astound me. And that was AFTER surviving a shipwreck.
I’m excited to share these stories and I’m thrilled at how well-received they’ve been.”
For more about Wendy Hinman’s adventures, writing, and speaking engagements, please see her author’s website and her Amazon Author page.
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May 28, 2017
The Prodigal’s homecoming – Keogh’s voyage
Self-Publishing: What used to be the last resort of an amateur writer is becoming Plan A for many professional authors wanting more control over their creations — and more revenue from their sales. For a growing growing number of authors it’s at least Plan B. That is, we initially published with a traditional or independent press but soon felt we could do a better job ourselves, selling the book for less (and keeping all of the revenue instead of the standard ten to fifteen percent). Of course there are production and marketing costs — which are large — but fully under our own control. Authors as publishers — it’s becoming the new norm.
One such author is S.K. Keogh who is pleased to announce The Prodigal, book one of The Jack Mallory Chronicles, has recently been re-released — this time with Leighlin House Publishing, an imprint she owns and operates. Book two, The Alliance, and Book three, The Fortune, are already sailing under Leighlin Houses’s banner. The fleet is together now, with Keogh at the helm.
If you’re new to S.K. Keogh’s historical fiction, the stories are realistic adventures set in Colonial America during the age of piracy. Rousing good reads, they feature the anti-hero protagonist Jack Mallory — along with other compelling and complex characters, both male and female.
Susan (S.K.) and I have long been supportive of each other’s work. I asked her to share some of her thoughts and experiences on writing and publishing with us, in conjunction with the news of Prodigal’s re-release.
WHEN YOUR [BOOK] CHILD RETURNS HOME
S.K. Keogh
I’m sure my writing journey is similar to that of other writers of my generation (I’m 52). Growing up, I was an avid reader, and that interest naturally morphed into a desire to write my own stories. First young adult, then Westerns, then contemporary, now historical. None of my early works ever made it to the world of publishing, of course.
Back then submitting a novel to publishers meant writing query letters (the physical kind you sent through the U.S. mail, not the electronic kind) to the myriad of publishing houses, most in New York City, after scouring the thick Writers Market listings for someone interested in your genre. (Nowadays you can’t even query a New York publisher without an agent to do it for you.) Then, if you were lucky, an editor would request to see your manuscript, and you’d cram that ream of paper into a box, say a prayer, and mail it through the U.S. postal service.
Much has changed since those days, and I’m not just referring to the process of querying. Now the publishing industry has shrunk to three options for today’s writers: get an agent who can query the handful of big publishers (who won’t invest much time or money into you because you are an unknown); directly query small publishing houses (who have even less money for promotions than the big houses); or self-published.
In 2012, my historical action/adventure novel, The Prodigal, was published through a small press. I won’t go into all the gory details, but let me just say it wasn’t what I expected. My displeasure grew over the years, so I decided to start proceedings to reacquire my rights to the novel. I’m happy to say, I succeeded and have just re-released The Prodigal under my own imprint.
Yep, independently published, just like the two novels that follow The Prodigal — The Alliance and The Fortune.
To me, with a lesser-read genre like nautical fiction written by a relative unknown, independent publishing is a viable option. Small publishers take most of your money and give you very little in return. You might as well keep your rights, publish your work with the cover and content you want, work your tail off to promote it (which is what you would do even with a small press), and collect the majority of the profit yourself. Why shouldn’t you? You’re the one who did all the work. Research is costly. Promoting can be costly. Writing is not easy. And neither is publishing.
But that book is your baby, your blood, sweat, and tears. And sometimes it’s better to keep it at home (self-publish) then let it go out into the wide, wild world of indifferent publishing houses. There’s nothing wrong with that. I know I’m happy that my baby came home.
The Prodigal
A story of relentless pursuit, betrayal, and revenge:
As a young boy Jack Mallory knows horror and desolation when James Logan and his pirates murder his father and abduct his mother. Falsely accused of piracy himself, Jack is thrown into jail. He survives seven years in London’s notorious Newgate prison and emerges a hardened man seeking revenge.
His obsession with finding his mother’s kidnapper drives him to the West Indies where he becomes entangled with a fiery young woman named Maria Cordero. With a score of her own to settle with James Logan, she disguises her gender and blackmails Jack into taking her aboard his pirate brig, Prodigal, in his desperate search for Logan. Their tumultuous relationship simmers while Jack formulates a daring plan to rescue his mother and exact revenge upon Logan for destroying his family. But Logan has no intentions of losing what he now treasures more than life itself—Jack’s mother, Ella.
Find out more about the Jack Mallory trilogy and forthcoming works on S.K. Keogh’s author website and on Goodreads. Follow her on Facebook and as @JackMallory on Twitter.
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