Hydra Blog Hop, Day 6: Michael Wallace

 Happy Saturday, Folks:

Today officially marks Day Six, the final day of the Hydra Blog Hop. I hope you all have had a splendid time learning about each of the featured authors. It has certainly been a treat hosting them on my page. But, of course, as Team Hydra, we share a common bond. :) 

For the final day, you can find me featured on Erin Danzer's Blog. But - more importantly: last - but certainly not least - author Michael Wallace has a 'Behind the Scenes' post to share regarding his novel, Eternal Patrol:

Behind the Scenes: Eternal Patrol

Michael G Wallace

One problem with writing a story which involves WWII is the number of war historians out there that will hang onto every detail no matter how slight. So when I took on the project of writing a time travel story that included two American Gato Class submarines, I knew the details would make or break the book. No one would have a problem with the time travel, but if I said the said the depth gauge was above the ballast gauge, they would throw the book down and say the entire story was unbelievable.

Even though some readers posted, in their reviews, I should have watched more WWII movies so my submarine facts would have been more accurate, several submariners have told me I had the details so accurate it was like being back on the boat.

Before I wrote my first word for this book, I spent a year and a half researching all I could about submarines. I read Commander's logs, sailor's journals and every manual, schematic, and website I could find about Gato Class submarines and their operations. This led to a lot of information about modern day subs which also came in handy as this is a time travel story.

"I did find some very unusual events surrounding the disappearance of two subs."

My research started with the Navy's record archives catalog. I found, since the Navy launched its first commissioned submarine, (the USS Holland, October 12, 1900), it has kept a record of the location of each boat. The are listed as "In Port", "On Patrol", "Sunk in Battle", or "De-commissioned". If a sub goes out on patrol, never returns and its fate is unknown, the Navy will officially list the submarine as "On Eternal Patrol." It was these subs I wanted to find.

I spent days going through each page of the Navy log writing down the names of all the subs from WWII still listed as "On Eternal Patrol". Once I had my list, I delved into the logs, sightings and war reports from the U.S, Japanese, and German navies to try and find out what happened to the subs. As I expected, if the Navy couldn't find out what happened, I wasn't going to have much luck going through only the de-classified reports. But I did find some very unusual events surrounding the disappearance of two subs, the USS Corvina and the USS Dorado.

While on patrol in the Gulf of Mexico, the Commander of the Dorado radioed he had spotted a German U-boat. This was the last communication from the Dorado as she was never seen again. According to German records, they did not have a submarine in that area at that time. I'm going to give Commander Schneider the benefit of a doubt he knew what a U-boat looked like and one must have been in the area. If the Germans didn't have any record of this sub in the area, it sounds like German black-ops.

"The Germans claimed they did not have a boat there at that time."

There are several conflicting stories of what happened to the Dorado. She sank under friendly fire, sank under attack off of Panama, but none of these stories actually confirm what happened to her.

In my novel, I used the circumstances we know about the submarine. The last contact was that Schneider saw a U-boat in the area and the Germans claimed they did not have a boat there at that time. I knew these details would work well with my time travel story.

The second boat in my novel is the USS Corvina, also listed as "On Eternal Patrol". Like the Dorado, the Covina had some mysterious facts surrounding her disappearance. After months of searching through both U.S. and Japanese records, (ones that had been translated to English), I again found many conflicting stories. But, they all boil down to no one knows what happened to the sub.

The Corvina reported they were under attack by a Japanese destroyer which had an attack sub escort. The Japanese destroyer reported they had dropped depth charges on the American sub and followed her oil slick for miles. One problem here: after they dropped their depth charges, they never saw or heard from their Japanese attack escort sub. The Japanese Captain insisted he only sank one sub, and it was the American boat. There was no way he would go back to Japan and tell the Emperor he sank one of his own subs.

So which sub did they sink? Debris from the Japanese sub was found by passing Allied ships hours after the attack and modern day deep water surveys have found the hull of the Japanese sub in that area, but to this day no evidence has been found as to the fate of the Corvina. 

"...this crew spent the next several days wondering if they had all died in an earlier attack."

So I had my two submarines for my story. But with all that research, I found so many incredible stories of what happened to our subs when they were out there on patrol. Commanders wrote about their boats being flipped upside down and dragged across the ocean floor by undersea storms. While on the surface conducting open sea repairs and unable to submerge, one submarine had a Japanese destroyer pass by only fifty yards away and never saw them. And, what I found was common on many boats, this crew spent the next several days wondering if they had all died in an earlier attack and this is why the Japanese ship didn't see them. Many subs went deeper than they were built to go causing the crew to wonder if they were still alive. Crewmen continuously made makeshift repairs with whatever they could find on the boat.

Every sub had to deal with "rogue fish." These were torpedoes that would loose their steering and come back at the sub which launched them. To make it worse, they didn't come back in a straight line. They darted all over like a tuna chasing a mackerel giving the sub no place to hide.

In the novel, Eternal Patrol, I brought all of these events into one story that linked both the Corvina and Dorado into a battle where the fate of the war, their future and our past is held on the outcome of their journey.

Check out the trailer:

 ***

About Michael G Wallace:

By day I’m just a time traveling pirate trying to save the world one beer at a time. At night, I slay zombies except on Thursday nights, that’s when I watch Burn Notice.
If it can be done outside, I probably do it and I bring the wife and kids with me. I like to, (take deep breath here) ski, snowboard, rock climb, canyoneering, snowshoe, mountain bike, sea kayak, scuba dive, backpack, fish and last but not least run. I run anywhere from six to twenty miles a day and I usually do it barefoot. I’m training for the 4 Deserts Race with my biggest obstacle being trying to find sponsors.
As for my novels, they are good old fashioned science fiction without the fantasy. When you read most stories, once you know the plot you have a good idea how it will end. They will find the murderer, catch the bank robbers, find the treasure, fall in love, etc… What I like to do is let the reader get comfortable with how they think it will end then throw in a plot twist which changes the story and eliminates your previous ideas of where we were going.

Here's more about my and my other books. http://timepirate.wordpress.com/

 ***

Thus concludes the week-long Hydra Blog Hop. Thank you to everyone who has participated and/or visited during the week. Check-in regularly for future posts and guest figures! Also, you can find my Hydra features listed here today: Erin Danzer's Blog, Michael Wallace's Blog, Lyndi Alexander's Blog, and R.S. Hunter's Blog.

Whew - that was a mouthful! I hope to see you all on a few of the sites. :)

Until next time~

Rachel

Hydra Blog Hop, Day 4: Jay Noel

How now, Mates?

Today marks Day Four of the "Hydra Blog Hop", and to celebrate, author Jay Noel has come for a visit. He will be sharing his Guest Post on his "Confessions" as a "Reformed Pantster". (Mr. Noel's forthcoming novel, Dragonfly Warrior, is scheduled for publication through Hydra Publications in early 2013.)

So, without further ado, strap on your favorite pair of jeans and discover the confessions of a had-been pantster~

Confessions of a Reformed Pantster...

by Jay Noel

I've written a bunch of novels that will never see the light of day. Stories that went all over the place. Poor victims of a sprawling imagination. By nature, I'm pretty "by-the-seat-of-my-pants." However, life has dramatically changed the last several years, and being so haphazard and spontaneous just won't work anymore.

Those who juggle careers, writing aspirations, and children all at once will know exactly what I'm talking about.

For ten years, the manuscripts I wrote were such prime examples of what happens when wayward creativity is allowed to spew all over the place. Unbridled and wild. I also spent a lot of time putting my English degree to good use and did lots and lots of editing. So I looked inside of myself and thought, "There's got to be a better way."

I went to the "Dark Side" and tried my hand at outlining. Plotting. Planning. It was tough at first. Disciplined is always difficult for the undisciplined. I tried all different kinds of outlines...and my uncontrollable urges got the best of me, and my outlines always ended up looking like full blown manuscripts. So I worked really hard at forcing myself to make SHORT outlines.

One of my blogger buddies, David Powers King, did a post back in March of 2012 where he described his outlining process. I took what I did (namely the visual mapping I love to do) and David's format - and magic happened. My outlines were concise and clear, yet it left me with more than enough room for flexibility. Here's how to create your own Mini-Synopsis-Outline:

Brainstorm in any fashion you wish. For me, I love to draw "bubble maps" or "mind maps." I literally start with one central idea and just keep mapping outwards from there. 

Once you've gotten the juices flowing and figured out some of your characters, plot, conflicts, themes, etc., create a three lined paragraph summary of every chapter. Do this for as many chapters as you're going to need to tell your story. Keep each chapter summary to only three lines. This forces you to write down the chapter's main purpose and action. It also gives you plenty of room to flesh out the chapter as you write.

When you're done, feel free to go back and edit the outline for your book. It's a plan with just enough to help guide your writing, but doesn't pigeonhole you or hold you hostage to your initial ideas. If done right, your outline should only be 2-3 pages long. All of mine have ended up being three pages for a 100,000 word novel.

I use my mini synopsis outline throughout the writing process, always referring back to it when I'm beginning and ending a chapter. And when inspiration hits me, I'm free to not follow any part of what I've written on my outline. Sometimes, you go in a different direction and the outline itself might need to be revamped. This happens to a pantster like me maybe 33% of the time. But when I do make those changes, it's so much easier for me to revise my work because I know where to look and what chains in the link need to follow any changes I make.

Since using this method, I've written four novels with only one where I quit about three-fourths of the way through. Although I can see clearly where it just wasn't working for me, and I'm able to go back and rework it.

I still love the flow and creative spontaneity that comes with feeding off of my imagination and being inspired by my muse. But utilizing the mini synopsis outline method, I'm able to create a workable skeleton from which I can let my creativity continue to flesh out and build. I can still go a little crazy and wander, but now I'm no longer lost in the woods. Plotting works.

I'm Jay Noel, and I used to be a Pantster. 

***

Jay Noel is a one-time high school English teacher, but now works in medical sales. He's been blogging since 2005, and has spent most of his writing career as a freelance editor. After finally gathering enough courage, he has taken the leap to writing his own work. His first novel, Dragonfly Warrior, is an Asian-inspired Steampunk story filled with pirates, ninjas, gunslingers, and samurai warriors. They say you must write what you love, and damnit, that's what he's done. It will be published in early 2013 by Hydra Publications. 
His blog can be found at www.jaynoel.com

***

Also: Take a peek at my "Hydra" feature on Tricia Ballad's Blog.

Hydra Blog Hop, Day 1: Blaine Pardoe

Readers, wordsmiths, yoginis, jedi knights: Be welcome! (and anyone else, for that matter)


Today marks the beginning of the "Hydra Blog Hop". Not only will I be introducing a Hydra author each day this week, but I will also be featured on a fellow Hydra author's website for as long as the "Hop" runs (Sept. 10th-15th). Today's stop will be at Amy McCorkle's Blog. Tune in later this week when I feature her for part of the "Hop".

But enough of the formalities. Everyone: please give a warm welcome to Mr. Pardoe, author of Virginia Creeper~

Virginia Creeper – A Tour of Where I Live

by Blaine Pardoe

Virginia Creeper is a story of Virginia’s Piedmont region. It’s not a tale for the faint of heart – the events in the book are fairly frightening.  What adds to this is the setting, in this case, where I live. 

Virginia’s Piedmont is nestled along the Blue Ridge mountain range.  It is a place where some families go back to the 1700’s.  George Washington surveyed the county I live in (Culpeper) for example.  It is a place where the yuppies of Northern Virginia nimbly collide with farming communities and the rolling hills of horse country.  

The people – well, they can be colorful.  We have your off-the-shelf rednecks, respectable folk, young money, old money, and counties where you are known by your family name, the church you attend, or your role in the community.  As a people we tend to be more conservative than Northern Virginia.  Your family roots tell your story.  Comealongs (shirt-tail Yankees who have moved here) are treated differently than those that are born in Virginia.  I was born in Virginia but raised in Michigan and I am quick to point that out when I’m in a group of my fellow Virginians.  It changes the nature of our discussions and how I’m regarded.  

The Civil War (or, The War of Northern Aggression as it is often referred to) is not just a tourist event, it took place in our yards, fields, and homes.   The Piedmont was settled before America became a nation and our Indian heritage is embedded in our rivers and roads.  

The people of the Piedmont love NASCAR, guns, steeplechase, polo, God, state, and country – in an ever-changing order.  We can be a quirky bunch, but you will rarely live in an area where you have such friendly and loyal friends.  

It is into this mix that Virginia Creeper is set.  These apparent contradictions are intertwined in my book.  The events described in the book happened here because of those contradictions.  This is a story of horror that could only happen in a place where the heritage goes back as far as some of our dark roots burrow.  

A question I got the other day is, “are all of these places real?”  Yes.  If you want, you can find Indian Pulpit, if you are so brave and inclined.  Pignut Mountain is a very real, though I have obscured in the book the actual location of the death pit – for obvious reasons.  The burned out hulk of the Beverly Mill can still be seen from Route 66.  The Frost Diner and the other locations are all quite real.  This last year the movie J. Edgar was filled in front of the Fauquier County courthouse, that’s how out of place Warrenton Virginia can appear in the 21^st century.  I invite you to go and seek out these places if you ever visit the area.  But, if you’ve read Creeper, be prepared to be scared. 

***

***

About the Author:

Blaine Pardoe is an award winning author who lives in Amissville Virginia. He is the author of numerous science fiction, military history, true crime, horror, and business leadership books. He is considered one of America's best writers about the Great War. His books have been published in six languages and he has been a featured speaker at the U.S. National Archives, the United States Navy Museum, and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. 

New Release: "Crown of Ash" by Steven Montano

Good Morning, Mates:


How is the world on this fine day? Though it's hardly begun, I can tell it is going to be a swell Monday indeed; I can taste it in the air. To begin, I am honored to introduce author Steven Montano to my blogsite. He writes dark, epic fantasy novels with a dystopian, military flavor. And, as his website attests, he incorporates real vampires in his work. Today, we are to be treated to an excerpt and a blurb of Mr. Montano's latest novel, Crown of Ash, which is Book #4 in his Blood Skies series. So, without further ado, fetch your favorite drink (preferably hot cocoa), flip on some tunes for effect (how about New Age?), and poise your attention to Mr. Montano's latest piece:

***

Crown of Ash Excerpt: The Winterlands

 

He looks out from the void.

He is nothing.  A ghost presence.  A phantom. 

Trapped in a land of whispering voices. 

He has been there for so very long.

The world is saturated in darkness.  It slithers down the trees like rain.

Years have passed since he first arrived in that dismal place.  His face is leathery and rough, and he wears a thick beard.  His hair is long and unkempt.  His skin has gone dark, saturated by the soot atmosphere.  His lips are dry and his eyes sting from the dark grit that constantly lashes the landscape. 

Everything is black and cold.  The land, the trees, even the other inhabitants of that cloying realm are suffused with shadow.  It drips from every pore. 

The sky is a frozen slate of perpetual dusk.  Light shines from just over the horizon and drenches everything in an eye-numbing glaze.  The freezing wind smells of rot.

He’s come to know this land of torn red mud and black ooze.  There are few cities, all of them in ruins.  He travels past briny pools of black water and dark trees with branches weighed down by deathly pale fruit.  He avoids reptiles that breathe caustic slime and carnivorous plants that fan and pulsate like living organs.  He circumvents blood swamps and fields of moldered bones.

He isn’t the only human in that dominion of shade.  He spies natives in the distance, primitive and murderous people who roam the land in small bands.  They ride on the backs of shaggy mammoth beasts with scorpion tails. 

He sees phasing fliers, unstable bats the size of whales.  They soar low through the undine fog and howl at the ground as they search for prey.  Their riders are horned humanoids with staffs of dark fire and cloaks of mirrored scales. 

He is a stranger there, a refugee.  He walks and walks and dreams of escape, but he has been there for so long he’s almost given up hope.  The shadow world has him, and it will never let him go.  He tries to remember the world he once belonged to.  It was a scarred world, damaged beyond measure, but it was his home.  He’d protected it from danger more times than he could remember.  Never before had he appreciated it as much as he does now. 

The worst times for him are when he looks into the water.  He hugs himself tight in his cloak to shield his body against the freezing wind as he stands over clear p
ools of ice and salt.  There are only a few of those pools, derelict bodies of steaming cold liquid so utterly pale they are like liquid suns on the face of the ebon landscape.  They stare like white eyes up to the darkness of the sky.

When he stands near them he sees into the world he used to call home.  The visions are always random flashes that last just a few moments, but he finds himself staring into them more and more as the years go by. 

***

***

Crown of Ash Blurb

Eric Cross and his team have been to hell and back, but their journey isn't over yet.

Marooned in the remote criminal city of Blacksand, the only way for the mercenaries to get home is to help a local crime boss protect his territories from the Ebon Cities.

To complicate matters, Danica Black is also being hunted by The Revengers, a powerful band of corrupt prison wardens, while Cross himself is trapped in the Whisperlands, a realm of darkness controlled by a cadre of evil mages known as the Shadow Lords.

The team will battle their way through corroding wastelands and deadly vampire outposts, but even their considerable skills might not be enough to save them from the cruel machinations of the Shadow Lord’s mysterious master, a malevolent creature who has manipulated their destinies right from the beginning…

Return to the world of The Black in Book 4 of the BLOOD SKIES saga!

Crown of Ash is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords!

Catch up with the rest of the series on Amazon.com!

 ***

 

Steven Montano is a full-time accountant and the author of the Blood Skies series.  He enjoys dark music, depressing cinema, cooking, hiking, and spending time with his crazy family.  He lives in Washington, where he desperately prepares for the vampire apocalypse.

Visit Steven’s official website, bloodskies.com