CASCADIA—CHICK LIT?
As an author, you’re a public figure. Whether you like or not, your works—your books—become a free-fire zone for public opinion. I don’t disagree with that. People spend their hard-earned money to buy your products and thus have every right to express their thoughts about them. Your books will be both acclaimed and denigrated. It’s…
Read MoreWHY I DIDN’T ADDRESS “COUNTING THE DEAD” IN CASCADIA
CASCADIA isn’t totally a novel. By that I mean it’s not completely fiction. The event the novel is set against, a massive earthquake and huge tsunami in the Pacific Northwest, is something that’s really going to happen. In my previous novels, EYEWALL, SUPERCELL and BLIZZARD, I depicted major weather events that, while certainly possible, are…
Read MoreWHERE WILL YOU BE ON “C-DAY?”
Where will you be on “C-Day,” the day the Cascadia Subduction Zone blows a gasket? Yeah, yeah, I know. Maybe we’re all six feet under or blowing in the wind by then. Or maybe not, not if Cascadia lets ‘er rip tomorrow or over the Fourth of July weekend, like in the novel, Cascadia. So,…
Read MoreIT’S QUIET OUT THERE . . . TOO QUIET—A LOOK AT THE 2016 HURRICANE SEASON
The season for blizzards has drifted away. The climatological peak for tornadoes and supercells is spinning past us. So now comes the months when we turn a wary eye toward the oceans, and terms such as “storm surge” and “eyewall” begin to creep into our conversations. The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season is officially underway (June…
Read MoreCASCADIA–A PICTORIAL PREVIEW
This blog is different from most I write, in that it’s built around pictures and photographs rather than words. Cascadia, my forthcoming novel, is set primarily along the spectacular and rugged northern Oregon coast. I grew up not far from there in Portland, and I know I didn’t fully appreciate the magnificence of the region until…
Read MoreYES, I KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT A REAL TSUNAMI LOOKS LIKE
When I got my first look at what is now the cover of Cascadia, my left-brain (logical, factual) persona took over. I fired off an email to my publisher: “NO, sorry. The cover image looks great, but it’s much too Hollywood. A real tsunami doesn’t look anything like that.” Now most publishers, especially the majors,…
Read MoreHow EYEWALL influenced CASCADIA
Of the four novels I’ve had published so far, my first, Eyewall, remains by far the best seller. That’s been a little difficult for me to come to grips with, since I don’t think the book necessarily reflects my best writing. It’s not that it’s bad writing—or it would never have sold as many copies…
Read MoreTHE FIRST ONE-STAR REVIEW OF CASCADIA
Stormy, our five-year-old Shih Tzu, pads into my office and sits next to me where I’m working at my desk. “Hey, Storms, what’s up?” He doesn’t respond, just looks up at me with his big brown eyes the size of shooter marbles. I notice he’s sporting a tie. “What’s with the tie, dude? Haven’t seen…
Read MoreHOW A NOVEL IS CONCEIVED
I grew up in western Oregon. It seemed, at least in terms of natural threats, a bucolic place in which to spend my youth. For instance, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes there were about as common as the Northern Lights in Georgia. Hurricanes were nonexistent. Such storms are born over warm oceans. If you’ve ever…
Read MoreLOOKING FOR A FEW THRILLS AT CHRISTMAS?
In my newest novel, BLIZZARD, a corporate executive undertakes a desperate journey through an historic Southern blizzard, but quickly realizes the storm isn’t the only thing that can kill him. A question that naturally arises is Could a true blizzard really smack the Deep South? The answer is yes. In fact, one did in the…
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