Fifth in the video series is up!

This episode focuses on treatment of the Romany (Romani) people and the seldom-discussed Lebensborn project. If you thought you knew enough about the Nazi era, think again. 

Goodreads giveaway and a fourth video

Enter on Goodreads for a chance to win one of 100 Kindle copies of The Path Divided, the 'must-read' conclusion of the story that began in Risking Exposure!



The fourth in my 'Why I wrote novels set in Nazi Germany' video series is live on YouTube. Or you can watch it here: 

Beginning a video series

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of videos (available here and on YouTube) explaining why 'a nice lady' would write novels set in Nazi Germany. Enjoy!

Stranded airport passenger dances 'All Night Long'

One woman's decision to stay positive has brought pleasure to millions.  

When Mahshid Mazooji learned she had missed her connecting flight and would be stuck at the Charlotte NC airport all night, she decided to make the best of it. She wouldn't pout and grumble and curse her bad luck. She'd have a dance party. 

The fact that she didn't know anyone in the airport was irrelevant. She asked perfect strangers, fellow passengers and airport staff alike, to join her in a bit of spontaneous dance to Lionel Richie's song 'All Night Long.' With the participants' permission, she videoed the dances and shared the result on You Tube. 

Now viewed over 2.5 million times, the video has spread smiles around the world. Airport administration gave her kudos for making the best of a bad situation. Even Lionel Richie himself shared the video on his Facebook page, saying, "HAHA! Seems like a really fun use of downtime at the airport... That moonwalk though, wow!" 

Turning the familiar into something new

I never saw "Titanic" when it first came out for several reasons. The ads and that whining theme song made it seem like a sappy romance and I'm not a fan of those. But mostly, I didn't go see it because I knew the ending - the ship sank, lots of people drowned, others died of hypothermia. No big surprise ending. What would be the point of seeing it played out on the big screen for over 3 hours?

So imagine my surprise when Michael and I finally saw "Titanic" in 3D last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though it's long, the story's many layers kept the film moving along. There were indeed lots of surprises along the way, and a couple memorable characters. The romance was integral to the story, but not overdone except for that awful song. And even though I knew how it would end, my heart raced as Jack and Rose clung to the deck rail as the ship sank. What an amazing job James Cameron did turning that familiar story into something unique and new.

Stephen King's novel "11-22-63" strikes me the same way. Most people recognize the title as the date JFK was shot, and would assume the story is about that horrible day in American history. In a way it is, but it's more, much more and thankfully it's not about conspiracy theories or other attempts to shed new light on the assassination. King wrote the story as a time travel novel in which a contemporary man is given an opportunity to stop Lee Harvey Oswald before he kills JFK. It's a complex tale over 800 pages long, filled with the struggles of a guy who realizes that the past is now his enemy and that it will do anything to keep him from changing it. Not what I expected, much better than I expected. I should have realized King would work his storytelling magic on something as familiar as JFK's assassination and turn it into a whole new story.

Grand prize winner

My friend Jalinn shared this video with me, and I want to share it with the world. It's the Grand Prize winner of a the Phillips "Tell it your way" competition. Requirements: the film could be no longer than three minutes, contain only 6 lines of narrative, and must tell a compelling story. The winner was "Porcelain Unicorn" from American director Keegan Wilcox.
We should all be such amazing storytellers. Enjoy.