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Sailing out of Darkness by Normandie Fischer

Sailing out of Darkness

by Normandie Fischer

Giveaway ends September 15, 2017.

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Stop by WFWA Café May 25-May 29

We’ll be discussing Sailing out of Darkness all week long at the Women’s Fiction Writers Association Café on Facebook.sod small

Stop by any time to comment or ask a question–and perhaps win the book!

https://www.facebook.com/events/653668704758872/

Book News: One Finalist and One on Sale!

First of all, the news about four days of 99 cents for Kindle. WhiteFire Publishing has finally put Sailing out of Darkness in the almost-free category, so if any of you dear folk have been waiting to save a couple of dollars to read (oh, and pretty please, to review?) my second book, this is your chance We all like bargains, don’t we?

Here’s the link: Sailing out of Darkness on Amazon

And just to remind you how fun the book is, here’s the trailer again:

 

My next bit of good news? Becalmed is a finalist in the Heart of Excellence Contest for Strong Romantic Elements. I want to thank the lovely folk at Ancient City Romance Authors, the St. Augustine, FL, RWA chapter, for their support!

Here’s the Becalmed trailer, because I love it, too.

 

STORMS AND STORIES: Post-Hurricane, a Story from Mexico

Waves crashing on rock
Waves crashing on rock

One of my WIPs begins with a scene taken from my first storm on board Sea Venture. We’d moved the boat from the CA Delta to Marina Bay in Richmond, CA. The wind and waves had direct access through the Golden Gate to our slip. Michael was late returning from work that night when a whopper of a storm raised its furious head. As I lay in my bunk, shuddering along with Sea Venture, I imagined what it might be like for a novice sailor (because if I were scared, how much more would she be?), alone on a boat in a strange country. So I moved my character to La Paz, MX (one of our favorite cruising grounds in the Sea of Cortez), named their boat Mystic, and gave the area a new marina.

Here’s the opening to On a Night Like This:

Chapter One

Waves crested Marina Algare’s finger piers, dousing the dock and anything—or anyone—still roaming abroad that night. The slaps echoed like the beat of bass drum on the uninsulated fiberglass of Mystic’s transom, and Kyra snuggled deeper under the summer-weight blankets. She longed for brick and mortar, for solid ground and the strong foundation she’d left stateside. Instead, mere inches separated her from the banshee’s fury.

Halyards flogged the mast. She should have lashed the lines before the storm hit, but how could she have known they’d be a problem? Preparing the boat had always been Stephen’s job. She winced as something thudded into the hull, once, twice. The wind howled, screeching through the rigging. Kyra flattened a pillow against her ear.

She’d been through plenty of storms in the California Delta where the inland heat sucked wind off the ocean and sent it surging up the rivers. There, tucked behind thick walls and curtained windows, she’d felt safe, immune from violence. When the weatherman warned of high winds, she had only to check the flashlight batteries, make sure Stephen had filled the generator with gas, and then slip into something comfortable before turning on a movie. Or curling up to read. Or going to sleep. Being alone wasn’t a problem in Rio Vista.

But she wasn’t in her California house, was she? Thanks to Stephen, she was on a boat in Mexico, their new home, he’d called it when he’d enticed her here—before abandoning her to face what sounded like a hurricane.

A sob clogged her throat. If he were lying next to her, he’d laugh and rub a hand up her back, his long fingers tickling her slightly before they inched toward her tense muscles. He’d remind her, in his low and soothing voice, that even if the wind piped to sixty, Mystic was a good old girl, well able to handle a storm. Kyra could imagine his chuckle. “Poor Kyra, so nervous. What is there to worry about?” He tell her that they’d head to sea if the wind got to near-hurricane force and heave to. Mystic wouldtake care of them. “And besides,” he’d insist, “The Lord watches over us.”

She leveled a curse at his missing form, though after that last thought, the curse felt dangerous, as if she’d spooked herself and her circumstances. Too bad she didn’t have Stephen’s faith—in either the boat or his God.

Lying in the dark, she had no idea how hard the wind blew, but it was loud and bad and nothing she wanted to be in the middle of, thank you very much. Everything Stephen said made sense when he was here and in charge. But he wasn’t, and she had no idea why not.

When another gust rocked the boat, Kyra started, thinking it might be Stephen’s weight causing the lurch. She listened, but no footfalls moved aft.

What good were promises if he were off gallivanting around Mexico instead of here to keep them? She couldn’t take a forty-five foot boat to sea on her own. She had to stay tethered to the dock and hope that the lines held and the pilings were strong and no other boat got loose to crash into them.

If he’d decided not to drive back from Cabo because of the storm, why hadn’t he called? He had a cell phone, and, surely, Cabo San Lucas had decent service.

She flipped on a light to check the signal strength bars on her phone’s screen. Five. So, it wasn’t a fault in La Paz. It didn’t make sense. Stephen was always so careful with her. Knowing how nervous she got when he didn’t call to say he’d be late, he always phoned. Hitting speed dial for his cell, she waited, then left her second panicky voice mail. “Where are you?!”

For his sake, she tried praying, but it felt as if the noises outside drowned her words—even though she didn’t speak them aloud. The heavens seemed too busy pouring down rain to bother with one lone woman in a dark and very foreign marina. Fine, she and God weren’t on the best of terms, but Stephen kept saying God listened.

It didn’t look like it from here.

Finally, sometime in the night, the storm quieted. But she still lay alone with a phone that didn’t ring.

Learning a new skill: The Trailer Revisited

(Or, it’s back to school for me.)

Editor Linda Yezak donned a flak jacket before writing to tell me what was wrong with the Sailing out of Darkness trailer. When I said that I LOVE constructive criticism, she breathed a sigh and shed the jacket. “I was sweating in there.”

I don’t know about you, but when someone I respect makes suggestions, I’m going to listen. Why? Because I want to learn to be the best “me” possible. I knew I wouldn’t be sending my work to Hollywood, and I also knew professionals could have done a better job than I, but I can’t afford the professionals and thus am grateful for all the help someone offers.

Now, it’s time to move on. Get back to my rewrites. Get the house cleaned for my daughter’s visit. In other words, stop tinkering with Animoto and get to work.

But before I do that, here’s the shortened, updated, edited version. What do you think?

 

 

The Ripple Effect: A Word Gift to This Writer

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A stone plopped into water formed ripples, creating concentric circles that moved out from the center and subsided gradually if nothing impeded their progress. Whether or not they ever came to a full stop, Teo wasn’t scientist enough to know. It looked to him as if the molecules touched by movement became propelled in an infinitely wider arc, slower perhaps as they achieved distance, but still there, still moving, still affecting other molecules and pushing them to confront whatever lay in their path. (from page 335, Sailing out of Darkness)

A writer sends her work out like that stone plopping on water, hoping the ripples will touch readers. Rarely have I read a review of my work that showed just how deeply someone had been moved. I hope you’ll indulge me as I share them with you. I am humbled.

From a Goodreads reader came this five-star review:

“Our favorite literary characters are written indelibly into our hearts as we experience them living out the very pains and hopes which have been written deeply onto our souls. Normandie has a gift of writing wounded characters to life, characters who publicly reflect the wounds we keep private. As I read of Sam and Teo’s relational struggles I began to recognize the same struggles in my life. With the turning of each page I saw more and more how my present relationships are dictated and even defeated by my past rejection. Actually, as I connected with Sam I realized that I most likely became a “water person” due to past relational rejection. My boat is my safe refuge from destructive people and pain, but Sam story encouraged me to put my past fears and failures behind me and to step out in faith! This book has restored a hope to my heart, a hope for new and exciting relationships with unexpected people in unplanned places! Normandie, thank you for writing Sailing Out of Darkness!”
I am so very grateful.
And now Happy Resurrection Day to each of you.
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He is risen!

Wonderful Review: Sailing out of Darkness

I admit it: I’m a terrible blogger. There’s so much else I’d rather do, like work on my next book or read or spend way too much time on social media, checking in with the world on that huge, huge time-hole called Facebook.

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And, no, the picture above has absolutely nothing to do with a review or with wasting time. I just like it…and can’t wait to get out on the water again.

Anyway, back to the review. The first words made me giddy:

“Normandie Fischer is at it again–illustrating the complex heart of the mature woman. Hers aren’t the novels of first love and high hopes for the future. They aren’t aimed at fresh-faced youngsters looking for romance–and a husband, children, and a house with a white picket fence. They’re aimed at women who have already been there, and wear the tarnish to prove it.”

So writes author and editor Linda Yezak. Isn’t it a great beginning?

Yes, I write about tarnished folk. Women such as I who need a bit of buffing every so often to bring out the shine.  You can read the rest of her kinds words on her blog:

77 Peppermint Place

Check her out.

(Oh, and the last words of her review took my giddiness to the next level.)

 

 

 

Introducting Sailing out of Darkness in My Words

 

My publicist, River Laker of Silver Seas PR, shot these on board Sea Venture at Liberty Landing Marina, where we’d docked while I played grandmother to my daughter’s newborn a ferry ride away in NYC. Obviously, (sans doute!) I had no script. Nor the benefit of a make-up and hair artist (big sigh).  Still, they give voice to some of my thoughts on the story.

Sailing out of Darkness

Tomorrow is Launch Party Day on Facebook. And here is our party schedule of appearances. Please stop by and win one of these lovely books!

9:00-10:10 Barbara Davis
10:10-11:20 Lynne Hinkey
11:20-12:40 Jessica Topper
12:40-1:50 Robin Patchen
1:50-3:00 Jessica Dotta
3:00-4:10 Barbara Claypole White
4:10-5:20 Laura Wharton
5:20-6:30 Anne Barnhill
6:30 -8:00 yours truly

Click here to join the party!