Susan Allison-Dean's Blog
June 23, 2015
Is Environmental Fiction A Growing Genre?
If historical fiction helps us learn about history in the form of an entertaining story, environmental fiction offers to do the same about the environment. And, gosh, there is a lot for us to learn: factors influencing climate change, threats to wildlife, recycling options, renewable energy. Need I go on? It seems we can’t escape the changes; they are the front page of nearly every media source. Even the Pope is making it an international priority.
The difference between historical and environmental fiction, however, is environmental offers the opportunity to educate us on ways to prevent or change our behaviors before things get worse. Heroic protagonists take us to the extremes of these issues-makes us aware and invite us to join them in making this planet a better place. The reader is given a superhero cape to wear at the end of the last page. The choice to don it is ours. But as film director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, says about her award-winning documentary, Blackfish, “Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.” The same is true for reading.
Environmental Fiction offers a wide canvas for writers today and new stories for readers. Have you read a book that you’ve enjoyed in this genre?
Susan Allison-Dean’s novels include issues affecting dolphins and whales. Order them today at your favorite online bookstore.
The difference between historical and environmental fiction, however, is environmental offers the opportunity to educate us on ways to prevent or change our behaviors before things get worse. Heroic protagonists take us to the extremes of these issues-makes us aware and invite us to join them in making this planet a better place. The reader is given a superhero cape to wear at the end of the last page. The choice to don it is ours. But as film director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, says about her award-winning documentary, Blackfish, “Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.” The same is true for reading.
Environmental Fiction offers a wide canvas for writers today and new stories for readers. Have you read a book that you’ve enjoyed in this genre?
Susan Allison-Dean’s novels include issues affecting dolphins and whales. Order them today at your favorite online bookstore.
June 16, 2015
What Makes A Good Beach Read?
Ahhh….summer. The smell of fresh cut grass, tomato sandwiches followed by cantaloupe so sweet and juicy it drips down your chin. As the temperatures go higher, we all seem to go slower. The perfect time to chillax in our favorite spot-an Adirondack chair on the back deck, poolside in a chaise lounge or a towel sprawled across the sand. The sound of chirping birds, kids screaming with delight or waves thrusting themselves onshore serenading us.
Having this uninterrupted time to indulge in a good book, undisturbed, in no hurry seems a luxury these days for many of us. This coveted pause in life is treat, my favorite time to read. For me, a good beach read is one that I feel I get to know the characters intimately. Perhaps they take me to a time, a place or situation I’ve never experienced. It’s a book that makes me not want to leave the beach even though the sun is starting to set. It’s a book that makes me feel an emotion, be it laugh, cry or occasionally fear.
The hallmark sign of a great beach read is, of course, when we share it with a friend after we’ve finished it.
What makes a great beach read for you?
Love Women’s Fiction? Fill your summer bag with signed copies from 6 authors this season. Enter to win on my Facebook page.
Having this uninterrupted time to indulge in a good book, undisturbed, in no hurry seems a luxury these days for many of us. This coveted pause in life is treat, my favorite time to read. For me, a good beach read is one that I feel I get to know the characters intimately. Perhaps they take me to a time, a place or situation I’ve never experienced. It’s a book that makes me not want to leave the beach even though the sun is starting to set. It’s a book that makes me feel an emotion, be it laugh, cry or occasionally fear.
The hallmark sign of a great beach read is, of course, when we share it with a friend after we’ve finished it.
What makes a great beach read for you?
Love Women’s Fiction? Fill your summer bag with signed copies from 6 authors this season. Enter to win on my Facebook page.
March 14, 2015
Looking into the eye of a whale or dolphin
“When you look into their eyes, you know somebody is home.” -John Jett, PhD., former Seaworld trainer featured in the movie Blackfish.
Do you have trouble believing what you don’t see with your own eyes or experience for yourself? Me too. It’s not that I don’t believe stories that other people tell me, but there is something inside that just doesn’t fully accept it until I know it to be true.
The experience of being with a whale or dolphin, so close that you look eyes to eye, is transforming. It’s almost as if you saw an alien in your backyard, alone, by yourself. It connected with you, the two of you have ‘a moment’ and then it disappears. You are left bewildered. Did that just happen to me? Perhaps you don’t tell anyone for fear they will think that you are crazy. Then you meet someone else who also saw this other being. He or she also felt the same way and was left changed as well. In time you find others and they validate your experience. Yet no one can truly explain it.
When I asked someone else who had this experience, “What it is about seeing into the eye of a cetacean (scientific term for dolphins & whales)?”
She said, “They look inside of you and touch your soul.”
I could not explain it better. Personally, I have found the experience so humbling that I wonder if we really are “the top of the food chain.”
Intrigued? Like my Facebook page, I will be posting actual human-cetacean stories this week. Have you engaged with a cetacean? I hope you will share your story.
My debut novel, I Know You’re There, includes a true story of a human-humpback whale encounter. You can pick it up at most book retail sites.
Do you have trouble believing what you don’t see with your own eyes or experience for yourself? Me too. It’s not that I don’t believe stories that other people tell me, but there is something inside that just doesn’t fully accept it until I know it to be true.
The experience of being with a whale or dolphin, so close that you look eyes to eye, is transforming. It’s almost as if you saw an alien in your backyard, alone, by yourself. It connected with you, the two of you have ‘a moment’ and then it disappears. You are left bewildered. Did that just happen to me? Perhaps you don’t tell anyone for fear they will think that you are crazy. Then you meet someone else who also saw this other being. He or she also felt the same way and was left changed as well. In time you find others and they validate your experience. Yet no one can truly explain it.
When I asked someone else who had this experience, “What it is about seeing into the eye of a cetacean (scientific term for dolphins & whales)?”
She said, “They look inside of you and touch your soul.”
I could not explain it better. Personally, I have found the experience so humbling that I wonder if we really are “the top of the food chain.”
Intrigued? Like my Facebook page, I will be posting actual human-cetacean stories this week. Have you engaged with a cetacean? I hope you will share your story.
My debut novel, I Know You’re There, includes a true story of a human-humpback whale encounter. You can pick it up at most book retail sites.
January 29, 2015
The Sound Of Summer
The news of winter and snow drama abounds. So imagine my surprise when I hear “huoh-huoh-huoh” coming from the lake as I walk the dog, bundled in my coat, gloves and scarf-not another soul in sight. The familiar high pitch call coming from seagulls gliding over a coveted post instantly makes me feel warm and smell salty air. The sun feels decadent, I long to let my feet sink into sand.
We are two hours away from the coast, so their presence is unexpected. A funny memory of a seagull tearing apart a neighboring beach bum’s potato chip bag makes me smile. These birds seem to get more brazen each time I venture to the shore.
It won’t be long now. Six months until summer. Unless, of course, I plan an escape!
We are two hours away from the coast, so their presence is unexpected. A funny memory of a seagull tearing apart a neighboring beach bum’s potato chip bag makes me smile. These birds seem to get more brazen each time I venture to the shore.
It won’t be long now. Six months until summer. Unless, of course, I plan an escape!
January 11, 2015
The Stillness Of Winter
Snow is slathered on the rooftops like icing on a Cinnabon-thick and creamy in some areas, sparse or non-existent in others. A lone bird, its feathers puffed, pecks at the ground, at what I wonder. The worms are surely hibernating. A sign of life comes from the stream of smoke wafting from a neighbor’s chimney.
The sun shines as bright as always but is now stingy with its heat. Deciduous trees once lush green and fanning us with a soothing breeze, now skeletons of bark. Evergreens stand staunch, clenched as I do when I first hit the below freezing air outdoors-clenching every muscle hoping to preserve precious body heat. White clouds wander in the soft blue sky as they always do.
Welcomed silence surrounds me accept for the hum of the refrigerator and the intermittent crackling in the baseboard heat. No school buses screaming by, no dog walkers chatting, not even the thud of the Sunday morning paper hitting the driveway-that replaced long ago with a thin box plugged in to the wall.
And so it is in the suburbs of New York City. Mother Nature’s moment to meditate it seems.
The sun shines as bright as always but is now stingy with its heat. Deciduous trees once lush green and fanning us with a soothing breeze, now skeletons of bark. Evergreens stand staunch, clenched as I do when I first hit the below freezing air outdoors-clenching every muscle hoping to preserve precious body heat. White clouds wander in the soft blue sky as they always do.
Welcomed silence surrounds me accept for the hum of the refrigerator and the intermittent crackling in the baseboard heat. No school buses screaming by, no dog walkers chatting, not even the thud of the Sunday morning paper hitting the driveway-that replaced long ago with a thin box plugged in to the wall.
And so it is in the suburbs of New York City. Mother Nature’s moment to meditate it seems.
December 28, 2014
WILD-Another Example Of How Nature Heals
Have you ever felt like you have spent your last emotional penny? Mentally, emotionally, and/or psychologically you were flat broke-desperately in need of a sizeable deposit? Writer, Cheryl Strayed, recounts how the loss of her mother, the only parent she depended on, took such a withdrawal from her soul that she turned to hard drugs and casual sex to dull the pain. Strayed, however, bravely trusted her instinct to walk the Pacific Crest Trail, alone-not knowing where it would lead her. Each step literally and metaphorically was an attempt to become whole again. What struck me most was how nature, not modern medicine, provided the antidote to her suffering. Wild, Strayed’s best-selling memoir is now also available in a newly released film version. Treat yourself. I’d love to hear what you think of it.
The protagonist, Jill Bradley, in my debut novel, I Know You’re There, also flees to nature after loss, betrayal and a traumatic life event leave her clinging to the planet by her fingernails. Bradley, impulsively heads to a remote Caribbean island where the lure of sand, salt and the sea offer her comfort. The science of water and its healing ability is now being validated. Dr. Wallace J. Nichols has compiled his research and that from other experts in his new book, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do. If you’ve ever wondered why you are drawn to the ocean, a lake or warm bath, you’ll love his book.
As our planet becomes more populated and filled with more technology, perhaps we have under appreciated what was commonly available to us. Quiet forests where trees older than we serve as a reminder that there may be storms we may have to endure. Where the radiant-orange sunrise reminds us the world does not stop to wait for us. And the blooming of our favorite spring flowers tell us life is full of renewal and magic.
Do you find peace in nature? Share your favorite ways to connect.
The protagonist, Jill Bradley, in my debut novel, I Know You’re There, also flees to nature after loss, betrayal and a traumatic life event leave her clinging to the planet by her fingernails. Bradley, impulsively heads to a remote Caribbean island where the lure of sand, salt and the sea offer her comfort. The science of water and its healing ability is now being validated. Dr. Wallace J. Nichols has compiled his research and that from other experts in his new book, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do. If you’ve ever wondered why you are drawn to the ocean, a lake or warm bath, you’ll love his book.
As our planet becomes more populated and filled with more technology, perhaps we have under appreciated what was commonly available to us. Quiet forests where trees older than we serve as a reminder that there may be storms we may have to endure. Where the radiant-orange sunrise reminds us the world does not stop to wait for us. And the blooming of our favorite spring flowers tell us life is full of renewal and magic.
Do you find peace in nature? Share your favorite ways to connect.
November 26, 2014
EBooks are great gifts for the holidays!
Did you know that you can send an ebook as a gift? It will be much less expensive than sending a print book. You can also schedule when to send it. Why not make a gift list now and start jotting down the perfect book to send them this holiday season?
Beat the crowds and shop from the comfort of your computer when you have time. All you need is the gift recipient’s email and what type of e-reader they have. Most tablets allow users to download an app for Amazon or Nook.
For those looking for a women’s fiction gift, check out the first in my two-part series, I Know You’re There. I’ve included the links.
I Know You’re There for Amazon: http://amzn.to/15o7unt
I Know You’re There For Nook: http://bit.ly/1y8ZRe1
iBooks: You can send ebook gifts via iBookstore as well. Here are the instructions how: http://bit.ly/1xXD2ME
Happy Holidays ☺
Beat the crowds and shop from the comfort of your computer when you have time. All you need is the gift recipient’s email and what type of e-reader they have. Most tablets allow users to download an app for Amazon or Nook.
For those looking for a women’s fiction gift, check out the first in my two-part series, I Know You’re There. I’ve included the links.
I Know You’re There for Amazon: http://amzn.to/15o7unt
I Know You’re There For Nook: http://bit.ly/1y8ZRe1
iBooks: You can send ebook gifts via iBookstore as well. Here are the instructions how: http://bit.ly/1xXD2ME
Happy Holidays ☺
November 22, 2014
Nurses Who Write
The marines have a saying, “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.” I believe this is true for nurses as well. While some nurses make a lifelong career out of it, others of us do it for a season of our life.
Best-selling author, Sue Monk-Kidd, was once a practicing nurse. Monk-Kidd left nursing to pursue a passion for writing in her thirties. Lucky for us readers, she did! She is probably best known for her novel, The Secret Life of Bees, which went on to be a film. Her latest book, The Invention Of Wings, a historical fiction piece, excavates the horrors of urban slavery and takes on women’s oppression. It, too, is a best seller and was selected to be on the coveted Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 List.
When I was a novice nurse, I remember the buzz about a nurse named Echo Heron. Heron wrote a book that hit the New York Times Best Seller List: Intensive Care: The Story Of A Nurse. That was a big boost to the profession back in the late eighties. We felt heard. Heron has gone on to publish several other books including a medical mystery series featuring a nurse protagonist.
Paula Stokes, has stepped away from her role as an Oncology nurse to focus on fulfilling contracted books. Her latest novel, The Art of Laney, can be found in the YA section of online and brick and mortar bookstores. She reports she is also teaching a continuing education class to aspiring nurses and may consider Psych Nursing in 2015.
Joanne K. Singleton, has an accomplished list of degrees after her name: PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FNAP, FNYAM. Somehow she has managed to also add the title of ‘author’ this year while working as a nursing profesor. Her newly published novel, White Beret: The Story of an Urban Nurse, is Set in a major New York City hospital. The book gives an insider’s look into life and death struggles on a pediatric unit during one crucial day for young patients, their families and the nurses who put their lives on the line to care for them.
New to the book world is nurse blogger, Kati Kleber. Kleber’s blog, Nurse Eye Roll, (don’t you love the name!), has thousands of followers. Her light, supportive nature is captured in her new non-fiction book, Becoming Nursey, From Code Blue To Code Browns, How To Care For Patients And Yourself, has already hit number one on Amazon’s “New Release, Nursing” list.
As for myself, no one was more surprised than I to see my written words published. What started as a cathartic way to deal with the intense nature of nursing-writing vignettes about patients in private, led to some of my essays being published in a collective work, Touched By A Nurse. To be honest, I thought my publishing days were over. I left nursing after thirteen years to pursue other interests, one of them being gardening. As I designed gardens in the quiet of nature, I was nudged internally to write a novel. I fought it until it won and found its way out. My first novel, I Know You’re There, features a nurse protagonist who gets in a fatal accident after doing a double shift. Then came its sequel, By The Sound Of The Crow. Who knew?
Nurses are ideal for the book world. Whether they are telling stories, or sharing wisdom, they have had unique access to the moments that connect us all as humans. Perhaps through their writing they continue to heal and help others feel better. Or maybe just enjoy a good read.
Check out the ‘Nurses Who Write’ Pinterest Board. As I find more, I’ll add them. http://bit.ly/1FdxU6c
Best-selling author, Sue Monk-Kidd, was once a practicing nurse. Monk-Kidd left nursing to pursue a passion for writing in her thirties. Lucky for us readers, she did! She is probably best known for her novel, The Secret Life of Bees, which went on to be a film. Her latest book, The Invention Of Wings, a historical fiction piece, excavates the horrors of urban slavery and takes on women’s oppression. It, too, is a best seller and was selected to be on the coveted Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 List.
When I was a novice nurse, I remember the buzz about a nurse named Echo Heron. Heron wrote a book that hit the New York Times Best Seller List: Intensive Care: The Story Of A Nurse. That was a big boost to the profession back in the late eighties. We felt heard. Heron has gone on to publish several other books including a medical mystery series featuring a nurse protagonist.
Paula Stokes, has stepped away from her role as an Oncology nurse to focus on fulfilling contracted books. Her latest novel, The Art of Laney, can be found in the YA section of online and brick and mortar bookstores. She reports she is also teaching a continuing education class to aspiring nurses and may consider Psych Nursing in 2015.
Joanne K. Singleton, has an accomplished list of degrees after her name: PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FNAP, FNYAM. Somehow she has managed to also add the title of ‘author’ this year while working as a nursing profesor. Her newly published novel, White Beret: The Story of an Urban Nurse, is Set in a major New York City hospital. The book gives an insider’s look into life and death struggles on a pediatric unit during one crucial day for young patients, their families and the nurses who put their lives on the line to care for them.
New to the book world is nurse blogger, Kati Kleber. Kleber’s blog, Nurse Eye Roll, (don’t you love the name!), has thousands of followers. Her light, supportive nature is captured in her new non-fiction book, Becoming Nursey, From Code Blue To Code Browns, How To Care For Patients And Yourself, has already hit number one on Amazon’s “New Release, Nursing” list.
As for myself, no one was more surprised than I to see my written words published. What started as a cathartic way to deal with the intense nature of nursing-writing vignettes about patients in private, led to some of my essays being published in a collective work, Touched By A Nurse. To be honest, I thought my publishing days were over. I left nursing after thirteen years to pursue other interests, one of them being gardening. As I designed gardens in the quiet of nature, I was nudged internally to write a novel. I fought it until it won and found its way out. My first novel, I Know You’re There, features a nurse protagonist who gets in a fatal accident after doing a double shift. Then came its sequel, By The Sound Of The Crow. Who knew?
Nurses are ideal for the book world. Whether they are telling stories, or sharing wisdom, they have had unique access to the moments that connect us all as humans. Perhaps through their writing they continue to heal and help others feel better. Or maybe just enjoy a good read.
Check out the ‘Nurses Who Write’ Pinterest Board. As I find more, I’ll add them. http://bit.ly/1FdxU6c
November 16, 2014
Hope In Haiti
Hope In Haiti
Haiti is the poorest country near the United States. The amount of need there can seem so devastating we may just want to ignore it. How can I, one person, possibly help?
Enter Nick and Gwenn Mangine. I became aware of the Mangines at a church service in North Carolina. Gwenn gave the message that day. She was introduced by the pastor who explained how the couple got a calling one day that they should go to Haiti to help the children there. No one in the audience even shifted in their seat for the next half hour. The Mangine’s story of how they ventured to Haiti and adopted several orphans with the help of the church was riveting. The commitment that they made to raise these children as a family felt daunting to me. Imagine picking up, leaving your friends, family and all the conveniences of living in America and going to Haiti! Gwenn didn’t sugar coat the new life she and her husband chose. It came with many hardships-guns, difficult social issues the kids came with, disease, and mental trauma to name just a few.
This sermon was a few years ago. The Mangines and their large family are still together and making great strides! You can learn more about them at www.joyinhope.org.
The issues facing the orphans in Haiti struck a chord in me that has not gone away. I’ve tried to bring attention to their plight in my new novel, BY THE SOUND OF THE CROW. Most of us will not have the courage, nor will to go to the extreme that the Mangines did to help those in need in Haiti. Perhaps, however, we can pitch in a little to help and make it a lot.
Haiti is the poorest country near the United States. The amount of need there can seem so devastating we may just want to ignore it. How can I, one person, possibly help?
Enter Nick and Gwenn Mangine. I became aware of the Mangines at a church service in North Carolina. Gwenn gave the message that day. She was introduced by the pastor who explained how the couple got a calling one day that they should go to Haiti to help the children there. No one in the audience even shifted in their seat for the next half hour. The Mangine’s story of how they ventured to Haiti and adopted several orphans with the help of the church was riveting. The commitment that they made to raise these children as a family felt daunting to me. Imagine picking up, leaving your friends, family and all the conveniences of living in America and going to Haiti! Gwenn didn’t sugar coat the new life she and her husband chose. It came with many hardships-guns, difficult social issues the kids came with, disease, and mental trauma to name just a few.
This sermon was a few years ago. The Mangines and their large family are still together and making great strides! You can learn more about them at www.joyinhope.org.
The issues facing the orphans in Haiti struck a chord in me that has not gone away. I’ve tried to bring attention to their plight in my new novel, BY THE SOUND OF THE CROW. Most of us will not have the courage, nor will to go to the extreme that the Mangines did to help those in need in Haiti. Perhaps, however, we can pitch in a little to help and make it a lot.
November 8, 2014
Three Reasons Librarians Are Superheroes
Librarians, teachers, and nurses: three noble careers that are dominated by women. What makes being a librarian such a noble professional, highly regarded by the communities they serve? I offer three reasons.
One: Shhhhhh!
We all had at least one, probably a few, school loudmouths and bullies. The library was always a safe place in school because the librarians made it that way. If you didn’t shush after a stern look and a “Shhh”, off to the Principals office you went. According to a Pew Study done in 2014, having a safe, quiet place to go to is highly revered by young and old alike.
Two: They Could Google Before There Was Google
Librarians never needed Google. They probably still don’t. They had the Dewey Decimal System and memory with greater storage capacity than the latest Apple Mac. Ask them for a suggestion of a novel with a happy ending that includes vampires, they’ll show you a few. Remember having a report to do for social studies on the customs of Africans? The librarian could show you how to find that in one of those heavy encyclopedias that you thought were only there collecting dust.
Three: They Educate Us Long After We Leave School
Internet? E-Readers? Lost Your Job? Librarians have your back. They seem to know what current trends need to be addressed head on. They schedule speakers, workshops and personal one-on-one sessions to help keep us up to speed.
I was recently speaking to one of my local librarians about the global issues facing whales and dolphins. I offered to donate books and videos including Blackfish, The Cove, The War on Whales and others highlighting the issues facing cetaceans. She agreed to do a special display in the library.
Perhaps we should say thanks more often to those librarians who quietly go about their job. Not all Superheroes wear capes.
One: Shhhhhh!
We all had at least one, probably a few, school loudmouths and bullies. The library was always a safe place in school because the librarians made it that way. If you didn’t shush after a stern look and a “Shhh”, off to the Principals office you went. According to a Pew Study done in 2014, having a safe, quiet place to go to is highly revered by young and old alike.
Two: They Could Google Before There Was Google
Librarians never needed Google. They probably still don’t. They had the Dewey Decimal System and memory with greater storage capacity than the latest Apple Mac. Ask them for a suggestion of a novel with a happy ending that includes vampires, they’ll show you a few. Remember having a report to do for social studies on the customs of Africans? The librarian could show you how to find that in one of those heavy encyclopedias that you thought were only there collecting dust.
Three: They Educate Us Long After We Leave School
Internet? E-Readers? Lost Your Job? Librarians have your back. They seem to know what current trends need to be addressed head on. They schedule speakers, workshops and personal one-on-one sessions to help keep us up to speed.
I was recently speaking to one of my local librarians about the global issues facing whales and dolphins. I offered to donate books and videos including Blackfish, The Cove, The War on Whales and others highlighting the issues facing cetaceans. She agreed to do a special display in the library.
Perhaps we should say thanks more often to those librarians who quietly go about their job. Not all Superheroes wear capes.
