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HOMER HICKAM QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
Holiday '07 Issue, December 2007
click here for this issue's photos
Dear Gentle and Prodigious Readers,
And now it's the Christmas Holiday Season when we reflect on the year almost over, count our blessings, and move forward confidently into the new year. At our home in the Virgin Islands, the world flowed with sky-blue water and green islands framed by double rainbows (Photo 1). At our home in Huntsville, the world is bright with a white wintry sun while the gray, leafless trees gird themselves for winter. Yet, spring will not be far behind. That's the promise and the metaphor of the seasons, that new life always follows the long, cold sleep that only appears to be final. No matter where we go, there is the beauty of the natural outdoors from which we take energy, sustenance, and inspiration. Linda and I hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed Holiday and that 2008 is the best year of your lives. We will keep this newsletter short but we just wanted to let you know our thoughts at this wonderful time of year.
THE WRITING LIFE:
It's all Red Helmet now. We're into full marketing mode for my new novel and I hope you'll go to http://www.homerhickam.com where there's sample chapters and more information on the book. I think you're going to like this tale of the modern coalfields and the men and women who still heroically go underground to keep our country prosperous. I'm proud of the novel and think it reflects perfectly my admiration for coal miners and their families.
Also keep watch on the website for news of my travels in support of Red Helmet. The novel will be out on February 8, just in time for Valentine's Day. Yes, it's a novel about coal miners but it's also a very romantic novel, too!
This just in: Anousheh Ansari visited our home in Huntsville to work on her memoirs which I am co-writing. Taking a break from our writing chores, we tried out the new Hickam Trikkes (photo 2)! Some fun!
Oh, one other thing. For those of you who enjoyed The Far Reaches or any of my books, a nice comment on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com would surely be appreciated. Your comments do make a difference.
JOURNEYS:
We just returned from our home on St. John, U. S. Virgin Islands, where we enjoyed seeing our island friends in between working on the house, snorkeling, hiking, and eating good island food. I also gave a speech at the Elaine I. Sprauve Library in Cruz Bay, St. John to help support the fine programs of this wonderful facility (photo 3). Linda and I are proud to be St. Johnians and anything we can do to help the people there, we're happy to do. The ending of our visit to our island home was a bit abrupt, however, when Linda experienced a sharp pain in the lower right quadrant of her abdomen. Turned out she had appendicitis. This was late on a Saturday evening and what followed was an interesting and a slightly scary series of events including a visit to a local clinic (attended by a great young doctor named Joe DeJames who made the diagnosis), and various ambulance rides including one that was a boat (Photo 4)! If Linda looks happy in the photo, blame it on the Demerol. Yes, I had the presence of mind to bring my camera (and my medical and credit cards). Anyway, finally, at 2 AM Sunday morning, Linda was wheeled into the operating room at the hospital on St. Thomas accompanied by a crack surgical team headed up by Dr. Sidney Comissiong. An hour later, Dr. Comissiong woke me up and asked me if I'd like to look at my wife's appendix. I said sure and he proudly held it out in his hand. My reaction was it definitely needed to be removed! I was almost ready to volunteer to have mine taken out if it looked anything like that! We're back in Huntsville now and Linda is recuperating slowly and we hope surely. We surely do appreciate the fine work and attention of all the doctors, nurses, paramedics, and ambulance drivers on St. John and St. Thomas. Thank you, everyone!
COMING SOON: News of the musical play based on Rocket Boys. It's finally (almost) on the launch pad!
Have a wonderful 2008 including lots of great books!
Your writer and friend,
Homer Hickam
FROM LINDA:
This appendectomy is NOT what I had planned for Christmas! Of course I had left lots of Christmas shopping, decorating and chores to do for when I returned, including two weeks backlog of email while we were in the islands, sigh.
But my chief elf helper is Captain Mango Tango, a orange tabby cat new family member (Photos 5 & 6) Yes, we had agreed, no “replacements” but we grieved so over losing our lover boy Batman this fall, especially me, that we decided we just had to fill the hole he had left. Our three females are all sweet but not “lap cats” really and we missed having a real sweetie like Batman had been. I had met and fallen in love with Mango (then named Pinocchio) in the feral cat adoption rescue group we volunteer for and tried hard for two years to find him his forever home. I never suspected that home was ours! He is older, maybe seven, and was a fierce, eat-you-up homeless cat surviving on McDonalds french fries when trapped. He was intended to be relocated to a safer area but he was smart enough to decide a warm bed, and adoring people were much better than his life outside and he quickly tamed up and was put in the adoption program.
What a simple joy Mango is, all big purrs and love, making up for many years alone maybe. He sleeps on Homer’s feet and is a friend to China, playing and racing. Old girls Maxx and Flop just mostly ignore him. Here is a photo of China helping decorate our tree and the girls relaxing. (Photo 7-9)
And a very Merry Christmas to all! LTH
A couple nice letters about the Josh Thurlow series…
***Mr. Hickam -- I just finished reading this wonderful novel yesterday and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I first became involved with your books after finding a copy of The Keeper's Son at my local Barnes & Noble store. I was interested in its contents because my favorite crime writer, James Lee Burke, has mentioned German U-boat attacks against American shipping in the Gulf during WWII in several of his Dave Robicheaux novels. Your writing about this in the Josh Thurlow book further added more information about how close the enemy was on the East coast during this period. Of course, I was a mere kid at the time but I wonder now how many Americans really know about this wartime threat.
As for The Ambassador's Son, I found the book to be a complete treat. I was also glad to add some further knowledge about wartime in the Solomon Islands. While the book deals with the horrors of war honestly, your ability to create characters and situations that are humorous in that period make the reading pure pleasure. The Thurlow characters are outrageously funny and totally believable. I'll be looking for the third installment, The Far Reaches, in the Thurlow series and hope you will continue to write more of these.
James Lee Burke and you both have the ability to describe nature and its ever changing theatrics in ways that are poetic. I'm glad I found your books. C.B.
***"Rocks!" - That’s what my boys would say. Homer, I am an Engineer and have lived in Illinois for all of my life (49 years). I will never be a Cowboy or a Western Settler, but Larry McMurtry made me feel like one - hot, thirsty, vengeful, windblown. I'll never be a Spy or part of the CIA, but Tom Clancy has me chasing Enemies all over the globe. I've dodged cannon balls and Aristocracy with Patrick O'Brian - ran a desperate bayonet charge at Gettysburg with Michael Shaara...
However, my only WWII adventures came from movies; I had not found any good writers that actually put me there. (Remember the "You were there at the ____" book series when we were kids?) With my first random exposure to the Josh Thurlow series in "The Far Reaches" (sorry I read them out of order), I WAS THERE! Swept away by suicidal Japanese defenders, angry over poor command decisions, being chivalrous and ruthless at the same time. Following with "The Keepers Son" and "The Ambassador’s Son". I wanted more! I want the cold of the Alaska Adventures fighting the Baby Seal Killers. I want to rescue captive Americans in the Philippines. I want to travel with Josh to Hiroshima or Nagasaki. I want to spend more time in a German U-Boat. Thanks for the great adventures, past, and those yet to come, 'cause this Illinois boy will never get the chance to go to sea in anything smaller than a cruse ship! -G.S.
And…
From The American Spectator's December 2007-January 2008 issue: Part IV of the annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers.
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam. I was a rocket boy, but it wasn't Sputnik over the Appalachian coal mining town that spurred me and my friends to blow things up -- it was Apollo rockets launching close by! But more than just a well-written book about his adolescence and real coming of age, Hickam's book is a testimony to the unrestrainable force of curious minds and the incredible power of good teachers to channel it in safe and productive directions. Hickam's book reflects on the difficulty inherent in taking a really different path from that traveled by family and friends, and as such it is a navigation guide for any young person on the edge of his or her own life, and perhaps a source of consolation for the family and friends about to be left behind.
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