Kathy Brandt's Blog, page 5

Save on Underwater Investigation Series Boxed Set

I’ve just released the  four book set of the Underwater Investigation Series for $9.99.  You will save 25% off the cover prices of all four separately.

[image error]You can buy it at (click on one):

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

And what about my diving?  My husband and I did our last diving trip at  South Water Caye in Belize, where we have dived several times over the  years.  With all the reports of ocean warming and the degradation of the reefs worldwide, we feared what we might discover.  We were pleasantly surprised to find the reef healthy and flourishing.  It was in better shape than it had ever been–rich coral gardens with lots of fish.  I’d be curious to know what other divers are finding at their favorite spots around the world.

Cheers!

Kathy

 

 

Solve the Mystery-Win a Book

What the Heck is It?

Hannah Sampson, underwater investigator and homicide detective never saw one of these in the water.  Hint: It’s two feet long and resides 5000 feet below the ocean’s surface.

What the heck is it?  An alien species poised to take over the world?  Sea Monster?  Large translucent trash bag?  Check it out at: What is this sea creature?

The first person to comment and answer correctly will receive a copy of SWIMMING WITH THE DEAD, first in the Hannah Sampson Series.

Have fun!

Kathy

A Father Speaks of his Son’s Suicide

It’s been barely a year since a father named Buzz lost his son to suicide.  Yet he was willing to speak of his loss to some sixty people at our NAMI-CS (National Alliance on Mental Illness-Colorado Springs) event at Colorado College last month.  I could see Buzz struggle to maintain his composure as he spoke about the son he loved so much.  David was a junior in college majoring in creative writing when he took his life.  As Buzz describes him, “David was bright, handsome, funny, charismatic, and had made many wonderful friends in college.  His life had finally become what he wanted it to be. He felt that he had found his passion, that he had finally connected with his world, and that he had a bright future to pursue.”[image error]

How could it have happened?  David decided to cut back on the lithium he had taken for over eight years to combat his bipolar disorder.  He said the lithium made him feel drugged and kept him from experiencing the fullness of life, a common complaint for those who take it.  He knew of the dangers, but he believed that college was the right environment to try it with close friends nearby.  He wanted to believe that he didn’t have the disorder and didn’t really need the medication.  He might have been “crazy once,” but he wasn’t crazy now.

And who can blame him?  He was a young man with a bright future who didn’t want to believe he would have to take medication the rest of his life, who wanted to live fully without it.  And mental illness carries so much stigma, so much judgment, so much blame.  But David did have bipolar disorder.  Eventually, David’s friends saw him slipping into deep depression and urged him to go to the college’s health center, which he did.  But he became so overwhelmed by hopelessness, he ended his life.

Buzz says about his family’s horrible loss that “time is a much over-rated healer.  It is a topical anesthetic on the deepest of deep-tissue wounds.”  But in spite of his pain, Buzz is speaking openly about David’s illness.  It takes enormous strength and courage.  When he spoke at the NAMI event at Colorado College, he touched a lot of people—students, families, community members.  He made it okay to speak out.  He encouraged those who suffer to seek help.  These are biological brain disorders not flaws in one’s personality.  There should be no shame, no fear of judgment.

One in four families is affected by mental illness.  We all need to speak out because when we tell our stories, others listen and learn.  When we change perceptions, we can break through the barriers of stigma.  And when we advocate for better mental health care, we can change a system that currently fails so many.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking Out about Mental Illness

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Pete Earley -- His son's paintings are in background, the one on the left is a self-portrait.

 

In addition to being an author, I’m the president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Colorado Springs (NAMI-CS).  On Wednesday, we brought bestselling author Pete Earley to  Colorado College to speak about his book, Crazy, A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.  I was fortunate to spend the day with Pete, accompanying him to speak with journalism and psychology students and meeting parents and NAMI volunteers.  We talked a lot about mental health and how critical it is to speak out and write about the issues.  Pete is an amazingly committed and important voice for the mentally ill in our country.  His visit was part of NAMI-CS’s continuing efforts to educate the community about mental illness in order to promote understanding and reduce the horrible stigma that surrounds these illnesses.  We want people to understand that mental illness is an illness like any other.  They are biological brain disorders that affect one in four families.  Attached is a link to Kathryn Eastburn’s Colorado Springs inteview with Pete on KRCC.

http://radiocoloradocollege.org/2012/03/the-middle-distance-33012/

 

Diving Into Mystery

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Diving at Jacques Cousteau Marine Park

When I decided to plunge into mystery writing, I knew what the “who, what, and where” of my novels would be. I’ve been a scuba diver for twenty-five years and have been sailing in the British Virgin Islands for almost as long. So my character, police diver and underwater investigator Hannah Sampson, was a natural.  I’ve published four books in my underwater investigation series, Swimming With The Dead, Dark Water Dive, Dangerous Depths, and Under Pressure. How lucky can one be? I’m doing what I love and writing about it! And even better, the reviewers are calling the books “first rate thrillers, the underwater action top-notch.”

I’ve tried hard to keep the books authentic. I’ve dived the sites that my character, Hannah Sampson, dives when she sets out to solve heinous crimes, though I admit with relief that I have never encountered a dead body underwater. Like me, Hannah finds wrecks dark, claustrophobic places, where air tanks clanging off hulls serve to emphasize the fact that she is jailed by steel. She experiences the same fear that I do at depth, when nitrogen narcosis sends her to the edge of panic. I want the reader to feel what Hannah feels when she is caught in a wreck and out of air or swims right into the body of a murder victim.

I’m also awe struck by the underwater environment. It’s like being submerged in Wonderland, gliding under arches blanketed in color, my bubbles catching and sparkling like mercury in the rocks above my head; swimming along underwater walls covered in reef life, the sea floor thousands of feet below. I’ve followed turtles and Manta Rays, played with sea lions, touched Christmas Tree Worms, and encountered Hammerheads that completely ignored my presence.

I want to share this world with those who have not experienced it and also let people know that the environment is fragile. As a result my books all have environmental sub-themes, focusing on the damage to coral reefs worldwide, on the decimation of shark populations for a bowl of shark fin soup, on endangered sea turtles.

When I started these books, I knew a respectable amount about the ocean environment and the basics of diving. But I knew absolutely nothing about dive rescue and recovery, underwater investigation, or even some of the particulars about reef ecology or sea turtle preservation. I had a lot to learn. I got certified in dry suits on a snowy day in a Colorado lake, elevation 10,500 feet. I joined rescue and recovery divers for training both in the classroom and in water murky with sediment, where the diver swims blind. I learned about evidence retrieval and preservation from the experts. By the way, did you know that fingerprints, fibers, even blood can be recovered if the diver handles a weapon or body correctly underwater?

I’ve also accompanied a team of researchers in the Caribbean as they tagged turtles. I’ve spent hours in the dusty environmental library in the BVI and days at home buried in articles and research studies about the marine environment. Even that is fun, especially when it all gets turned into mystery.