The dog days of summer

I've been in a dog mood lately. My last dog, Mocha, passed away six years ago, and I miss her terribly. Because of circumstances — Las Vegas, for one, is not the best place to raise a canine — I have not replaced her. I have instead taken every opportunity to greet the dogs of others and wallow in dog videos. (I'm partial to surfing bulldogs.)

I have also watched more than a few dog movies, including three in the past month that I highly recommend. Togo (2019), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), and Dog (2022) — yes, Dog — are all grand entertainment. All three films feature difficult, often neglected animals that tug at the heartstrings. All demonstrate that dogs really are man's best friend.

Togo is the story of the lead dog of the main sled team in the serum run to Nome, Alaska, an event that riveted the nation in 1925. Unlike Balto, who was rewarded with international acclaim, books, movies, and a statue in New York's Central Park, Togo was mostly forgotten to history, despite covering more miles and more dangerous terrain in the 674-mile relay. Willem Dafoe shines as temperamental musher Leonhard Seppala in an adventure film that gives credit where it is due.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, based on the bestselling novel by Garth Stein, follows the adventures of Denny Swift, a Seattle race car driver, and his perceptive golden retriever, Enzo, who serves as the movie's unlikely narrator. Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, and Kathy Baker star in a compelling drama that covers courtship, marriage, birth, death, and even reincarnation. Kevin Costner gives voice to the dog who becomes a vital part of the lives of his human handlers.

Dog, an American comedy drama road film, revolves around two struggling veterans of the war in Afghanistan — Jackson Briggs, a former U.S. Army Ranger suffering from PTSD, and Lulu, the military dog of Briggs' fallen comrade. Briggs offers to drive the aggressive Belgian Malinois from Fort Lewis, Washington, to the comrade's funeral in Arizona in exchange for a promotion that will reintegrate him back into active service. Channing Tatum stars in and directs the movie.

Though the films occasionally stretch the limits of believability, all are highly entertaining. I would recommend them to dog lovers and non-dog lovers alike. Ratings: Togo 9, Racing 8.5, and Dog 8 out of 10.

Photograph: Mocha wearing the "Cone of Shame" in 2010.

Reaching for the stars

If I have learned one thing as a parent, it is never to underestimate. Children with drive will find ways to succeed and shine. They will not only reach for the stars, but occasionally pull one from the sky.

My son, First Lieutenant Matthew E. Heldt, did that today in Meridian, Mississippi, where he received his wings as an aviator in the United States Marine Corps.

The winging ceremony at Naval Air Station Meridian capped a four-year, four-state journey that included Officer Candidates School; The Basic School; Naval Introductory Flight Evaluation; Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape; primary flight training; and intermediate and advanced jet training. It included tests and trials that most of us, particularly civilians, will never face, much less conquer.

Then again, Matthew, 26, has always been a striver. Long before he mastered the T-6B Texan II and T-45C Goshawk training aircraft, he earned a private pilot license and a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Louisiana. As a Marine aviator, he logged more than two hundred thirty hours of flying time.

Now, Matthew is off to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, where he will learn to fly the F-35B, an advanced fighter jet. A more permanent assignment will follow. Here's to hoping he reaches for the stars wherever he goes. I could not be more proud of him.

(Photo: Matthew and his new wife, Mikayla, celebrate at NAS Meridian after his final qualifying flight in a T-45C Goshawk.)

Back to the Evergreen State

In the beginning, it was my go-to venue, the place where the Northwest Passage series developed. Washington state was a secondary setting in The Journey and The Fire, the primary setting in The Mine and The Show, and the sole setting in The Mirror.

Since then, it has received only one mention, a wedding chapter, set in Vancouver, in The Fountain. That will soon change.

In the book three of the Second Chance trilogy, I will return to my former home state, setting chapters in Camp Lewis, Tacoma, Mount Rainier, and perhaps other venues. I will revisit familiar territory.

Last week, I began researching the series finale by paying a visit to the Lewis Army Museum, part of what is now Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In the process, I learned a lot about Washington's early history, the United States Army, and Camp Lewis, a sprawling city of 37,000. Situated in the shadow of Mount Rainier (pictured), it was the largest military post in the country in 1918.

Southern California, the destination of the Carpenters and Lees at the end of Annie's Apple, will also get a turn in book three. So will northern France, the site of some of the fiercest fighting of World War I. Along with Western Washington, the venues will form the foundation of a novel that will bring a family saga to an end.

I intend to research all three places — and others — this spring and summer and begin writing the book itself in early August. I hope to publish the finished work no later than February 2024.

Note: The public domain photograph of Camp Lewis, featured on a 1917 postcard, is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Second Act of Second Chance

The second act is usually the most difficult to write. In literature, as in life, it is the tough center of a story, the important and sometimes unsteady bridge that connects a beginning and an end.

Annie's Apple is my latest second act. The bridge of the Second Chance trilogy, it follows three time travelers and their significant others through the elegant, unpredictable, and often dangerous world of 1911 and 1912. It develops a story in progress.

In the spring of 1911, Bill and Cassie Carpenter, both 29, have it all. The New York City educators have jobs at a prestigious prep school, a new home, and a bright future. They have everything they want except the thing they want the most — a child.

Annie Carpenter, their housemate, is in a similar spot. Though Bill's sister, now a blossoming beauty of 20, has begun a promising career as a society writer, she longs for hearth and home. She yearns for the very things that prompted her to jump into a fountain of youth in 2022 and begin a new life.

Paul Carpenter and Andy Lee also battle disappointment. Now 23, the sergeants, best friends and brothers-in-law, ponder their own futures as they try to keep the Mexican Revolution from spilling into the dusty border town of Douglas, Arizona. They anticipate better things in the final year of their enlistment in the U.S. Army.

Then fortunes change. New orders arrive, romances bloom, and the impossible becomes possible. In a snap, New York City becomes a place where the dreams of five young adults take shape.

In Annie's Apple, I develop these stories. I push the Carpenters and the Lees in ways I didn't in The Fountain. I present different sides of characters I introduced in the first book of the trilogy.

I also present a city. From the first chapter to the last, I give readers the Big Apple in the age of Model T's, Gibson Girls, and bicycles-built-for-two. From Manhattan and Brooklyn to Coney Island and Rockaway Beach, readers see a storied metropolis in its prime.

Unlike in all of my other works, Annie's Apple does not feature an act of time travel. It does feature two disasters. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the sinking of the RMS Titanic serve as bookends to the character-driven story. Personal trials and a lingering mystery, one that sets up the series finale, fill the spaces in between.

Annie's Apple is my twenty-second novel. It goes on sale today as a Kindle book at Amazon.com and its international web sites.

Author's Note: Today's release is a tribute to my grandfather, a folksy, adventurous, resourceful man who was born April 1, 1893, on a Kansas ranch. Andy Hoeme inspired not only two characters — Andy O'Connell (The Fire) and Andy Lee (Annie's Apple) — but also parts of several books. Whole chapters in The Memory Tree and The Fountain were based on his experiences in Mexico and the American West in the early 1900s. Happy 130th Birthday, Grandpa!

Writer's block revisited

Of all the tools and techniques I employ as a writer, it is the one I use the most. When I experience writer's block, I take a walk.

I did it just this morning. Faced with solving a plot hole in Annie's Apple, my current work in progress, I took a walk, cleared my mind, and came up with a fix. I did what I couldn't do sitting still.

Others favor different approaches. As I noted in a blog post eight years ago, the web is full of suggestions. Purdue University Global offers seven, including some that are rooted in common sense. Like other online sources, it urges writers to declutter their workspaces, develop good habits, and write in manageable chunks.

More advice can be found at SmartBlogger, The Writer, Writer's Digest, Writers.com, Inc. Magazine, and other sites. SmartBlogger encourages writers to "talk to an imaginary friend," "curse like a sailor," "chug some caffeine," "browse your photo albums," and "wash the dishes." (My wife would like the last suggestion.)

I still prefer walking. When I am out and about, I can focus, solve problems, and sometimes create. I can do the things I often cannot do while staring at a blank page on a computer screen.

More often than not, I will think of more ideas and remedies than I can track in my mind. Even on a walk of fifteen to twenty minutes, I will resort to taking notes on my phone or on a small notepad.

Most writers, of course, know all about the importance of taking notes. They know that inspiration does not always strike at convenient times or places. They become proficient at recording even minor and seemingly unimportant details for future use.

So the next time the words don't come, take a walk with a notepad. Get outdoors and away from household distractions. You may find that writer's block is little more than a temporary affliction.

A minor update for March

The draft is done! At 128,700 words, it is a bit smaller than projected, but it is still big. Annie's Apple, the second book in the Second Chance trilogy, is the third longest of my 22 novels.

I will now spend the next seven to eight weeks revising the draft and getting the input of my editor and beta readers. I still hope to release the title itself, as an e-book and a paperback, by May 1.

In the meantime, I will promote The Lane Betrayal, which will appear on BookBub on March 12, and the Camp Lake audiobook, which was published on January 5. I have a limited number of promotional codes for Camp Lake and other audiobooks, which I can release to prospective reviewers on request. Contact me if interested.

Roberto Scarlato, who narrated Camp Lake, has already started work on The Fair, the first of at least three Time Box series books I hope to convert to audio in 2023. Look for a summer release.

Building a bigger Apple

The book, now seventy percent complete, is going to be a big one. With 90 chapters and a projected 132,000 words, it will trail only The Memory Tree and River Rising among my twenty-two novels.

That's all right with me. As writer Joseph Campbell once said, "If you're going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all."

Annie's Apple, the second installment of the Second Chance series, will also cover a lot of territory. From the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire to the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it will pay at least some attention to the major historical events of 1911 and 1912.

Though I still have twenty-six more chapters to write, I have taken care of at least one important matter. Thanks to the timely work of Michelle Argyle, I have a cover. The Melissa Williams Design illustrator finished the novel's Kindle and paperback cover this week and is now working on the audiobook cover.

The book's cover, like its title, is a play on Annie Carpenter, the main protagonist, and the Big Apple, the city she calls her own. The cover features a 1911 drawing by Charles Dana Gibson of Gibson Girl fame. I thought the young woman portrayed in the illustration captured the essence of my Annie, a 20-year-old society reporter and prolific letter writer. Many thanks to the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division for making the image available.

As reported earlier, I hope to finish the first draft of Annie's Apple in March and publish the book itself in the first half of May.

Taking on the Titanic

It is the gold standard of tragedies. For more than 110 years, the sinking of the RMS Titanic has inspired books, movies, and conspiracy theories and captured the public's imagination. Like Pearl Harbor, September 11, and the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, it is a fountain of intrigue that never runs dry.

I kept that in mind this week as I turned my attention to an event that will play a small but vital part in Annie's Apple, my current work in progress and the second book in the Second Chance triology.

As a longtime Titanic fan, I am very familiar with the big picture. I've read the books, seen the movies, and perused numerous papers and articles. I visited the traveling artifact exhibition when it made stops in Seattle (2001) and Idaho Falls (2009). I have even paid lip service to Titanic trivia, such as the mind-numbing debate over whether Jack and Rose could have both fit on the floating door. (For those who care, Time magazine covered it all in 2019.)

Even so, I'm still learning things. While researching the Titanic, I learned that a coal fire below deck burned for days while the ship was at sea. I also enhanced my knowledge of the Titanic-Olympic conspiracy, communications problems, and the collection of survivors and victims. I found that even a student of history can pick up a few things about a widely reported historical event.

Like many, perhaps, I was moved most by stories of the disaster's final victims. On May 13, 1912, crew members from the RMS Oceanic pulled three corpses from a lifeboat they found drifting in the ocean nearly a month after the sinking. A few weeks later, crewmen from the steamship Algerine collected James McGrady, an Irish saloon steward, and buried him in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The sinking, of course, was more than a disaster. It was a pivotal moment in history, a moment where the Gilded Age met the Industrial Age and pride and excess collided with science and math.

I plan to write my Titanic chapters in February. In the meantime, I will reread Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, scan more New York Times articles, and even watch Jack and Rose run around a doomed liner one more time. I figure it's the least I can do to get a better understanding of a tragic event that still shocks and inspires.

Photo: The last lifeboat of survivors reaches the rescue ship Carpathia. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Looking back and looking ahead

This year was like the proverbial month of March. It came in like a lion and is going out like a lamb. That's fine with me. After ten years of writing two novels a year, I'm all right with slowing down a bit.

That's not to say I was idle. I started a new series in 2022, marketed several older works, and found a talented voice artist to narrate Camp Lake three years after it was released as a Kindle book.

The Fountain, of course, was my biggest project of the past year. Published in August, it launched the Second Chance series and represented a significant change in direction. For the first time in years, I explored the past through the eyes of older adults. I intend to market the novel aggressively in 2023, beginning with a book group appearance in January. I am looking forward to that.

I did not finish The Fountain's sequel in 2022, but I did finish a big chunk. I am now 27 chapters into a historical epic that will have 90 to 92 overall. As I mentioned last month, I will focus on the Carpenters and Lees in New York in 1911 and 1912. I still plan to publish Annie's Apple — named after Annie Carpenter, the main protagonist, and the Big Apple, the city she calls her own — in early May.

I hope to publish the Camp Lake audiobook even sooner. Thanks to Chicago narrator Roberto Scarlato, the Audible title is now in the final stages of production. Look for a January 2023 release.

With the completion of Camp Lake, every book in my first three series will be available in audio. I hope to bring at least some of the remaining books up to speed in 2023, starting with The Fair.

Most of these milestones would not be possible without the continued support of readers. I am deeply appreciative of those who have read many of my books and truly humbled by those who have read all twenty-one. That is a statement worth observing.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement. I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Second Chance sequel

Fourteen chapters are done. Two more are planned this week. Though they make up just a fraction of the ninety I have outlined in my notes, they represent a significant start. My latest work in progress, book two of the Second Chance trilogy, is under way.

This book will be different in one respect. Unlike my first twenty-one novels, it will not include an act of time travel. It will instead follow the lives of three time travelers as they build families, careers, and relationships in Greater New York City in 1911 and 1912.

Annie Carpenter will get a star turn in this one. Now a society reporter of twenty, she will step onto a very public stage. She will find adventure, growth, and romance in unlikely places.

Brothers Bill and Paul and in-laws Cassie and Andy will also shine. As young people with big dreams, they will seize opportunities and seek answers in a thriving metropolis. The will build on the foundations they laid in The Fountain, the series' first book.

Like in the The Fountain, I will blend fiction and fact. I will bookend a long historical epic with the most notable disasters of the age: the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

I am still working on a title and a cover concept. As for the novel itself, I hope to have a completed draft by March 1 and a completed book by May 1. As always, I will post updates along the way.

Review: Around the World ...

I admit I did not read the novel, the one by Jules Verne, or see the movie, the one that won Best Picture in 1956, but I have always been intrigued by the story. For that reason alone, I rushed to see the newest rendition of Around the World in 80 Days.

The eight-episode miniseries, set in 1872, is an imaginative production that captures the essence of cultures from Britain, France, and Italy to Arabia, India, and the United States.

David Tennant stars as Phileas Fogg, an Englishman who wagers that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Ibrahim Koma and Leonie Benesch shine as Jean Passepartout and Abigail Fix Fortescue, the wealthy eccentric's travel companions.

Though I liked the settings and the plot, I most enjoyed the primary characters. All bring something to the story. Each wrestles with a personal demon. All come to appreciate the others when their lives and fortunes are on the line. I also liked that the series, which debuted on PBS in January, did not shy away from difficult topics, like racism, sexism, colonialism, and bitter family disputes.

There is also adventure. From balloon rides, train trips, and perilous voyages to encounters with bad guys, Around the World in 80 Days delivers the goods. It provides the kind of compelling old-fashioned entertainment that is often in short supply. Rating: 5/5.

Review: All Quiet on the WF

Like a lot of history buffs, I have a fascination with World War I. I have read the books, seen the movies, and featured the war as a backdrop in two — and soon to be three — of my novels.

So when I saw that Netflix was showing a new remake of perhaps the conflict's greatest story, I rushed to see it. I found All Quiet on the Western Front as riveting as anything I have seen in years.

Like Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, All Quiet examines the horrors of war from the perspective of the losing side.

Felix Kammerer stars as Paul Bäumer, a starry-eyed German boy who dreams of guts and glory in 1917. The 17-year-old finds all that and more after he is sent to the Western Front, a 400-mile-long system of trenches that stretched across northern France.

Though the 2022 German remake focuses on the big picture, it does not neglect the small. It presents the ugliness and randomness of war through a series of compelling personal narratives.

The flick also reminds viewers of World War I's most tragic footnote. Thousands of soldiers on all sides died between the signing of the armistice of November 1918 and its implementation.

Historian Joseph Persico estimated that 10,900 were killed or wounded or went missing in the war's final act. He examined that unfortunate development at length in Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour, an interesting work I read a few years back.

Though All Quiet on the Western Front is gritty and violent at times, it is nonetheless well worth the time. I recommend it both as a movie and as a tribute to the soldiers who fell on November 11, 1918, the day that inspired our Veteran's Day holiday. Rating: 5/5.

Review: The Empress

As an American, I'm not a big fan of royals or aristocrats. I tend to view blue bloods with indifference or amusement.

As a television viewer, though, I can't get enough of them. I like watching the trials and tribulations of kings and queens and dukes and duchesses as much as football. (OK, I exaggerate.)

For that reason, I've gobbled up series like Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, The White Queen, and Outlander. I like palace intrigue and power struggles, particularly those in rich historical settings.

So I didn't need much motivation to see The Empress, a new series on Netflix. Set mostly in Vienna in the 1850s, it portrays the rise of Elisabeth, the Empress of Austria. Though the series takes a few liberties with the historical record, it nonetheless presents a compelling look at the Habsburg court and the complicated political struggles that plagued mid-nineteenth-century Europe.

Elisabeth, played by Devrim Lingnau, disrupts life in the palace even before she marries Emperor Franz Joseph at age 16. Loathed by some and beloved by others, she takes her nation by storm. A free spirit with a penchant for fun, she dispenses with rigid traditions and changes the court through the sheer force of her personality.

Others, such as Philip Froissant, who plays Franz, and Melika Foroutan, who plays Princess Sophie, the young emperor's controlling mother, also turn in strong performances.

I recommend not only The Empress, the miniseries, but also The Empress, the academic subject. Elisabeth, her husband, and their family had a profound impact on everything from the governance of Mexico to the outbreak of World War I. History, even the stodgy royal kind, does not get more entertaining. Rating: 5/5.

Exploring the Big Apple

I am a relative stranger to New York. I have visited the city only once, at least at length, and know it mostly through movies and television. Even now, the metropolis is something of a mystery to me.

That is changing. Thanks to numerous books, articles, and newsreels I've perused in the past month, I’m getting to know the Big Apple, at least as it existed in 1911 and 1912, much better.

Though Arizona, Texas, and Rhode Island will make appearances in book two of the Second Chance trilogy, New York will get a star turn. All five of my protagonists, the Carpenters and Lees, will live in Brooklyn. One will work in Manhattan. A new character will come to the story from Rockaway Beach, a neighborhood in Queens.

I admit I like the learning. I love reading old issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as much as I love reading books about Coney Island, John Jacob Astor IV, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, one of the defining events of the Progressive Era. I like learning about the development of New York's neighborhoods, bridges, subway system, military installations, and even its spacious public parks.

One reason I picked New York as the primary setting is because it was a big deal a hundred years ago. More so than even today, the rapidly developing city was the center of commerce, entertainment, sports, and culture. It was the beacon that lured millions of immigrants through Castle Garden and Ellis Island.

In my book, Brooklyn will take center stage. Bill, Cassie, and Annie Carpenter will occupy a brick house in Brooklyn Heights. Paul Carpenter and Andy Lee, best friends and brothers-in-law, will serve a stint as U.S. Army sergeants in nearby Fort Hamilton. All will interact with the people and places of a fascinating time.

I plan to research the setting another month and begin writing in November. I hope to publish the novel itself by May 1.

Image: New York City skyline, as seen from Jersey City, N.J., 1910-1920. Illustration courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Review: Longmire

I should have known this would happen. When I sample a riveting miniseries, I never stop at the pilot. I binge watch the whole thing -- in weeks, if not days. I keep streaming services in business.

Such is the case with Longmire, an addictive crime drama I somehow missed when it premiered on A&E in 2012. For the past several days, I have immersed myself in fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming, the primary setting of a show that ran six seasons.

In the series, Robert Taylor stars as Sheriff Walt Longmire, a prickly, old-school lawman who seems to have special insight into every crime that occurs in his surprisingly violent jurisdiction.

Others form a strong supporting cast, including rival deputy Branch Connally (Bailey Chase), loyal deputy Victoria "Vic" Moretti (Katee Sackhoff), lawyer daughter Cady Longmire (Cassidy Freeman), and longtime friend and tavern operator Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips). Along with rookie deputy Archie "The Ferg" Ferguson (Adam Bartley) and an endless stream of misbehaving locals, the regulars provide first-rate entertainment.

The backdrop is no less compelling. As a former Montana resident and occasional Wyoming visitor, I can relate to the setting. Fictional Durant, Wyoming, is like countless small towns in the northern Rockies: rough, raw, folksy, and sometimes sinister.

Even the high-plains sets and breathtaking mountain scenery, though, are no match for the sheriff. Taylor carries nearly every episode with a soft-spoken, commanding, no-nonsense manner that evokes James Arness' Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

I am now four episodes into the second season of Longmire, which is available in its entirely on Netflix. (My wife, who has surpassed me, is on episode seven.) I highly recommend the program to viewers looking for a captivating change of pace. Rating: 5/5.

The Second Chance Trilogy

In golf, it's called a mulligan. In life, it's called a second shot. It is another opportunity to correct a mistake, restore a relationship, or follow a new course. It is a chance to set things right.

In The Fountain, the first book in the Second Chance series, three elderly siblings have an opportunity to do that and more. Thanks to a not-so-legendary fountain of youth, they have a chance to begin life again — as young, healthy adults — in a wondrous time.

In May 2022, William Carpenter, 81, is depressed and resigned. Weeks after burying his beloved wife of 57 years, the Oregon man must look after his dying brother, Paul, 75, and their wheelchair-bound sister, Annie, 72. Bill believes his best days have come and gone.

Then the retired professor, an expert on folklore, learns of a connection between a dying "time travel" crackpot and a newborn boy in California. He investigates a succession of leads. Within weeks, Bill, Paul, and Annie find themselves in a cave in Mexico, equipped with gold and useful knowledge. They proceed to a magical spring and take the biggest leap of their unfulfilled lives.

In June 1905, Cassie Lee, 23, is a woman on the move. A literature teacher at an elite high school in Oakland, California, she dreams of a successful career in education. Even in a world run by men, she sees clear sailing ahead. She does not see meaningful encounters with a trio of time travelers. Nor does the San Francisco resident see a devastating earthquake and fire that will destoy her city on April 18, 1906.

In The Fountain, I depart a bit from my typical routine. Though I offer readers time travel, humor, history, romance, and suspense, I also offer them markedly different perspectives. Bill, Paul, and Annie view their new surroundings with experienced eyes. They take their knowledge — and numerous battle scars — with them to the early twentieth century. They live as young people with old minds.

With this novel, I also begin a trilogy. The Second Chance series will continue with stories set in New York City in 1911-1912 and the American South and France in 1917-1918. For the first time in years, I will tell a family's story in three books, instead of five.

The Fountain is my twenty-first novel. The Kindle edition goes on sale today at Amazon.com and its eighteen international marketplaces. I intend to release the paperback edition in early September.

Giving a nod to literature

If there is one thing I enjoy about writing fiction, it is pointing a spotlight at other works of fiction. In several of my twenty published novels, I refer to classic poems, short stories, and novels. I love tying the themes and lessons of other creations to my own.

In The Mine, Joel Smith, a time traveler, thinks often of the butterfly effect in Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder." In Indian Paintbrush and Sea Spray, grieving female protagonists find comfort in the "splendor in the grass" passage of Wordsworth's "Ode to Intimations of Immortality." In Caitlin's Song, four characters discuss "She Walks in Beauty," Lord Byron's ode to his cousin's wife.

In The Fountain, my current work in progress, I do more than pay lip service to highly celebrated works. I explore them at length.

In two chapters of my novel, Cassandra Lee, a teacher in 1906, leads discussions of Pride and Prejudice and The Red Badge of Courage. In another chapter, Annie Carpenter, the youngest of three siblings who discover time travel and the Fountain of Youth, waxes poetic about Jo March, a character in Little Women. Novelist Jack London dazzles Annie and other high school freshmen when he discusses The Call of the Wild, his most famous work.

I also mention Madame Bovary, a novel by Gustave Flaubert, and a smattering of other works. I do so to develop characters and themes in my own novel and to demonstrate the importance of reading, literature, and language in the early twentieth century.

During the turn of the last century, before the advent of the internet, television, and talking motion pictures, literature was one of the few affordable and meaningful entertainment options. Novels, newspapers, and magazines like The Saturday Evening Post were central to the lives of millions. So I made them a part of my story.

In The Fountain, I use the classics mostly to illustrate situations. Miss Lee struggles to motivate the boys in her classes until she switches from books like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women to The Call of the Wild. Paul Carpenter, a Vietnam deserter, suffers through a discussion on shame in The Red Badge of Courage. Annie reveals her ambitions while giving her class report on Jo March.

The Fountain, the first novel in the Second Chance trilogy, is now in the middle editing stage. I plan to release it by September 2.

A first draft for a first book

I didn't quite finish within Stephen King's recommended limit of 90 days, but I finished nonetheless. The first draft of The Fountain, the first book in the Second Chance series, is a done deal.

With 98 chapters and 122,000 words, the historical epic, set mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1905 and 1906, is the sixth longest of my 21 novels. It is also the first to feature a "fountain of youth," a literary device I have wanted to employ for several years.

In the book, Bill, Paul, and Annie Carpenter, three elderly siblings from 2022, find youth, health, and romance in the time of Teddy Roosevelt. Determined to make the most of their second chance, they start new lives in California with only a vague understanding of a horrific earthquake that awaits them on April 18, 1906.

I expect to revise the manuscript at least three times before sending it to my editor. I hope to find a suitable cover sometime in the next few weeks. The Fountain is still set for a September release.

Writing with perspective

I am sixty now. That means something. It means I now look at the world as a "senior" and not a boy, a young man, or even a man of middle age. And that's important because, for the past ten years, I have written novels from the perspective of (mostly) younger people.

Though my protagonists have ranged in age from twelve (Ashley Lane in The Lane Betrayal) to seventy-eight (Elizabeth Campbell in Mercer Street), most have fallen neatly in the eighteen-to-thirty range.

In my next series, a family saga, I will do something different. I will write a story from the viewpoint of three siblings who are old in mind, if not in body or spirit. I will incorporate the perspective of age.

Bill Carpenter, the oldest sibling, is eighty-one at the start of The Fountain, the first book in the Second Chance series. Paul, his brother, is seventy-five. Annie, their sister, is seventy-two.

The Carpenters don't stay that way, of course. After jumping into a fountain of youth, they emerge in 1905 as young adults. They begin new lives as younger, wiser versions of the people they used to be.

The siblings will retain their "old" minds even as they progress through the rest of the three-book series. They will remember the lessons of their old lives and try to apply them in their new ones.

That's where my age may come in handy. For the first time in a long time, I will be able to write from the perspective of a person who has experienced much of what my characters have experienced. I will be able to write with a little more authority and authenticity.

Throughout The Fountain, I will refer to the 1960s and 1970s, decades I remember, times when my characters came of age and faced life-changing events. I will provide a framework for a story.

I am about forty percent into the first draft of The Fountain, which is set primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1905 and 1906. I expect to publish the novel, my twenty-first overall, in September.

The echoes of 1906

I know disasters. In ten years as an author, I have written about no fewer than seven, including floods, fires, and storms.

In The Fire and The Memory Tree, I burned a few characters in the Great Fire (1910) and Cloquet Fire (1918). In September Sky and Indiana Belle, I blew them away in the Galveston Hurricane (1900) and Tri-State Tornado (1925). I doused thousands in River Rising and Hannah's Moon, which featured the Johnstown Flood (1889) and the sinking of the USS Indianapolis (1945). In The Journey, I pushed my protagonist in the path of Mount St. Helens (1980).

I hope to be kinder in the The Fountain, my current work in progress, but I'm not sure I'll be able to. I may not be able to work around one of the most destructive earthquakes in United States history.

On April 18, 1906, nature didn't just throw a fit. It shook San Francisco to its core. It reduced a city of 400,000 people to rubble and lit the match of an even more horrific fire, a fire that changed the world.

The quake itself was bad enough. Estimated at 7.9 on the Richter scale, it rocked most of California and created a rupture three hundred miles long. In some places, it displaced the earth by twenty-eight feet.

The fires did the rest. For four days, they burned mostly uncontrolled, destroying 28,000 buildings, killing up to 3,000 people, and leaving half of San Francisco homeless. They altered the face of a beauty.

Bad luck made things worse. The quake mortally wounded San Francisco's capable fire chief. Authorities who tried to create firebreaks with dynamite created tinder instead. A woman cooking breakfast for her family sparked the 'Ham and Eggs' fire, the worst of dozens that swept the city. Fractured pipes rendered water resources useless.

Hundreds recorded the disaster in words and images. The Call, the Examiner, and the Chronicle, rival newspapers, joined forces for a special edition. Photograher Arnold Genthe began snapping pictures, including the one of Sacramento Street above. Novelist Jack London, who plays a cameo role in The Fountain, rushed to San Francisco from his nearby ranch to capture the essense of the tragedy.

Many residents rushed to get out of the city. Those who remained battled water shortages, disease, violent crime, blackouts, and martial law. The Army, which patrolled the streets until civilian authorities could restore order, shot even suspected looters and conscripted the able-bodied to fight fires and dig graves. Some buried bodies where they fell, mere minutes ahead of the rats and the flames. Others flocked to tent cities and relief centers. Most did what they could do to survive.

Like the disasters in The Fire, September Sky, and River Rising, the quake will dominate the last quarter of its story. Like the other calamities, it will display good behavior and bad in sharp relief.

I have completed a third of The Fountain's first draft. I hope to publish the novel, the first in the Second Chance series, by Labor Day.

Saying goodbye to Mom

I said goodbye to my mom this month. I was not ready to. Like others who have lost a parent, I was not ready to say so long.

Most of us, I think it's safe to say, try not to think about such moments. We put off pending unpleasantries like we put off appointments or even our own mortality. We believe parents will live forever.

Mary Heldt, who died last Friday at 90, lived a good life. Though she did not live to be 100, one of her biggest goals, she did live long enough to make a lasting impression on countless others.

My niece Mary called her namesake a matriarch, a teacher, a calming presence, a saint. She was right on every count. Mom was many things to many people, but most of all, she was just a good friend.

I will remember her for many things. She was an organist, a baseball fan, and a fabulous cook. She could whip up tasty dinners from the simplest ingredients and satisfy every palate. She was an avid reader and correspondent, who, in her prime, wrote a hundred letters, by hand, each Christmas.

She was also a selfless caregiver, who in the 1970s babysat as many as seven kids, the children of working mothers, while raising six of her own. She was patient, grounded, and giving.

Though I have many memories of my mom, one will always stand out. I remember it like it was fifty minutes ago and not fifty years. I was eight at the time — and in 1970, that meant something. I was old enough to lobby for a gerbil and young enough to get my way.

Mom set just one rule: "Chopper" had to stay in his cage. She did not want a fidgety rodent with beady eyes running around the house and hiding in strange places. I observed the rule for a while. I observed it until I tired of watching Chopper run on his wheel like a fitness fanatic. I released him, on short paroles, and let him explore my room.

And so it went. For three weeks, I entertained him, and he entertained me. I bonded with a furry creature. I enjoyed him too. I did so until I saw him shake and wobble in a frightening way. I feared the worst when he barely moved one morning. I knew the worst when I came home from school and saw Mom standing at the door.

She did not say a word at first. She just guided her inconsolable son through a grieving process that lasted nearly an hour. She wrapped Chopper in a tissue, put him in a small box, and accompanied me to our landscaped backyard, where we buried him with dignity.

Some parents, of course, would not give a rodent a second thought, much less something amounting to a funeral. They would dispose of the animal and offer their child a hug or words of encouragement.

But not my mother. She went further that day. She demonstrated that all life, no matter how small, is worthy of respect. She provided me with a lesson I've never forgotten and try my best to share.

I'm grateful for that lesson, Mom. I'm grateful for sixty years. I'm grateful I got to speak with you three days before you died. For now, that will have to do. I love you, Mom. I miss you. Until we meet again.

The making of The Mine

It is not my best book — not by a long shot — but it is still the one I treasure most. It is the one that took the slings and arrows while I debated whether to continue a sometimes perilous journey as a novel writer. It was the first to stand the test of time.

For those reasons and more, The Mine, which turns ten years old this weekend, will always hold a special place in my heart and my rapidly expanding library. It is an enduring reminder of the risks and rewards that go with being a self-published author.

The book, once the top item on my bucket list, took shape, at least as an idea, in June 2011. I created a rough outline days after seeing The Time Traveler's Wife, a movie based on a novel by Audrey Niffenegger. Though I liked both the film and the book, I was moved most by the concept of time travel to the recent past. I wanted Joel Smith, my carefree protagonist, to meet people he knew as a young boy.

Once I settled on 1941 Seattle as the primary setting, I faced another decision. Should I go big or go small? Should I have Mr. Smith try to stop Pearl Harbor or do something more realistic? In the end, I decided that most people in Joel's situation would focus more on surviving than changing history. They would try to blend in and meet people. They would save killing Tojo or Hitler for another day.

With that out of the way, I went about writing a novel that had a beginning and an end but not much of a middle. I fleshed out a story about a curious college senior who enters an abandoned mine in 2000, exits in 1941, and tries to finds his way in a world of swing dancing, saddle shoes, and a peacetime draft. I introduced a 22-year-old man to his 21-year-old grandmother, her ill-fated fiancé, and their coed friend, a beautiful, engaged orphan with a tragic past and an uncertain future.

Then I made another decision. On the advice of Maureen Driscoll, a novelist friend, I injected some romance into an adventure story. I turned a tale about Joel and Ginny and Tom into a tale about Joel and Grace. In doing so, I opened doors to new readers, added depth to a two-dimensional story, and created a template for future works. I gave Joel Smith another reason to tread carefully as a time traveler.

By November, I had a finished draft but not a finished book. My daughter Amy, then a 17-year-old honors student, pointed out numerous flaws and introduced me to terms like "headhopper," "conflict," and "story arc." I realized my "novel" looked more like the nonfiction newspaper stories I had written for years. I almost gave up.

Then I went back to work. I made some changes, added fifteen chapters, and expanded several others, including Chapter 34, where Joel and Grace evolve from friends to something more. That chapter, set at a minor league baseball game, is still the longest I have ever written.

Over the next several weeks, I revised the manuscript, enlisted others to proof it, and asked a family friend to create a simple cover. On February 12, 2012, I clicked the "Publish" button on Amazon, went out to dinner, and waited for great things to happen.

News flash: They didn't. Like thousands of other indie authors, I quickly learned a brutal truth of publishing. Writing a book is one thing. Selling it in a competitive marketplace is another. For weeks, I could not give the book away, at least to strangers. Sales skidded to a stop.

Desperate for a break, I pitched The Mine to 17 agents and publishers, including several small presses. All rejected my queries. Though most were pleasant and supportive, a few were not. One agent, named Claudia, said she could not generate "sufficient enthusiasm for the project." I realized that publishing is first and foremost a business, a business whose gatekeepers save their enthusiasm for books that can sell at least 10,000 copies. I turned again to my bucket list.

Then something wonderful happened. Comments trickled in. Positive comments. Then positive reviews. Two reviewers, in particular, lifted The Mine out of obscurity. Kathy Altman praised the book in USA TODAY. Marlene Harris did the same in Library Journal. More reviews, three hundred in all, followed in the coming months.

So did more interest and opportunities. In March 2013, Podium Audio contacted me after noticing that many readers who bought Andy Weir's sci-fi thriller The Martian, then a relatively obscure indie work, also bought The Mine. The Canadian company offered me a publishing contract — my only one to date — and produced an audiobook, with an appealing new cover, before the year was out.

Though The Mine did not keep pace with The Martian, which became a New York Times bestseller and a blockbuster film, it did gain steam with many readers. Bloggers and media outlets continued to review and promote the book. Customers pushed it to the top of several Amazon bestseller lists, including historical fiction. They downloaded a novel agents and publishers would not take onto 180,000 Kindles.

I no longer market The Mine like I used to. Nineteen newer books have taken its place and the opportunities to find new readers have dwindled. The novel, which has undergone numerous revisions, is the professor emeritus of my library. Its best days have come and gone.

Still, the book is important to me. It is a reminder of where I started and where I can still go. It's a testament of what I — or anyone — can do through hard work, perseverance, and the willingness to grow.

A plan for the new year

I am not big on New Year's "resolutions." I consider them empty pledges that usually fall by the wayside in weeks, if not days. I am big on realistic plans and goals though. I consider them essential to progress. So I've sketched out at least a few things I would like to accomplish in what I hope will be a better year for everyone.

First and foremost is a new series. In a few months, I will begin writing another family saga. Like the Northwest Pasage, American Journey, Carson Chronicles, and Time Box sets, it will feature time travel. Unlike the first four series, it will offer a fountain of youth, a short time frame, and older perspectives. It will view the past through the eyes of Boomers rather than Zoomers — specifically three broken, aging siblings who get a second shot at life.

The series will also be a trilogy, my first. Book one will begin in Oregon in 2023, continue in Mexico, and conclude in San Francisco in 1906, the year of the city's most devastating earthquake and fire. Books two and three, still on the drawing board, will take the story to New York City in 1912 and France in 1918. I hope to flesh out more details for all of the books by the end of March.

Later in the year, I will try to convert more titles to audio, including the last four Time Box books. Camp Lake, the Carson finale, is currently in production. It is still slated for a 2022 release.

I will also do more to promote my existing Kindle and print titles through book fairs, interviews, and online promotions. My next BookBub promotion, for The Refuge, is set for January 4.

I hope your 2022 is pleasant and productive. Happy New Year!

Breaking down a family saga

Even now, the questions come. Readers of the Time Box series want to know why I did what I did in creating the five novels.

Some ask about characters and plot twists. Others point out peculiarities (and flaws). Most just want to know more. So I will do what I did after finishing the Northwest Passage series and address some of the matters -- and throw in a bit of trivia to boot.

The family name: Many wanted to know why the Lanes did not change their name while fleeing pursuers skilled at checking public records. I resisted making a change for two reasons. The first is that I wanted to keep things simple. When you write a family saga with multiple points of view, settings, and stories, you lose some readers. When you add aliases (and confusion) to the mix, you lose even more. Throughout the series, I tried to a make a complex story less complex. I also wanted the Lanes to retain their identity, something they cherished and ultimately defended.

The significant others: It is no accident that each of the Lane children loved and lost before finding an ideal companion. As with siblings Natalie, Caitlin, and Cody in the Carson Chronicles, I wanted them to struggle, at least a bit, to better appreciate what they found at the end. And though Ashley and Chip Brown had just started their romantic journey in Crown City, I purposely left the impression that the two had a future. (Spoiler alert: They do.)

Grace and Sarah: Kudos to perceptive readers who noticed similarities between Grace Vandenberg in The Mine and Sarah Gustafson in The Refuge. Both women were friendly, studious, blue-eyed blondes with a penchant for mischief. Both were born in rural Minnesota in the early 1920s and orphaned before they could finish college. The two could have been cousins.

Maddie and Patty: I did not even try to hide the similarities here. Ashley's best friends in Sea Spray and Crown City shared many of the same qualities, qualities that allowed a young protagonist to grow. It's not difficult to see Maddie Price, a product of the 1920s, fitting into Patty Brown's social circle in the early 1960s.

The series settings: Placing the Lanes in Virginia and Washington, D.C., in The Lane Betrayal was a no-brainer. I wanted to put the family near the center of action in 1865, the final year of the American Civil War. In later books, I simply followed the history. I thought Chicago, Long Island, Hawaii, and Southern California best reflected 1893, 1927, 1941, and 1963, respectively.

My favorite characters: Jeremy and Mary. Jeremy provided comic relief when it was needed. Mary, his stalwart mother, gave the series a strong, moral underpinning. Ashley was my next favorite. I enjoyed writing her character in each of the last three books.

Jeremy and the draft: When I finished Crown City, I left the impression Jeremy would somehow avoid Vietnam, either by leaving the country or getting a college deferment. Later, I learned he would have been fine, no matter what. As a man who tied the knot before August 25, 1965, when President Johnson signed Executive Order 11241, he could have legally put off military service.

'Mrs. Brown' song: From the start, I wanted to include "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" in Crown City's slumber party chapter. Then I learned that the most well-known version of the song, by Herman's Hermits, did not exist in 1963. Fortunately for me, another version, the first version, did. Tom Courtenay, an English actor, released a 45 of "Mrs. Brown" in 1963. Problem solved.

Craig Henderson: I expanded this bit player's role to answer the central question of the Time Box series: How far would you go for the ones you love? I wanted readers to put themselves in the shoes of time travelers who had the power to save lives, even at a cost.

Bobby Devereaux: One reader asked about the fate of the three-year-old boy after he was adopted by a family that wanted him. I did not answer the question in the book, but I did provide a clue. In the case of nature vs. nurture, I cast a vote for the latter.

Saying so long to the Lanes

I dislike goodbyes. I particularly dislike long, drawn-out literary goodbyes that bring five-book time-travel series to a conclusion.

The first two weren't so bad. When I said so long to the Northwest Passage and American Journey sets, I did so with books that served a purpose. The Mirror and Hannah's Moon tied loose ends.

Camp Lake went further. It brought a lengthy family saga to an end. It gave the Carsons the sendoff they deserved.

Crown City does all this and more. The novel, the last in the Time Box series, showcases, redefines, and even reintroduces a clan that has been my focus for nearly two years. Set mostly in the San Diego area in the summer and fall of 1963, it displays the Lanes at their very best.

No one shines more brightly than Ashley. Now fourteen, the introverted, studious youngest child enters Crown City High School with trepidation. Then a classmate nominates her for freshman homecoming princess. Within weeks, Ashley, a new student in search of friends and belonging, finds popularity, romance, and a host of new problems. She experiences the triumphs and tribulations of adolescence.

While Ashley finds her place in school, the other Lanes find it elsewhere. Parents Mark and Mary settle in the seaside town of Coronado. Siblings Jordan, Laura, and Jeremy chart new courses with spouses, children, and significant others. All hope the latest stop on their turbulent journey through time is their last.

Robert Devereaux does too. The unhinged billionaire, a software mogul in 2023, wants to eliminate the Lanes and reclaim the portable time machines they stole from him in 2021. Through traveling hit man Silas Bain, he intends to find the fugitives and settle a score.

The Lanes have plans of their own. Tired of running and hiding in the past, they take the war to their enemy. With friend Randy Taylor leading the way, they tackle a tyrant on two fronts. They hope to put Old Robert in prison while sparing Young Robert, a three-year-old in 1963, from a life-altering tragedy and years of neglect.

Filled with romance, suspense, and adventure, Crown City brings an epic family saga to a poignant end. It presents the Lanes one last time as they battle adversaries, circumstances, and even each other in the era of malt shops, deuce coupes, and John F. Kennedy.

Crown City is my twentieth novel. It goes on sale today at Amazon.com and its twelve international affiliates.

Writing a familiar finale

The chapter, the third in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, has moved writers and thinkers for centuries. Even movie makers and recording artists have drawn inspiration from its words.

Actor Kevin Bacon quoted the passage in the 1984 film Footloose. Folk singer Pete Seeger set it to music. The Byrds, an American rock group, adapted and recorded it, producing "Turn! Turn! Turn!" Their soulful interpretation, a Billboard Number 1 hit in the fall of 1965, became an enduring anthem of the 1960s.

In every version of the poem, the message is the same: "To everything there is a season." There is a season to laugh and weep, to be born and die, to love and hate, to dance and mourn. In literature, as in life, there is a time and a place for everything.

In writing Crown City, the last book in the Time Box series, I took the passage to heart and then some. I gave the Lanes, my family of time travelers, a season and a reason to fulfill their potential. I gave them a comprehensive taste of the human experience.

Readers will find the evidence in spades. There are births and deaths in Crown City – as well as weddings, funerals, dances, feasts, farewells, reunions, and coming-of-age moments. There is also laughter, tears, love, hate, healing, and sacrifice. There are the very things that have made the Lane saga such a joy to write.

I included these things on purpose, of course. Since writing The Mine, my first novel, ten years ago, I have asked myself the same questions. Why tell one story when you can tell ten? Why not give readers a seven-course meal? Why not present life as it is?

Sometimes covering all the bases in a single work is difficult. Sometimes it is easy. In Crown City, it was easy. I merely had to follow several individual stories, the stories of the Lane family, to their logical conclusions. I had to finish what I started.

As in The Mirror, Hannah's Moon, and Camp Lake, my other series finales, readers will find the answers to many lingering questions. Longtime readers will also find much that is familiar.

In writing my twentieth novel, I paid serious homage to the first nineteen. I borrowed at least one theme, name, place, or circumstance from every other book and gave it a fresh spin.

I did so because I could and because I thought the time was right. For me, the season for writing a novel that encompassed the spectrum of life had come. Crown City is currently in the final editing phase. It is now set for an early December release.

A first draft for a last book

The first draft, I wrote a year ago, is the easy one. It's the "rough, unpolished blob a writer pushes out in a manic frenzy."

My thinking has changed. In some cases, the first draft is the harder one. It's the foundation that must be properly set in order to support and accommodate all that follows. Whether done quickly or not, it's the one that requires a little extra care and attention.

This is especially true with a series finale. As I learned in writing Crown City, the fifth book in the Time Box set, the first draft can be as consuming and aggravating as the last. It can be a chore.

Fortunately for me, I managed to complete that chore successfully. I produced a draft I can easily improve. I pushed out a 107,000-word manuscript nearly four weeks ahead of schedule.

Like Camp Lake, Crown City will bring a long family saga to a close. It will tie loose ends and answer questions that have lingered since The Lane Betrayal, the first book in the series.

It will also showcase the Lane ladies. Though Ashley, a high school freshman, takes center stage in the novel, set mostly in Coronado, California, in 1963, her mother and sisters play strong supporting roles. All provide depth and meaning to the story.

I intend to revise the first draft, with the help of my editor and several beta readers, in the next ten weeks and choose a cover in the next four. Crown City is still scheduled for a Christmas release.

A salute to the couples

As characters go, they are easy to spot. Though they vary in age, vocation, temperament, and even role within a series, they all have one thing in common. They have been married for a long time.

Joel and Grace Smith started it off in The Mine. From the moment they met as college students to the moment they welcomed their first grandchild, they anchored the Northwest Passage series.

Geoffrey and Jeanette Bell did much the same in the American Journey set. They managed a series of time travelers in their Los Angeles home before taking a bow in Hannah's Moon.

Then came the patriarchs and matriarchs, the foundations of my family sagas. Tim and Caroline Carson presided over a large clan in the Carson Chronicles.

Mark and Mary Lane have done the same in the Time Box collection. Both couples were the glue that held a disparate collection of characters together.

Other couples, like the Carters in The Mine, the Greens in The Show, the Scotts in The Memory Tree, the Watanabes in Indian Paintbrush, and the Prices in Sea Spray, enhanced stories in other ways. They added color and contrast and (sometimes) comic relief.

In creating these couples, stalwarts of my series, I drew inspiration from books, movies, and real people, including two very real people who will celebrate their 70th anniversary next Thursday.

If that number looks like a typo, it's not. My parents, Jim and Mary Heldt, have been married longer than many people live. In that time, they have served as splendid role models for their six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

They have also provided much inspiration for characters they will only know through literature. For that and a hundred other things, I will always be grateful. Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Upgrading the (cover) stock

I don't upgrade covers often. In fact, since publishing my first book in 2012, I have replaced an original image with something significantly different only three times. This summer, I did so again.

Thanks to Melissa Williams Design, The Memory Tree has a new wrap. The graphics outfit produced a cover that will soon be displayed in BookLife. A few times a year, the web site, Publishers Weekly's gift to the self-published community, features cover makeovers that showcase the skills of graphic artists. Both authors and illustrators benefit from the high-profile promotion.

The Memory Tree makeover follows two earlier overhauls. Podium Publishing, now Podium Audio, produced a new cover for The Mine in 2013. Laura Wright LaRoche did the same for The Mirror in 2014. She also modified the text elements on the covers of The Journey, The Show, and The Fire. Needless to say, I am pleased with all of the updates.

I hope to decide on a Kindle cover for Crown City, my latest work in progress, by the middle of October. The fifth and final book of the Time Box series is still scheduled for a December 2021 release.

Two audiobooks and more

For the first time in more than a year, I've added an audiobook to my growing library. Thanks to talented narrator Todd Menesses, The Lane Betrayal is now available in audio on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books. I hope to add the remaining titles in the Time Box series by the end of next year.

Camp Lake is also on its way to listeners. Lu Banks, a veteran voice actor from Indiana, has agreed to narrate the final book in the Carson Chronicles series. I look forward to working with Lu in the coming months and completing that set.

Work continues in planning the fifth novel in the Time Box series. I will begin writing the book later this month. The work, set mostly in Coronado, California, in the summer and fall of 1963, is the last in the Lane family saga. It is scheduled for a December release.

Looking ahead to Baja

As one who often writes about the things I've done and places I've visited, I rarely let an experience go to waste. Even when I can't tie an adventure to a current project, I file it away for future use.

Last week, I did just that. While visiting Cabo San Lucas, I let my mind wander not to my next book but to my next series. Set mostly in the United States, like my first four series, it will begin in earnest in the tourist towns and rugged mountains of Baja California.

I will work out the details later, of course. My efforts now are focused on planning and writing the fifth book of the Time Box series, set mostly in Coronado, California, in the summer and fall of 1963.

Even so, I found it difficult not to look to the future. When writers walk through towns like Cabo, they find inspiration galore. They find buildings, streets, natural features, and people that all but demand to be incorporated into future works. They find ideas.

I know I did. During my time in Mexico, I found one potential setting after another. My wife and I spent a week in the kind of resort that draws tourists from around the world. I did not have to try hard to imagine conversations on high-rise balconies or lush courtyards or poolside tables. I could picture characters in future books interacting.

I could also picture them striking out on their own and taking the road less traveled. As I learned this month, Baja is more than hotels, beaches, and tourist traps. It is colorful neighborhoods, hidden treasures, and natural wonders. It is a setting, indeed a theme, waiting to be explored and described and appreciated.

At the moment, I have only sketched the broad outlines of the fifth series. Though most of the particulars will not be be determined until next year, I can say the series will initially revolve around three aging siblings -- two brothers and a younger sister -- who get a second shot at life by making use of a fountain of youth. Like many of the characters in my previous works, they will find satisfaction and redemption in the not-so-distant past. Unlike most, they will begin their journey in Mexico.

In the meantime, I will strive to give the Lane family, the focus of my current five-part family saga, a proper send-off. I hope to finish the last novel in the Time Box series by December or January.