Last fall I found the time for novel-writing: 6:00-8:00 am. Six months later, I have the second draft of a grand novel - finally, out of my head and onto the page. In it, a mom and her family cope with the fallout of her obsession with environmental causes. Their attempts to reconcile are complicated by a political fight for control of government-regulated time travel, and the seductive call of an immigrant fairy community nestled in the New York State landscape.In this slightly altered present, casinos and gas fracking wells pay for our national parks, and a Kentucky senator rallies his bad-ass allies to update our nation's proud military heritage.
Will science survive? Can we ignore the Grandfather Paradox of time travel and get away with it? What's Brian's mom up to now? Which of the many secrets would you want to explore?
I'll share excerpts and images here while embarking on the grueling process of publishing this novel of fast-paced adventure-fairy tale-ecofiction. If you accept the presence of swear words, plot-appropriate mayhem, and delicate hints of off-stage romance, the book is enjoyable for adults and older kids.
The photo of young woodlands comes from Kentucky's Little Barren River valley, just east of a famous national park. In this story the government has re-named it Ten Thousand Secrets National Park Casino & Entertainment District, to attract a more diverse, bigger-spending clientele.
Congratulations, Hilary! Looking forward to it.~Rachel
ReplyDeleteIntriguing! I want to know everything...
ReplyDeleteNice Hilary!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement. This novel has been brewing for ten years and is the magic-scifi-ecothriller distillation of my many years in the trenches of environmentalism. There are four modern-day settings: DC, OH, KY and NY (rural upstate); and we visit Pleistocene KY, 1880s rural France, and late 1950s Venice Italy. There's some extremely bad guys, decent upright folks, and a really confused protagonist who keeps her kids guessing. Also caves and fracking, and the rustic rural NY fairy queen Maeve, who came here from Ireland a thousand years ago or more and has found out that her community is eligible for government grants. Woe betide the young man she hires as a consultant.
ReplyDeleteShould be interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! can't wait for more!
ReplyDelete"the rustic rural NY fairy queen Maeve, who came here from Ireland a thousand years ago or more..."
ReplyDeletethat is very interesting to me bc of a children's book i started about an elf named Althea Bi'edeir (sp - no time to look it up now) whose fight with her father sends her on a quest to consult fairy communities around the world.
can't wait to read this!!
oh bookishmama, maybe someplace down the trail we can co-write a story. I got my start in thinking about fairies dealing with the modern world via Sylvia Townsend Warner's "Kingdoms of Elfin" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdoms_of_Elfin I found myself enjoying her stories and also disagreeing with her strongly, eventually understanding this meant I needed to write my own tales.
ReplyDeleteoh, i didn't realize my name on posts went in as a handle. it's me, Andrea Humphrey!
ReplyDeleteHa!Andrea. ok then, we have a writing date, down the trail a bit. Very funny and cool.
ReplyDeletekool beans... about time, when is your book tour?
ReplyDeleteGabe babe, "about time" is right.... since 1970!
ReplyDelete