My first two books were published six years ago, in January
2012 (Priestess of the Nile from
Carina Press, a Harlequin imprint) and Wreck
of the Nebula Dream in March 2012, self-published. I decided for this post,
since we're midway between the two, to feature Wreck today, partly because
scifi romance and self-publishing have been my primary career path since that
time. Although I did meet Jeffe as a direct result of having been published by
Carina…and she introduced me to Marcella…and here I am on SFF7 (although that development happened a bit later.)!
I enjoyed writing about the Nebula Dream so much (although I destroyed her) that I’ve since
written several books set on a more fortunate interstellar spaceliner, the Nebula Zephyr.
Here's the background of Why I Wrote Wreck.
(Portions of this post first appeared on Pauline B. Jones' blog.):
Since I was a little girl, I’ve always been fascinated by
stories set during a disaster – the events, how could the characters have known
or sensed what was about to happen, what do they do, what could they have done,
what would I do…Growing up in Upstate New York, the closest I personally got to
disaster as a child was probably digging unreinforced snow forts!
But, the family legend is that my maternal grandfather had a
cousin who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. (I’ve since decided after
a lot of searching around on the internet that she was probably not a relative,
despite the unusual last name.) And as a result, I was thoroughly intrigued
with that disaster in particular. I think after I’d seen the 1950’s movies
about the sinking – “A Night to Remember,” which goes pretty much straight from
the nonfiction book of the same name, and “Titanic,” a sudsy tragedy with
Barbara Stanwyck – I was thoroughly hooked. (Saw them on late night TV folks,
not in the 1950’s theaters LOL.). I devoured any account of the sinking. I read
books and sought out movies about other disasters as well, both natural and
manmade, like Pompeii and the Sepoy Rebellion and Apollo 13…
But Titanic is the
epitome of disaster. Premonitions. Too much speed on a clear night. Too much trust in the
unsinkable technology. So many people, too few lifeboats. The wireless operators staying at their
posts, talking to the world on the internet of its time, Marconi wireless, yet
no one could help. The Carpathia
driving through the Atlantic, knowing they’d arrive too late. The Californian ten miles away, able to save
everyone, yet unaware of the tragedy.
The musicians playing. The brave officers. The lovers separated. Or staying on board
together to drown. The popular captain
who’d never actually been in a sinking situation. The corporate executive who
steps off the sinking ship into the last lifeboat and spends the rest of his life
reviled. The steerage passengers, kept below too long. The rich, the famous,
the children… I mean, the dramatic elements go on and on, yet it was all very
real, and extremely sad.
Now I’m a writer obviously and I’ve done so much research
into Titanic over the years, you
might expect me to have written a novel set on that ship. Well, but for two
things. First of all, I feel Titanic
is complete. Not to say I won’t keep reading books about it and watching movies
and TV mini series set aboard the ship, but as a novelist, it feels done. My
Muse isn’t inspired to go there. Which leads me to the second point – my Muse
likes to write science fiction adventure/romance, with Special Forces operators
and smart, gutsy women, in dangerous situations. So it was probably inevitable
that all that Titanic inspiration
would turn into the catastrophe that strikes my Nebula Dream in the far future. I just had to figure out why my
military hero would be traveling on such a ship. Once I knew that answer, I was
off to write.
I looked to the events of Titanic for inspiration, not to do a literal retelling out in
interstellar space. My plot includes science fictional things that would never
happen in the cold North Atlantic. (No spoilers here!) But I also deliberately
included two children among the small party trying to survive – Paolo and
Gianna, who for me symbolized the many children who sadly perished on Titanic. There are some other subtle
nods to the events of Titanic and a
few outright similarities – the Nebula
Dream is the newest, most advanced cruise liner of her time, with new
engine technology, her captain and the company’s representative out to make a
speed record at all costs…until….well, that would be the story, now wouldn’t it?
The blurb: Traveling
unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula
Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, space marine Captain Nick
Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last
disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino,
take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the
beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.
All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew
abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and
drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off
the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly
enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking
down to self destruction.
But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him
he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces
team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?
