The Titanic & True Love: Guest Post by Deborah Hopkinson

Last week when I was a visiting author at an elementary school, a second grader raised her hand and asked, “Is your Titanic book based on the movie?”

For many kids, James Cameron’s movie (being re-released in 3D for the Titanic’s 100^th anniversary) is the only Titanic story they know.  The romance in the film is fictitious. But I think Cameron was right to make it the heart of his film.  For the actual disaster was full of so many real, heartbreaking love stories.

Take Harvey and Charlotte Collyer, a young couple with an eight-year-old daughter, Marjorie.  The family was setting out for a new life on an Idaho farm to help improve Charlotte’s health.  After the Titanic left Southampton on April 10, it stopped briefly the next day in Queenstown  to pick up more passengers – and drop off any mail passengers had written. Harvey sent a cheery postcard to his folks back home in England, and you can just feel his excitement:

“My dear Mum and Dad, It don’t seem possible we are out on the briny writing to you. Well dears so far we are having a delightful trip the weather is beautiful and the ship magnificent…like a floating town. …We will post again at New York…lots of love don’t worry about us.”

When the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on Sunday night, April 14, Harvey left the cabin to investigate and returned to tell Charlotte, “’What do you think…We have struck an iceberg, a big one, but there is no danger, an officer just told me so.’”

But soon they heard footsteps scurrying in the passage and went up on deck. As the lifeboats were being loaded, Charlotte hung back, clinging to Harvey’s arm.  All around her the sailors were shouting, “Women and children first!” 

The words “struck utter terror into my heart and now they will ring in my ears until the day I die,” she said later.

Finally a sailor grabbed Marjorie and threw her into a boat. Charlotte had to be physically torn from her husband. “A man seized me by the arm then another threw both his arms about my waist and dragged me away…”

Harvey tried to reassure her: “Go Lotty, for God’s sake be brave and go! I’ll get a seat in another boat.”

These were the last words Charlotte heard him say.  The next morning on the rescue ship, the Carpathia, she searched desperately among the 712 survivors for one face. “He was not there.”

It would be up to Charlotte to write to Harvey’s parents.  A week later she addressed her mother-in-law, “My dear Mother, I don’t know how to write to you or what to say. I feel I shall go mad sometimes but dear as much as my heart aches it aches for you too for he is your son and the best that ever lived…Oh mother how can I live without him…he was so calm…The agony of that night can never be told…I haven’t a thing in the world that was his only his rings. Everything we had went down.”

Charlotte died from tuberculosis two years later.

-          Deborah Hopkinson

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Deborah Hopkinson is the author of Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, a non-fiction book for Young Adults published 4/1/2012 by Scholastic, as well as several other books for children. To learn more about Deborah, please visit her website.

Goodreads / Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Critically acclaimed nonfiction author Deborah Hopkinson pieces together the story of the TITANIC and that fateful April night, drawing on the voices of survivors and archival photographs.

Scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the TITANIC, a topic that continues to haunt and thrill readers to this day, this book by critically acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson weaves together the voices and stories of real TITANIC survivors and witnesses to the disaster -- from the stewardess Violet Jessop to Captain Arthur Rostron of the CARPATHIA, who came to the rescue of the sinking ship. Packed with heartstopping action, devastating drama, fascinating historical details, loads of archival photographs on almost every page, and quotes from primary sources, this gripping story, which follows the TITANIC and its passengers from the ship's celebrated launch at Belfast to her cataclysmic icy end, is sure to thrill and move readers.

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Guest Post & Giveaway by Mary Lowry

Coming-of-Age in Real Life and in

THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE

THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE is a fantastical story about an American girl who runs away from home, takes on a new identity, and travels through Mexico searching for her family’s Mexican gardener, who is also her one true friend.

My favorite books have always been coming-of-age stories about strong characters that navigate the world as they grow into the women (or men) they were meant to be.

I think my own coming-of-age as a woman, and as a writer, happened in parts.

As soon as I graduated college at 21, I joined an elite, Type 1 Hotshot crew of forest firefighters. I traveled all over the American West with that almost all-male bunch, and that wild and exhilarating experience was the time, ironically, that I came into my own as a woman. It’s ironic because I was navigating a man’s world and doing a man’s job, but in doing so, and in gaining the confidence of my fellow crew members, I really learned a lot about myself as a girl.

I think my second coming-of-age (May I have two?) came when I wrote THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE. I had to support myself as I wrote the book, so I went to Durango, Colorado and got a job as a carpenter’s apprentice. Before dawn, I worked on my novel in my little basement room at the Desert Rose Horse Ranch; after the sun rose, I headed to work construction with a Viking of a man named David who believed women should have the opportunity to learn how to be carpenters if they wanted to do so. We worked outside all day and I was soooo cold, and by the end of the day I was soooo tired. But I still woke up early to work on my novel THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE, because I knew that being a writer was the most important thing for me.

I hope that women and girls who read THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE will be inspired to take risks and live life fully, and know that it’s never too late to come-of-age!

About the Book:

The Earthquake Machine

The book every girl should read,

and every girl’s parents hope she’ll never read.

  tells the story of 14 year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda’s world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manipulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda’s life is her family’s Mexican yardman, Jesús. But when the INS deports Jesús back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation.

REMARKABLE. Wild, maddening, preposterous, beautiful. It's just crazy good. A marvel.–Joy Williams (Pulitzer Prize finalist, THE QUICK AND THE DEAD)

Mary Lowry has a wonderful imagination and a terrific sense of humor, as well as deep empathy for what can go wrong in life. The Earthquake Machine is her best tale yet.–H.W. Brands (New York Times bestselling author, Two time Pulitzer Prize Finalist).

The Earthquake Machine

Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Milagros, Mexico. There a peyote- addled bartender convinces her she won’t be safe traveling alone into the country’s interior. So with the bartender’s help, Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesús. Thus begins a wild adventure that fulfills the longing of readers eager for a brave and brazen female protagonist.

Goodreads / Amazon

About the Author:

Mary Pauline Lowry has worked as a forest firefighter, screenwriter, open water lifeguard, construction worker, and advocate in the movement to end violence against women. At 15, she ran away from home and made it all the way to Matamoros, Mexico. She believes girls should make art, have adventures, and read books that show them the way.

You can learn more about Mary and The Earthquake Machine by visiting her website at http://www.marypaulinelowry.com/index.html.

You can also read a great review of The Earthquake Machine at Huffington Post at  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/the-earthquake-machine_b_1232478.html

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I am in the process of reading The Earthquake Machine and hope to have my review posted soon. In the meantime, Mary has generously offered to give away an ebook copy of The Earthquake Machine to one of my readers.

You guys know the drill by now. Rafflecopter below. Please don't forget to leave a comment for Mary. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post: Alien Zombies

 

Today, I'm delighted to bring you a guest post by author Aubrie Dionne as part of her Tundra 37 Blog Tour. In case you guys don't remember I last hosted Aubrie when she released the first novel in her A New Dawn series last year. You can check out my interview here. Feel free to also check out my review of Paradise 21, the first book in the series. I've recently completed Tundra 37 and loved it, so expect a review on that later this week.

Okay, enough from me. Here'e Aubrie:

Alien Zombies

Yes, you read it right: aliens and zombies (two of my favorite things) combined. I wanted to write a zombie book, but I didn’t want it to be like all the other ones out there, with decaying humans eating people’s brains. I wanted to put my own twist on it, make the zombies original in a way that made sense with my sci fi world. This is how A Hero Rising came about. 

So, I came up with Morpheus, a substance gleaned from minerals mined on the moon. In A Hero Rising, resources on Earth are used up, so scientists send giant lunar freighters to the moon. Sure, it’s a great source of minerals, but little do they know an alien virus resides deep within the rocks. Exposure to this virus will not only give you superhuman speed, but will make you want to kill and transform you into a creature from another world.

This is the main reason for the fall of Old Earth. Sure, overpopulation has eaten away at dwindling resources, but it’s the outbreak that’s the last straw. In an attempt to keep the virus under control, the World Coalition bombs entire cities, and everyone who’s anyone has a ticket on a colony ship.

But, what if you were left behind?

Aubrie Dionne

Romantic Science Fiction and Fantasy
Get Swept Away to Other Worlds...
http://www.authoraubrie.com
http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

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About the Book:

Tundra 37 (A New Dawn #2)

Synopsis:  Gemme is a hi-tech matchmaker who pairs the next generation of Lifers aboard the Expedition, a deep space transport vessel destined for Paradise 18. When the identity of her lifemate pops up on her screen, she’s shocked that he’s the achingly gorgeous and highly sought after Lieutenant Miles Brentwood—a man oblivious to her existence. Believing everyone will think she contrived the match, she erases it from the computer’s memory.

Just as comets pummel the ship and destroy the pairing system forever.

With the Expedition disabled, the colonists must crash land on the barren ice world of Tundra 37 where Gemme is reassigned to an exploratory mission, led by Lieutenant Brentwood. Only in the frozen tundra does she understand the shape of his heart and why the computer has entwined their destinies.

http://www.entangledpublishing.com/tundra-37/

Amazon               Barnes and Noble

Tundra 37 Book Trailer:

http://youtu.be/3XcwFtmeTcM

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About the Author:

Aubrie is an author and flutist in New England. Her stories have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, A Fly in Amber, and several print anthologies including Skulls and Crossbones by Minddancer Press, Rise of the Necromancers, by Pill Hill Press, Nightbird Singing in the Dead of Night by Nightbird Publishing, Dragontales and Mertales by Wyvern Publications, A Yuletide Wish by Nightwolf Publications, and Aurora Rising by Aurora Wolf Publications.  Her epic fantasy is published with Wyvern Publications, and several of her ebooks are published with Lyrical Press and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. When she’s not writing, she plays in orchestras and teaches flute at Plymouth State University and a community music school.

http://www.authoraubrie.com
http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

Guest Post & Giveaway by Jodi Lamm

Why I Fill My Books With Fairy Tales, by Jodi Lamm

When I was a child, I rifled through my parents books like a thief, except they didn't mind what I took. Every once in a while, I would find something miraculous: a well-worn paperback called Jonathan Livingston Seagull, an out-of-print illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland and, most remarkably, my mother's childhood book of fairy tales. Its cover was filled with faded pastel illustrations. Its binding was held together by a few threads and not much else. But I was gentle, and I read it regularly, always putting it right back on the giant family bookshelf when I was done so no one would know how often I read it.

These were not Disney-style stories by any stretch of the imagination. While I don't think the darkest tales of the Grimm collection were there, I discovered some lesser-known tales and fell in love with them, which led me to seek out fairy tales wherever I could find them. I learned that fairy tales were dark and beautiful and horrifying. It was love at second and third and fourth sight. I've never gotten over it. Folklore amazes me. There's something haunting about a story composed like a game of Telephone by countless people. These are tales that have been distilled over hundreds of years until what remains is the essence of us—of what makes us human. If you ever wish you could connect with the people who came before you, I believe the best thing you can do is listen to their lore.

So it shouldn't be surprising that folklore makes a huge appearance in Titan Magic. Marcus collects it and gives it to Madeleine, who loves the same stories I did (shocking, I know), and he often communicates to her through fairy tales. It's like a language between them, and it makes up the basis for their relationship. And the magic of a Titan is made of belief, which is manipulated by stories. In other words, Madeleine owes her very existence to a legend. Even the novel I'm composing right now was inspired by Arabian Nights. I can't seem to let these stories be. But I don't think they were meant to be left alone. The beauty of folklore is that it will never belong to any one person or corporation or government. It belongs to anyone who can appreciate it. These stories are meant to be retold, re-imagined, cut to pieces and put back together again. It's their nature to evolve, like us. I think that's why I love them so much.

If you'd like to know more about Jodi, feel free to connect on her website, Goodreads, or Twitter.

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And now the Giveaway!! Jodi has generously offered a signed paperback copy for one lucky winner. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!!! Trust me, you want this book. Look at how pretty it is. I trust you all know what to do, rafflecopter is below.

Goodreads / Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Mute, heartless, and tormented by auditory hallucinations, Madeleine Lavoie never questions why her family has hidden her from the world. But the night her brother casts her out, she learns the mysterious voice she thought existed only in her mind is no delusion, and no matter how hard she tries, she can never disobey it.

Now Madeleine must find her own voice in a cacophony of powerful tyrants, monsters, and gods. If she fails, she will forfeit her life and the lives of everyone who loves her. But if she succeeds, she may finally gain the ability to love someone in return.

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Check Out My Guest Post

I did a guest post over at R.A. Evan's blog about women and horror.

Women can write horror, too: Guest post by author Melanie McCullough

I am the child of an avid horror fan so I was raised on it. I watched Cat’s Eye when I was 7, graduated shortly thereafter to It (I still can’t stand clowns, thank you very much Mr. King), and can vividly recall a scene in The Gate when a boy uses a Barbie toe to poke out the eyeball that has grown on his palm (I never looked at Malibu Barbie the same way again).

These are the images that shaped my childhood. So, it came as no surprise to me when horror became one of my writing passions. But google “Top Ten Horror Writers” and these are the names that will appear time and time again — Stephen King, Dean Koontz, H.P. Lovecraft, John Saul, Jack Ketchum, Peter Straub, Clive Barker, Richard Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert McCammon. Noticing a trend?

Read the rest here.