Posts Tagged ‘Pacific Northwest’
THE FAIRY TALE CONTINUES–BARBARA AND BUZZ
The fairy tale continues. The rise of what I like to think of as Schloss Bernard, my new writer’s studio—my castle—signals the beginning of a new phase of my life. I have a few weeks remaining in Georgia before I, and my Shih-Tzu buddy, Stormy, wing our way west to where the freshly-minted Mrs. Bernard,…
Read MoreLIVING ON THE FAULT LINE
I believe there are two different ways Cascadia, my newest novel, is being read. It’s dependent, I think, upon where the readers live. When I do a presentation on Cascadia in the Southeast, where I reside, I’ve discovered I need to do a little extra. I have to set the stage for the drama, because most…
Read MoreAN INDIAN VILLAGE, A BOOKSTORE, AND A SCENE FROM CASCADIA
The opening scene in my newest novel, Cascadia, is set in a Clatsop Indian village on the Pacific Northwest coast over three hundred years ago. Based on research, I placed the village on the present site of Seaside, Oregon. I’m not entirely certain there was an Indian village there in 1700, the date of the…
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 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 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…
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