The Other Side of the Ice by Sprague Theobald @TheobaldSprague #Memoir #Family #Climate

Before grabbing a book and heading below, I took a stroll out on deck to try and gather in the towering strength and beauty of the mountains that surrounded our still and peaceful anchorage, perhaps the most stunning I’d ever seen. Low, shrub-covered flats quickly ran up to rocky foothills that rose straight up into the monstrous snow-covered peaks. It was an area waiting to be hiked and explored but, for me at least, only after a good night’s sleep. Sometime during the past day, we had crossed an invisible line that moved everyday thinking to a seldom-visited level.

We were anchored now in an area much more raw, powerful, and potentially threatening than we had experienced. On our way into this amazing paradise, we encountered, for the first time, charts that simply didn’t have complete soundings, no channel markers, no warning of shoals or hidden rock outcroppings. While we weren’t exactly flying blind, we were navigating in an area of greatly reduced information. Not for the first time in the trip the thought struck, “If we stick here, we are screwed.”

This new level of thinking and awareness was debilitating, a slowly circling feeling of expected isolation and self-reliance. No longer would a potential emergency be met with a simple call on the ship’s radio to the local Coast Guard or towboat. We were becoming increasingly isolated and as such were going to have to rely on our own wits. My hope was that this mounting sense of isolation would stay beyond the limits of the boat and not work its way inside. Time would tell. For the past two years, the talk had been to simply get to this area and then farther north.

I unexpectedly found my senses coming alive. My sense of smell was more acute, my hearing was finer, and my sight was more focused. It was a feeling, a new way of seeing life, that through the rest of the trip would reach far deeper than I could have imagined.

The Northwest Passage is a ship killer, and always has been.

At various stages of the journey, I found myself numb. Exhausted. Terrified.

How had it all started? What were we doing?

I was leading a crossing of the Northwest Passage, an 1,800-mile channel north of the Arctic Circle, connecting, in theory, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Hundreds of sailors had given their lives trying to do the exact same thing. We were a small boat with a small crew. Bagan is a fifty-seven foot long Nordhavn, and she was manned by six of us, three of whom were my children.

One thought and one thought only kept shouting in my mind, a thought that no expedition leader and, especially, no parent should ever have to think; a thought that held me in a cold, mental death grip, a thought that I still think about.

“Have I brought us all together just to lead us to our deaths?”

( TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL HD TEASER FOR “The Other Side of The Ice” [book and documentary] PLEASE GO TO: VIMEO.COM/45526226) 

A sailor and his family’s harrowing and inspiring story of their attempt to sail the treacherous Northwest Passage.

Sprague Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the Northwest Passage–the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific–the ultimate uncharted territory. Since Roald Amundsen completed the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906, only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a staggering number have died trying. From his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears, and severe weather.

What Theobald couldn’t have known was just how life-changing his journey through the Passage would be. Reuniting his children and stepchildren after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging over their heads. Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Memoir, adventure, family, climate

Rating – PG

More details about the author

 Connect with Sprague Theobald on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.spraguetheobald.com

#ReviewShare #Christian #Thriller - Infernal Gates by Michael J. Webb @mjwebbbooks

Infernal Gates by Michael J. Webb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This thrilling book had me completely compelled right from the start. We follow Ethan Freeman whose life is quite literally turned upside down when a plane crash kills his entire family leaving him as the sole survivor. As if his grief was not enough soon the FBI have made him the chief suspect. Matters are not helped by the fact Ethan cannot remember the tragic events meaning there is no clear cut way to prove his innocence. In his time of desperation, Sam Weaver, an ex-pilot, becomes a close friend. The romantic element the two’s relationship added to the book really elevated this literature above most other offerings in the genre.

What follows had me gripped as the pair set out to clear Ethan’s name, along the way unravelling a sinister plot that will spell the end for all mankind. It’s because of this constant threat of danger that there is a simmering suspense throughout the tale, it really helps to immerse the reader in the world the characters inhabit. The author must be commended for his brilliant writing style, it allowed me to vividly imagine the often jaw dropping events as they unfolded. I felt the plot moved along at a confident pace that allowed the characters and story to develop fully whilst still being fast enough to always command your attention. There were certainly unexpected twists and turns along the way and I found the ending to be suitably exhilarating.

Overall, when you combine the various positive attributes this book has its impossible not to be impressed. Clearly a lot of time and effort has been put into crafting each piece of the story and the result is something lovers of quality fiction will savour.

Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.

View all my reviews

@TheobaldSprague Shares Fatherly Pride & His Favourite Books #AmReading #Memoir #Family

What are you most proud of in your personal life?

MY SON

What books did you love growing up?

A.A.MILNE, ANYTHING ILLUSTRATED BY N. C. WYETH, DOCTOR DOOLITTLE, MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS, E. B. WHITE

Who is your favorite author?

COLUM MCCANN

What book genre of books do you adore?

MEMOIR

What book should everybody read at least once?

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Is there any books you really don’t enjoy?

CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

What do you hope your obituary will day about you?

I JUST HOPE MY NAME IS SPELLED RIGHT

Location and life experiences can really influence writing, tell us where you grew up and where you now live?

I GREW UP IN VIRGINIA WHERE THE WINTERS WERE TOUGH, THE SUMMERS LONG, HOT AND HUMID AND THE PEOPLE RICH IN SPIRIT. I CURRENTLY LIVE IN CT WHERE THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY IS JUST ABOUT BEHIND EVERY TREE

How did you develop your writing?

I’VE ALWAYS TRIED TO LISTEN FOR THE DIALOGUE AND STORY LINE RATHER THAN MANUFACTURE IT. I ALSO TRIED MY HARDEST TO LISTEN TO CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, “CONSTRUCTIVE” BEING THE OPERATIVE WORD.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

THAT WHICH I HEAR AND SEE

What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?

FOR ME MARKETING IS BY HARD THE HARDEST. I AM NOT A PERSON WHO CAN PROMOTE HIMSELF EASILY. IN FACT IN THE PAST IN MY MARKETING EFFORTS I’VE USUALLY DONE MYSELF MORE HARM THAN GOOD!

( TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL HD TEASER FOR “The Other Side of The Ice” [book and documentary] PLEASE GO TO: VIMEO.COM/45526226) 

A sailor and his family’s harrowing and inspiring story of their attempt to sail the treacherous Northwest Passage.

Sprague Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the Northwest Passage–the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific–the ultimate uncharted territory. Since Roald Amundsen completed the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906, only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a staggering number have died trying. From his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears, and severe weather.

What Theobald couldn’t have known was just how life-changing his journey through the Passage would be. Reuniting his children and stepchildren after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging over their heads. Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Memoir, adventure, family, climate

Rating – PG

More details about the author

 Connect with Sprague Theobald on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.spraguetheobald.com

Christopher Grey & The Big Dirty #Publishing Secret: Novels Are Products @GreyAuthor #AmWriting #Indie

Every author should watch 1987s Throw Momma from the Train with Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito. It’s a wonderful comedy, but that aside, it is a wonderful expose of the minds of writers. My wife, also an author, and I quote that movie to each other all of the time. One of the more poignant quotes in the movie happened when the protagonist Larry gets fired by his literary agent, played hilariously by Rob Reiner, who finally says, “You want to be an artist? Fine. Go to Mexico—the rest of us need to make a living.”

It’s so easy, given the tremendous amount of work we put into our books, to remember that our books are products and our work is to create a product. That is not to say novel writing should be void of art and creativity, but we should never lose sight of the fact we are trying to sell the book. That is why it is so important that authors let the professionals take them through the process—editors, publishers, book designers, marketers—they all know the trade and while you may know how to write a book, that doesn’t mean you need to be an expert in all facets of publishing.

The best thing an author can do after a book is born, is to let it go. Detach oneself from the novel so that it can be groomed, tailored and packaged. Without the rest of the industry doing its job, your novel can never truly reach its potential.

For me, the antidote for letting go of a book, is to write another one. By the time you are immersed in the next story it’s much easier to let the last one go.

In the fall of 1947, Will Shakespeare saw the world collapse around him. Shakespeare, a secret soldier for the Knights Templar, barely escapes the slaughter of his entire knighthood at the hands of a rogue militant arm of the Vatican in a small Montreal church. With orders to escort Templar business associate Dorothy Wilkinson back to her home in Bermuda, Will must locate and rescue the most important secret treasure in human history before it is devoured by a hurricane in the watery caves beneath her father's property. The spiraling quest sends Will and Dorothy into uncovering dark secrets that make up the origins of the knighthood as they confront the traps and puzzles that masterfully protect the world's most coveted treasure.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Action, Adventure

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Christopher Grey on Google+ & Twitter

#AmReading #Excerpt from Danny Wynn's Upcoming #Novel "Lucien"

It was around four in the morning in a packed pulsating club in Istanbul, when I caught Lucien’s eye.  The name of the club was 2019, as in the year, I’m pretty sure – “Twenty-nineteen” was what people called it.  He and I were dancing with the exquisite Azine, his Turkish ex-girlfriend – light brown hair, golden skin, stylish, the epitome of elegant femininity.  We all moved loosely, sweat-drenched, Lucien in that whirling psychedelic dervish way of his.  I was more or less in a transcendent state, one of those all too rare moments when the pure act of dancing makes you high, or higher, and fills you with euphoria.

I caught his eye and shouted above the blasting techno-soul, “I’m alive!”  He nodded and grinned his grin.  He knew.

- from Lucien and I (being released in autumn 2014)

How far would you go to add excitement to a life you felt was boring and meaningless?

For seventy-three-year-old Jaime, the answer takes him by surprise. Accustomed to a lonely life high up in the mountains on the western coast of Mallorca, his dull routine is suddenly shattered when a man parachutes from a plane and lands nearby. The plane crashes; the man lives.

It’s a drug smuggling operation gone bad. But Stefan, the man from the sky, has escaped with eight kilos of cocaine in a gym bag. Jaime brings Stefan home and is soon entangled in Stefan’s attempts to sell the cocaine and start a new life.

As they dodge Parisian drug dealers and corrupt Mallorcan police, Jaime’s search for excitement and Stefan’s resolve to find stability lead them both down dangerous paths.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Literary Fiction, Adventure

Rating – PG-13

More details about the author

Connect with Danny Wynn on Facebook

Website http://www.dannywynn.net/