Annoucement

I write about time travel, but as far as I know, we can only access time in one direction. Which is why I’ve been giving lots of thought to the status of SHIPBUILDER. Whatever decision I make, there’s no going back to fix things.

From the beginning, my dream for this book was to have it available in time for the 100th anniversary of Titanic’s sinking, which is April 15, 2012. I wrote the book as my own, admittedly quirky, homage to Thomas Andrews, her chief designer. He was on board for the maiden voyage, responsible for the shipyard’s Guarantee Group. Their job was to make sure the ship worked perfectly, and to fix whatever wasn’t perfect, whether it was a misplaced mirror in a stateroom, or catastrophic engine failure.

The engines worked fine, of course. But they did have to move a mirror.

Every one of those men died. Thomas Andrews was only 39 years old, with a much-loved wife, a 2-year old daughter, and parents and siblings and cousins who all loved him.  I know he wanted to live. And I know he died devastated, heartbroken that his beautiful ship could not save those 1500 people who depended on her for their lives. He would have done anything to fix that.

So I wrote a time travel novel. To give him another chance.

I know it’s fantasy. The ship is still at the bottom of the ocean, and Thomas Andrews long ago became part of that deep sea.  But in the spirit of honor for his legacy, I announce that my book, THE TIME TRAVEL JOURNALS: SHIPBUILDER, will be available in print and e-book formats in September 2011.

I’ll chronicle the adventure as I navigate through the sometimes murky waters of self-publishing. I have a lot to learn. And there’s no going back to fix things.