Sherry Knowlton's Blog, page 6

The Manta Rays of Bora Bora

As I thought about what to write about today, I looked outside the window.  Snow, a wind chill factor well below zero.  So, naturally, I thought of Bora Bora.   Several years back, my husband Mike and I sailed through the Society Islands of French Polynesia.  We chartered a sailboat along with a captain who knew how to navigate the tricky reefs, which circle each of the major islands. We spent time on Tahiti and Moorea then sailed to Raiatea, Tahaa, Huahine, and Bora Bora.  On the far side of

Ajax

This is just a short post. In DEAD OF AUTUMN, Scout was based on the three English Mastiffs that have been part of our family over the years. I just came across this photo of our last guy, Ajax, in his elder years.  I miss the big guy.  To read more about Scout's role in my thriller, Dead of Autumn, go to the blog entry below titled English Mastiffs.     

The Babes in the Woods

In my novel, DEAD OF AUTUMN, the contemporary suspense story intertwines with the tale of Dewilla Noakes.  Dewilla and her sisters are on a road trip with their father and older cousin, Winifred -- a trip that ends tragically for the entire family.  Although my story is fictionalized, it is based on an historical event.  The Babes in the Woods were three young sisters, found dead in the Pennsylvania woods near Pine Grove Furnace State Park one wintry November day in 1934.  The 80th anniversary

Eye to Eye with a Leopard

The temperature approached 90 degrees in Botswana’s Linyanti Reserve that afternoon.  On safari with my husband, Mike, and a guide from Savuti Camp, we were hot on the trail of a leopard, a handsome fellow. The big cat did not seem to care that our Toyota Land Cruiser followed as he went off road into a grassy area punctuated by bushes and small, scrubby trees.   The leopard, a fairly large cat, surprised us when he decided to climb one of the brushy trees.  We had seen leopards climb or lounge

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

The following blog post is a reprint of an essay that I read on WITF's This I Believe Series a few years ago.   Growing up in small town Central Pennsylvania in the fifties and sixties, I had a lot of freedom.  On summer days, my best friend and I would take off on our bikes and roam for hours.  One afternoon, we decided to cross the river near the local college and explore an island we’d never visited.  The only way to get there was to jump off of our bicycles and push them across a railroad

No Always Means No

According to a 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, an astounding 44% of American women reported experiencing some sort of sexual violence.  On the other hand, the Department of Justice reports that only 16% of women experience rape or attempted rate in the most recent year studied – and that the incidence of reported rape is declining.   Despite these statistics and a slew of television shows that feature rape as a plot line, many Americans like to think about rape as