“IT IS GOOD TO HAVE AN END TO JOURNEY TOWARD; BUT IT IS THE JOURNEY THAT MATTERS, IN THE END.”
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
I have three goals for each of my books. I want readers to:
- Enjoy the stories
- Learn something and
- Empower girls
One of the ways I try to achieve the first two goals is by blending reality into the stories in a way that readers question what is real and what is fiction. I’m hoping some readers will be curious and research the topic/person/place/event to learn more.
To make this easier, I’m working on two pages for my website. I’ve already got one of them up and running on my site.
- I will be adding glossaries for each book. Each glossary will have brief descriptions of key topics/places/persons/events in the book and a link to a site where the reader can learn more. I’ve started working on the first few glossaries and will have them ready sometime in the next year.
- Alex’s Journey is already working. In this page, I have a google map and pins every place where action takes place. Since Alex Scire is the protagonist, most of the pins are in places he’s gone. I’ve been to most of the sites on the map, so if you click on the pin, you can see pictures of the places. To make it easier for the reader, I’ve also color-coded the sites by when they appear in the series. Some pins overlap, so you might want to use the index on the left side of the map.
o Green pins – Book 1 – The Palantir
- I’ve included some pictures from my home in Kentucky so you can see where I work and play.
- I’ve got pictures of the area in southeastern Colorado where Alex and I grew up. It includes Ordway (where I spent the first year of my life), Rye/San Isabel (where Alex grew up), and other memorable places of my youth.
- Chimney Rock National Monument (where key events in books 1 and 3 take place)
- Some fascinating American Indian sites are in and around the Southern Ute Reservation, where Alex’s grandfather and cousin live in southwestern Colorado.
- Salem, Ma., where he meets Diana and his grandmother for the first time.
- Belize City, where Alex meets Jane for the first time and heads to Lamanai
- Lamanai, where most of the action takes place in book 1
o Teal pins – Book 2 – The Pair Dadeni (pictures not added yet)
- Stirling, Scotland - home of the Bandruí
- Delphi, Greece – Pythia’s home (I haven’t been there yet, but it’s a stop on my next book trip)
- Assisi, Italy – Brother Stafford’s home (I haven’t been there yet, but it’s a stop on my next book trip)
- Corozal, Belize, where Alex, Jane, and Diana stock up on supplies before heading off to the Caribbean (I didn’t go there)
- Kingston and Port Royal, Jamaica
- Blue Mountain Peak, Jamaica
- The Citadelle La Ferrière and Sans Souci, Haiti
- Cap Haïtien, Haiti
- Samaná Bay, Dominican Republic (I haven’t been there)
- Upper Windward Passage, Atlantic Ocean (only flown over it)
- The Fountain of Youth, Atlantic Ocean (I haven’t been there)
I hope the web page will give you a better idea of where the action takes place and what the sites look like – because truth is truly stranger than fiction.
The picture below shows me and our tour guide on the trail to the top of Blue Mountain in Jamaica (7402 feet in elevation). It was an arduous climb and stressful descent, but it was well worth it. We saw coffee plantations, walked through a tropical forest with amazing plant diversity, and had great long-range views of Jamaica throughout the hike. Our guide was in phenomenal shape as he never broke a sweat and was never huffing. One of the interesting events on the hike was that we met some college students from Alabama who’d been at the same SEC football game as my daughter, wife, and I had been. (BTW, South Carolina beat Alabama. It’s the only time I’ve been to an SEC game, and wow, what an experience!) They were also the ones who gave us the tip to visit Gloria’s in Port Royal, which was part of book 2’s story.
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