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Mary Sharnick At Mark Twain House

Mary Sharnick (author of Thirst, A Novel) recently participated in a writers' workshop and conference at the Mark Twain House. She gave a workshop on “The Mississippi River and the Grand Canal: From Geography to Characterization," as her own novel Thirst, set in Venice shared a similar emphasis on a watery landscape as a literary element.

"With a nod to Mark Twain and his mixed reviews of Venice, this workshop explores how geographical setting propels characters into the conflicts that vivify novels. Employing practical, “hands-on” use of photographs, sensate imagery, and travel (virtual and otherwise), participants will draft realistic characters, apt and specific to their respective settings and universally recognizable due to the conflicts they experience with their authors and their readers."

L' Hermione Freedom's Frigate

“So that freedom lives, men will always have to stand up and fight against indifference or resignation.”

Here is a terrific article and website dedicated to the reconstruction of La Fayette's fighting frigate, L'Hermione.  The ship was built during the golden age of French naval history. It belonged "to the category of so-called light frigates, characterized by their speed and agility."  L'Hermione was "fitted out with 26 cannons shooting 12-pound cannonballs, hence its name “frigate of 12”. With a length of 1732 and a width of 433 the frigate took 11 months of work for one hundred carpenters, blacksmiths, drillers, caulkers and convicts for a total of more than 35,000 days of work." In March of 1780, the young general La Fayette boarded the ship and headed for the fledgling colonies to inform General Washington that the French navy supported the struggle of American independence.

In 1997, the Hermione-Lafayette Association embarked on the challenge to reconstruct this historically important ship. "The rebuilding of an 18th century ship is integrated in the development of a new identity, with a view to providing France with a testimony of its naval past as well as with a symbol of Franco-American fraternity through a ship whose name is related to that of a man, La Fayette, a symbol of the support brought by the French to the insurgents in America."

Stop by the L' Hermione website to view the construction progress, read more about the history of the French 18th Navy and naval yards, and contribute to this amazing project.

Gary Inbinder Considers Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and His Steam Carriage

Fireship author Gary Inbinder has written a delightful guest post "Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and His Steam Carriage," for the English Historical Authors blogsite, providing a short history of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and his new invention the steam carriage in the early 1800's. Here's a snippet of the article:

"The steam carriage was the brainchild (there were other steam road vehicles at the time, but Gurney’s was among the first and arguably the best) of Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, one of those extraordinary self-taught “gentleman inventors” that seemed to flourish in the nineteenth century. He was born in Cornwall in 1793 into a well-to-do family, studied medicine and practiced as a surgeon, but is best known for his practical inventions including the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, a high-pressure steam jet for extinguishing fires in mines, the Gurney burner and Gurney light. Gurney was knighted in 1863 for improving the lighting and ventilation of the House of Commons. But of all his scientific achievements he is chiefly remembered for building a steam carriage that in 1829 traveled from London to Bath at an average rate of 15 miles per hour."

Susan Keogh on "The Highs and Lows of Trying To Get Published"

Blogger Michelle Hauck asked Fireship author Susan Keogh to write about the trials and tribulations of getting her first novel The Prodigal, published. It's an encouraging article -- especially for any author considering the benefits of publishing with a small press like Fireship.  Here's a snippet from the article:

"There are good things and bad things when a writer compares big publishers with small publishers. I will focus on the positive things. With a small, niche publisher like Fireship, my book received immediate attention toward getting it to the finished product. They had actually started editing it before I had even signed the contract (which I had reviewed by a literary lawyer before signing). I had the copy edits back within the first month (fortunately the edits were nothing major, mainly words choices, etc. and a tweaked ending) and the galleys in my hands the following month. By the third month we had a cover chosen and a jacket blurb written. Another positive thing is that I was allowed the majority of say in the cover and the blurb, both things that debut authors at large houses rarely if ever get a say in."

Please visit Susan Keogh's biography page for more information about the author and her website, The Jack Mallory Chronicles.

 

Alaric Bond Writing for the C S Forester Society

Fireship Press is grateful for the C S Forester Society's permission to premier "An Unlikely Sea Daddy," an article by Fireship Press author Alaric Bond  written for the the C S Forester Society Newsletter. The article will appear later this year. Bond is the author of the popular "Fighting Sails Series" and the article highlights his journey from reader of Nautical Fiction to author in the tradition of Forester's "Hornblower" Series and O'Brien's "Jack Aubry" series.  Here's a snippet:

That was the dilemma I faced about twelve years ago. The Georgian period and specifically the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars had intrigued me for as long as I could remember, and I wanted to write a fiction series set in that time. Hornblower's presence was both an encouragement and an obstacle; I loved the books, but knew I could never hope to emulate Forester's characterization, yet still felt that the fictional world of frigates and hard tack; close blockades and landing parties was large enough to take one more contributor.

Alaric Bond and C S Forester Society

Congratulations to Fireship author Alaric Bond  who has been invited to contribute an article to the C S Forester Society's newsletter.  Bond is the author of the popular "Fighting Sails Series" which gives an insight into the world of the seamen and naval officers who fought during the Revolutionary War, a chance to experience an exciting period of history, to view the men and the ships, and sample the extremes of life at sea.

Have a look at an interview with Alaric Bond to learn more about his novels.

"Stereotypes and Writing," A New Essay By Kristin Gleeson

Fireship author Kristin Gleeson has written an excellent essay on "Stereotypes and Writing," published in the online literary journal, The View From Here. Gleeson is the author of Anahareo, A Wilderness Spirit, a fascinating biography of Growing Gertrude Bernard, an Algonquin/Mohawk girl from a small Ontario town in the time around the First World War. The book is forthcoming in June from Fireship Press.