The Mote In Andrea's Eye

I thought I'd drop by and mention my upcoming Five Star title, "The Mote in Andrea's Eye," which is due out in June. If you click the title of the story above, it's linked to the first chapter of the novel - an excerpt to catch your attention.

This novel is pretty personal on some levels. My family lived through hurricane Isabel a few years back - it roared right over the top of our house. Among other things it ripped the handrail from our widow's walk and dropped it into our pool about twenty feet in front of my face -- and when I went up to secure the access door to the roof, I nearly did a Wizard of Oz flight through the storm, attached to that door. It was a frightening time.

After that, we watched the tracking radar on storms more closely, and one night the love of my life asked a fateful question. "I wonder why no hurricane has ever disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle?"

A novel was born.

Andrea Jamieson is my protagonist. She was a little girl living in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the 1940s when a huge storm swept the coast. In an attempt to rescue her neighbor, her father dies, and this leaves a mark on Andrea that never heals. She grows up to study storms - becomes a consultant for the government's program "Operation Stormfury," where they tried to control storms by dropping silver iodide into the clouds, and when that program is shut down, she opens her own hurricane center. When they think they are ready, Andrea, her husband, ex-Navy pilot Phil Wicks, and their team go out to try and stop a hurricane. What happens is far from what they expect. They send the hurricane careening out of control, straight for the coast....but then, right off the coast of Bermuda, the storm just disappears. So does Phil, who is flying high above it.

Now, thirty years later in 2006, Andrea is just ready to unveil a new method of stopping storms. Before she can fully test it -- her storm comes back, right off Bermuda where she lost it. It's huge, it's headed for the coast, and they have barely enough time for a last-chance gamble to stop it. One other thing -- high above the storm, a very old plane is still flying.

This is an odd story - part Science Fiction, part science fact - part romance, part thriller. There's a little bit of "Twister" in it for those folks who, like me, loved that movie.

The last thing is the writing. I wrote this during the 2004 Nanowrimo challenge - I wrote the entire novel in 30 days. (Actually, I finished it on the 1st of December, but Nanowrimo only requires 50,000 words in November -- I wrote 86,000) I wrote it very "clean" so my 14 year old daughter could read along - so what I ended up with is far from the dark fantasy, horror novels of my past.

Publisher's Weekly said: “Those who think of Wilson (The Temptation of Blood) as a horror writer may be surprised by the tender tone of this unabashed descendant of 1940s pulp tales. Tugging heartstrings with the expertise of a master puppeteer, Wilson, a former naval technician, adds plenty of authentic touches but never overwhelms the reader with details. The clean prose, romance and fantasy elements, heart-pounding scenes of man against nature, and topical currency (thankfully not overplayed) will appeal to a wide variety of readers . . .”

Library Journal said: "Wilson (The Temptation of Blood) crafts a paranormal thriller that develops with cinematic intensity to its gripping conclusion.
A good selection for sf thriller and Bermuda Triangle fans."

You can preorder signed copies of this novel at www.shocklines.com -- or it's available more cheaply at www.bn.com (Barnes & Noble offers a discount, currently) I'll be signing copies of this book in Elizabeth City, NC and in Hertford, NC in June.

You can find me spouting off more regularly in my own journal: http://deep-bluze.livejournal.com and once monthly at www.storytellersunplugged.com


Thanks for your time...

David Niall Wilson