The Writer's Life 11/13 - Navigators

Even though my dad was a commercial fisherman and owned a little boat, I have no fondness for life on the sea, but I do enjoy entertainment set there. Das Boot (1981) is a great film, Master and Commander (2003) rousing. I was fascinated by Richard Henry Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast. So I looked forward to Richard Woodman’s maritime adventure, Under False Colurs. It is solid work. The action takes place in 1809-1811 and involves a British plot to have Napoleon believe his ally, Russia, is double-dealing. It is the tenth of a series of 14 novels that feature Nathaniel Drinkwater, a minor historical figure, as are many of the characters. The work is speculation, fiction, the author admits. That makes no difference in terms of enjoyment. The narrative smacks of authenticity -- in fact, too much so. It is filled with nautical terms I was too lazy to look up. I was interested solely in the story. Although by no means an easy read, it is aided by its brevity, 244 pages. I was not surprised to find that Woodman is a naval historian. He had a 37-year nautical career, mostly in the private sector. He has been prolific, having written 18 novels besides the Drinkwater series and 18 works of non-fiction. Eight users have rated the book at Amazon, forging to a consensus of 3.9 of five. I rate it three. I was impressed by its Kindle ranking, 336,940th, given that it was published in 1999. There are at least two million books available electronically. There may be a lot more. I’m gauging by the rankings on my own books, the print copies of which at times have crossed the ten million mark. Digital copies are said to be 50% of the market these days, which doesn’t jibe with the numbers I just mentioned. Whatever. (Facts culled from Wiki.)

A huge solar panel structure in the Mojave Desert is incinerating birds at a rate of one every two minutes. Operators shrug it off, citing that cars alone kill millions each year. So far, there has been no benign form of energy invented. All have drawbacks. I’m partial to the most cost efficient, oil and natural gas. Environmentalists believe their use is the major factor behind climate change and therefore makes the higher cost of alternative methods irrelevant and just. In defense of President Obama’s record, many liberals cite falling price of gasoline. I guess the left loves fossil fuels when they make a leftist him look good.

Fortunately, it wasn't wind, which made the lack of sunshine irrelevant and operation of the floating book shop a snap today. My thanks to the four kind folks who made purchases.

Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3

Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/rP7o9

Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp

Vic's Horror Screenplay: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3f

Vic's Blog: http://vicfortezza.blogspot.com/

Vic's Web Site: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/