Hurricane Jeanie

It’s funny. In all the months I spent working on EYEWALL, I touted it, in what’s known in the business as an elevator pitch (because of its brevity), as the story of a crippled Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft that becomes trapped in the eye of a violent hurricane. Well, it certainly is that.

By my agent, Jeanie Pantelakis, sees it first and foremost as the tale of a suddenly strengthening hurricane that veers from its initially predicted landfall near Hilton Head, S.C., and draws a bead instead on the relatively unprepared barrier island of St. Simons, Georgia. (Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that Jeanie lives on St. Simons. Ya think?) Well, the book certainly is that, too.

Actually, I’m pleased the primary theme of the novel is perceived in different ways. I guess that means it could be termed as “multilayered,” that is, that it carries some depth and a bit of complexity.

Anyhow, Jeanie–and maybe I should call her Hurricane Jeanie because of her furious action–is off and running with EYEWALL. In fact, there’s already been a pretty good bite from a potential publisher. So things are looking good. Who knows, perhaps by this time next year you’ll be reading EYEWALL.

In the meantime, I’ll be off to St. Simons Island in about a week for the annual Southeastern Writers Association workshop and to get some face-to-face time with Jeanie… oops, Hurricane Jeanie.

Of course, I’m hoping for somewhat better circumstances than the heat-bugs-and-storm fiasco that plagued my wife and me on our last trip there.

Perhaps I should have considered what happened as some sort of a message. Leave our island alone. Come on, it’s only fiction.

Photo: An Air Force WC-130 Hurricane Hunter
The multilayered novel EYEWALL includes the drama of a crippled Hurricane Hunter that becomes trapped in the eye of a category five hurricane.