Sunday, April 15, 2012

Time Travel & The Titanic

Earlier today on the Read Indies Blog (http://readindies.blogspot.com/2012/04/explore-titanic-in-way-you-never.html), I talked with Marlene Dotterer about her book The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, which my friends over at the Sony Reader Store were kind enough to feature in yesterday's Reader Store Newsletter spotlighting Titanic related books. (Thank you, Audrey and Cindy @ Sony -- you're the best!)

I decided to follow up with an official interview here at Robert Stanek's Around the Town Books.

Tell my readers more about your book.

My book is about Thomas Andrews, who built the Titanic, and was one of the 1500 people who perished when she sank. I've used a time travel/alternate universe format to tell his story - what he was like, how he lived, and to give him a second chance at life. The book is fiction, of course, but based on actual events in his life. I wanted this book to be available for the hundredth anniversary of Titanic's sinking, which is this April.

Where can people get your book?

For Sony e-reader: The book can be purchased here.

For Amazon Kindle: The book can be purchased here.


In your book, who is your favorite character?

Oh, it's Tom Andrews, no doubt about that. It was a joy to write about him, and include him in my time travelers' attempts to change history. He was a very intelligent man in real life, and I think he would have been delighted to work with real time travelers. He just came to life for me, as I wrote the book.

What's your favorite indie book that you've read recently?

I've read so many, it's hard to choose! But one that I had a great time with, was "The Boots of Saint Felicity" by Jean Cross. The first line is "Eloueese Turtlewine stood in her kitchen and gazed out the window." Well, any book that has a character named Eloueese Turlewine is a book I need to read. The first page went on to reveal how Eloueese hates Tuesdays and why she hates Tuesdays, and it has all these delightful names for everyone and everything, and a wonderful, lilting voice to the narrative.

What's your favorite book of all time?

I can't say that I have a favorite of "all" time. I change too much.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I love authors who give me worlds I want to live in and characters I want to know. Some of my favorite are Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Anne McAffrey, Diane Duane, and Julie Czernada.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Participate in critique groups, and use an editor. If we want Indie Publishing to succeed, we need to put out quality products.

What's next for you in your writing?

By fall, I hope to publish the second time travel journals book: Bridgebuilders. It spins off from Shipbuilder, but takes place in the future, and is much closer to actual science fiction than Shipbuilder is. It's about people from the alternate universe of Shipbuilder who figure out how to return to our original universe. They aren't prepared for what they find when they get here.

I also have several other novels in progress. Sometimes it's a race to see which gets done first, but I'm concentrating on Bridgebuilders for now.

Anything else you'd like to tell us?

My husband and I are on board the Titanic Memorial Cruise, which is tracing the path of Titanic - except we hope to end up in New York. We are also touring the shipyards in Belfast, where Titanic was built, and also the house that Thomas Andrews lived in. I'll be blogging about the trip as it happens, so everyone tune in to follow along!

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