John A. Heldt's Blog, page 9

Review: Night Over Water

I rarely read books twice. There are simply too many new ones to waste time on old ones. I prefer discovery to rediscovery.

On occasion, though, I make an exception. I read a book I had long filed away in the library of my mind. I explore a novel a second time.

This past week, I did just that. I picked up Night Over Water , by Ken Follett, one of my favorite authors, and immersed myself in 1939. I did so to reacquaint myself with the Boeing 314 Clipper, a flying cruise ship I will include in The Refuge, book four in the Time Box series.

In his riveting 1991 novel, Follett tells a tale that evolves, for the most part, over the span of two days. He describes the trials of two dozen passengers and crew who take the final commercial flight from England to America following the sudden outbreak of World War II.

For much of the book, Night reads like Murder on the Orient Express , a mystery propelled by nobles, celebrities, criminals, police, business icons, and a dedicated crew. Most bring stories aboard the Pan Am flight that are as interesting as the time. A few find unexpected romance.

Though Follett, Britain's answer to John Jakes, presents history as soap opera, he nonetheless delivers the goods. He offers a glimpse of an era and an aircraft that disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived.

Readers who like their history peppered with humor, sex, and intrigue will find much to like in Follett's spicy tale. Buffs of the early days of commercial aviation will find even more. Rating: 4/5.

January update and more

As an indie author, I never tire of being recognized by those who have traveled the same road. So I was delighted to learn that London-based writer Rose Auburn has included The Lane Betrayal among her Top Ten Reads by Indie Authors from 2020. Rose is the author of Cobwebs of Youth. She can be found online at roseauburn.com.

Also this month, I released the paperback edition of Sea Spray , the third installment of the Time Box series. Like my first seventeen novels, it is available exclusively through Amazon.com.

I intend to spend the rest of January finalizing the Time Box series boxed set. Then I will turn my attention to converting my most recent works to audio and producing the fourth book of the Time Box saga. Set mostly in Hawaii, it will follow the Lane family in the months leading up to the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and productive 2021 for all!

Review: The Queen's Gambit

I don't play chess. I haven't in years. I haven't since the fifth grade, when I joined and briefly participated in a school chess club.

A lot of boys did that in 1973. Nearly all, I dare say, wanted to emulate Bobby Fischer, the 29-year-old American wunderkind who defeated the Russian Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship.

I say boys because chess clubs and organizations in those days were mostly male domains. Even now, women make up less than fifteen percent of the members in the U.S. Chess Federation -- an all-time high.

So I was delighted to see Netflix shake things up with The Queen's Gambit , a riveting story about a female chess prodigy. Set mostly in the 1960s, the miniseries follows Kentucky orphan Beth Harmon as she rises from obscurity to international stardom.

In the series, Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, overcomes personal tragedies, crushing sexism, and drug addiction as she weaves her way through the intriguing and competitive world of professional chess.

From the first episode to the last, I found it impossible not to root for Harmon as she bounced from one trial to another. Taylor-Joy portrays a young woman who fears nothing, it seems, except Vasily Borgov, the reigning world champion, whom she plays twice in the story.

Marielle Heller, who plays Harmon's adoptive mother, also shines in the series, based on Walter Tevis's 1983 novel. So do three young men, former chess adversaries, who become the prodigy's biggest supporters as the tale races toward a satisfying conclusion. All lend weight and nuance to a "sports story" that could easily stand on its own.

I highly recommend the seven-part series. For viewers looking for a rags-to-riches story, particularly with a strong, flawed female lead, The Queen's Gambit is hard to beat. Rating: 5/5.

Roaring into the Twenties

In The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald depicted the Roaring Twenties in sharp contrasts. "The parties," he observed, "were bigger ... the pace was faster ... the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper."

He also opined on the rich. He said "they are different from you and me," in case you've forgotten, and "possess and enjoy early." They are "soft where we are hard" and "cynical where we are trustful."

In Sea Spray , the third book in the Time Box series, I offer a more nuanced view of the era. Though the Lanes, my time travelers, see 1920s New York as Fitzgerald saw it, they also see its softer side. They experience the family dinners, the silent movies, the classrooms, the boat rides, and the quiet walks. Along the way, they meet Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig in person and see George Gershwin in his prime. They became an integral part of a memorable decade.

The Lanes, seven in all, predictably embrace the era. Ten months after fleeing 2021 with two time machines that a madman billionaire desperately wants back, they are eager to settle down and resume normal lives. For a while, each succeeds with typical flair.

Parents Mark and Mary find housing in affluent East Hampton, where a gracious elderly couple offers use of their mansion. Son Jordan and his new wife, Jessie, plan a family. Siblings Laura, Jeremy, and Ashley pursue fun and adventure. All form strong friendships with the Prices, a mysterious mirror-image family that lives next door.

Robert Devereaux could not care less. Still reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends a ruthless hit man to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan. He wages war on a family.

Randy Taylor, who programs the machines, is determined to stop him. He tries to undermine his boss and save the Lanes, even as he tries to help his mother beat a deadly illness. He pines for the day he can join his fugitive friends and rekindle a relationship with Laura Lane.

I confess this was a difficult book to write. Not because the story didn't come together quickly, but rather because of the subject matter. Smiles and frowns get equal time in this novel. So do laughs and tears.

Like Indian Paintbrush , the third book in the Carson Chronicles series, Sea Spray is a bittersweet bridge that connects two halves of a sweeping historical saga. It is a tale that tests the courage and resolve of a strong clan and forces them to rearrange their priorities.

It is also a stage that showcases two formerly minor characters. Thirteen-year-old Ashley shines in this work. So does Randy. Laura and Jeremy develop in new ways. The Lanes grow as a family.

Filled with romance, humor, and heartbreak, Sea Spray continues a story that began with The Lane Betrayal and The Fair and will resume with at least two more books. The novel, my 18th overall, goes on sale today at Amazon.com and its twelve international sites.

Enjoying the season again

The holidays are under way. No matter where you look, you can see the trappings of the season. Those of us who cannot see snow or Christmas lights (yet) outside our windows can see other signs of the time.

With COVID-19 still a factor, many of the signs have moved online. People are sharing photos on social media. Advertisers are flooding retail web sites. Streaming services, such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix, are touting a slew of holiday movies and programs.

In spite of the commercialism, I love Christmas because it prompts people to take stock of their lives and situations. Along with Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve, it reminds us of things that are bigger than ourselves. It invites reflection and introspection.

Writers have known this for some time. Some of the most beloved works of literature have holiday themes, from A Christmas Carol , The Nutcracker , and Little Women to children's favorites like The Polar Express and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The most famous newspaper article of all time is still an 1897 New York Sun editorial that proclaims, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Despite being a fan of the season, I have not explored it much in my own works. Only four of my eighteen books even touch Christmas and only two, The Journey and The Show , address it with substance.

Even so, I inject the season into my stories whenever I can. In Camp Lake , Cody Carson refers to a beautiful vision, later a love interest, as the Ghost of Christmas Future. In Sea Spray , coming out next month, thirteen-year-old Ashley Lane alludes to It's a Wonderful Life when she teases a friend who likes a boy named George Hailey.

I hope to do more with Christmas in future books, including book four of the Time Box series. Set in Oahu, Hawaii, in 1941, it will portray life in prewar America as it edges closer to a December to remember.

In the meantime, I plan to make the most of this one. I wish my readers and others a happy, productive, and most of all, safe holiday season.

Blending fact and fiction

I like history. I like studying it, writing about it, and visiting it -- or at least visiting the places where it was made. For that reason, I have set all of my novels in the past and wrapped several around notable historical events, ranging from hurricanes, floods, and wildfires to wars, fairs, and volcanic eruptions. Even speeches and shipwrecks get their due.

Some of the events, like the 1900 Galveston hurricane, described in September Sky , are big. Others, like the 1964 Beatles concert in Seattle, described in The Mirror , are small. Still others, like the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds, featured in Mercer Street , are both. All form essential backdrops to works of historical fiction.

In Sea Spray , the third book in the five-book Time Box series, readers will get history both big and small. They will get a big dose of Charles Lindbergh and smaller doses of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and George Gershwin. They will see the Roaring Twenties unfold in real time.

In the novel, set on Long Island, New York, in 1927, the Lanes, a time-traveling family from 2021, see Lindbergh as a person and an icon. They meet the unassuming airmail pilot before he flies across the ocean and later celebrate his triumph in a ticker-tape parade. They participate in history as millions of Americans did nearly a century ago.

Blending fact and fiction is fun. It's also problematic. Doing it right requires homework and guesswork. In Mercer Street , I had to research Albert Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt before introducing them to my time travelers. In River Rising , I had to read up on Mark Twain. I wanted conversations and interactions that never happened to ring true.

In developing my Lindbergh, I researched the real-life pilot and acquainted myself with the screen version. The Spirit of St. Louis , a 1957 movie starring Jimmy Stewart, inspired two chapters and several story ideas in Sea Spray . I added passages about Lindy's cat after reading about the feline's footnote role in the historic event.

Sea Spray , my eighteenth novel, is now in its fourth revision and in the hands of the editor. It is still set for a January 2021 release.

Writing the second draft

The first draft is the easy one. It's the rough, unpolished blob a writer pushes out in a manic frenzy. It's the tentative opening act.

Many finish it in three months, the time Stephen King recommends in his Twenty Rules for Writers. Some complete it in one. Thousands of prolific scribes, participants in NaNoWriMo, are trying to do so now. Few, I dare say, will give as much thought to the second draft.

I do. I do because the second draft, the first revision, is where writers turn a jumble into a story. It's where we find glaring errors, embarrassing inconsistencies, and plot holes a reader could drive a truck through.

The second draft is also where we read our story with fresh eyes and sometimes rediscover it. It's where characters and plot lines often look different than when we created them three months earlier.

Later drafts are also important. The third is where I fine-tune the prose, enhance description, and incorporate suggestions offered by my editor and beta readers. The fourth is the final upgrade, the detailing before the new car leaves the lot. All are vital steps in the process.

This week, I began revising Sea Spray, the third novel in the Time Box series and my eighteenth overall. I hope to finish the second draft by Thanksgiving and publish the book itself no later than February 1.

Review: North and South

The questions from readers usually begin with why. Why so many characters in your books? Why so many points of view? Why so many settings and story lines? Why are you making my head spin?

The answer, of course, is John Jakes. From the moment I read his Kent Family Chronicles in high school, I've leaned toward family sagas with multiple themes and perspectives. I've favored the big picture over the small -- as a reader, a television viewer, and now as an author.

For that reason, I have read most of Jakes' books and viewed the television adaptations, including North and South , which I revisited on Hoopla this month. I found the series, the first of three, as thrilling, entertaining, and yes, sappy as when it came out in 1985.

North and South , you may recall, is not just America's story before, during, and after the Civil War. It is history as soap opera, with characters as good and evil as the characters in Dallas and Dynasty .

What I like, though, is the way the story moves from place to place and person to person. Jakes keeps the reader (and the viewer) engaged by shifting the focus early and often. He keeps the Hazards and the Mains, the families in the series, front and center. He stirs things up.

The adaptation stirs things even more with an all-star cast. If you've ever wanted to see Patrick Swayze, Kirstie Alley, David Carradine, Elizabeth Taylor, Wayne Newton, Johnny Cash, Linda Evans, Lloyd Bridges, Olivia de Havilland, and Billy Dee Williams in the same series, this is the show for you. Two dozen A-list actors appear on screen.

I plan to resume my journey down Miniseries Lane this week and then continue my own series in progress. The first draft of Sea Spray, the third book in the Time Box saga, is eighty-percent complete.

As with most of my other works, it will feature multiple settings and points of view. Enough, I dare say, to make John Jakes smile.

The best tools in the box

Artists, it is said, are only as good as their tools. With good ones, they can soar. With bad ones, they can't leave the ground.

Writers are no different. Though it is possible to produce quality works without the tools of the trade, it is difficult. It's a lot more difficult.

Since publishing my first novel, The Mine , in 2012, I have relied heavily on a handful of tools. Available on the free Internet, they are as indispensable to me as typewriters are to old-school novelists.

My favorite, Thesaurus.com, is the digital version of a staple that has been available in print for nearly 170 years. Comprehensive, versatile, and easy to use, it is one of two tools I can't do without.

The other is OneLook.com, a dictionary search engine that indexes more than 19 million words. Though the site draws from hundreds of dictionaries, it highlights results from the most important ones, such as Webster, Oxford, Collins, and American Heritage.

If OneLook.com is useful in finding the words of today, the Online Etymology Dictionary and Google Books Ngram Viewer are vital in finding the words of yesterday. OED, a "map of the wheel-ruts of modern English," explains what our words meant and how they sounded six hundred to 2,000 years ago. The Ngram Viewer displays the occurrences of words and phrases in books dating to 1800.

On occasion, I will consult grammar resources. Both Grammarly, a powerful proofreading tool, and the Hemingway App, which evaluates writing for clarity and simplicity, are excellent and easy to use.

I touted a few of the tools above in an April 2016 blog post. Go to Touting the tools of the trade to learn more.

Next stop: The Jazz Age

For years, I've had a fascination with the 1920s. I don't know if it began when I read The Great Gatsby, watched people dance the Charleston, or first listened to Rhapsody in Blue, but I've had it.

It's hard to dislike a decade that crams flappers, speakeasies, Gershwin, Ruth, Lindbergh, and runaway prosperity under one roof.

For that reason and others, I decided to set my next novel, the third in the Time Box series, in the Roaring Twenties. I can think of few more fascinating stops for the Lanes, my adventurous time travelers.

I can think of few more interesting eras to study. For the past four weeks, I have reacquainted myself with everything from Prohibition to the movies and music of the time. I paid particular attention to East Hampton, New York, in 1927, the primary setting in the book.

I hope to finish the first draft, now twenty percent complete, by Christmas. I intend the publish the book itself by February 2021.