Notes from Maine - 2020/11/22
A couple years ago, I was supposed to go down to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. A chunk of my family gathers down there every other year for a big dinner. Last time I made it was in 2008. When I tried to go in 2018, I got sick and wound up in the hospital for a minor issue. I like to travel for a gathering about once every ten years, so I was sad to miss it. Early this year, I was supposed to go down for Mom’s 80th birthday. That was cancelled due to the pandemic.
I have no plans at all for this Thanksgiving, which is pretty exciting. I’m looking forward to a low key day. My nephew and his father are staying at my house. They are really easy guests.
A quiet Thanksgiving reminds me of 2004. I hadn’t watched a single episode of LOST at that point, and I had all of them on my DVR. While dinner cooked, I parked on the couch and watched, watched, watched. The first season of that show contained such magic. I really enjoyed the first couple seasons of Survivor in the same way—people on an island, trying to find a way to live, and all the drama that unfolds between them.
When I wrote Island King, I had Survivor and LOST rattling around in my head. I imagined the winner and runner-up of a reality show coming back to the place where they overcame adversity, only to find the challenges and danger at a new level. I tossed in a nearby revolution and a treasure hunter.
The book was a joy to write.
Back when I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark the first time, I could barely follow the plot. I kept thinking about those first scenes with the booby-trapped caves. Would it be possible for ancient people to make spikes that came out of the wall when a beam of sunlight was crossed? Could they set up walls that would descend and poison darts that would fly when an intruder stepped on the wrong stone? And if a person could design and build those traps, could they be made to reset themselves for the next tomb raider?
One of my goals for Island King was to imagine traps that answered all those questions. Eventually, I wanted to work in paranormal/supernatural themes, of course. I almost always work in that kind of stuff.
There was one more detail that I knew I had to include in Island King. Whenever I’ve camped near a lake, I’ve always imagined going out to swim in the middle of the night and being underwater when a boat goes by. I don’t know why, but I can clearly picture dropping underwater and staying near the bottom while the sharp buzz of an outboard engine crosses overhead.
I’m offering Island King for free the next few days. I hope you grab a copy and share it with family near and far. Maybe this Thanksgiving you can enjoy some of the same excitement that I had so many years ago.
