My great armchair adventure, The Last Battle of the Grampa Woo, seems to have caught the fancy of BWI judges who presented this five-page Ensign presentation a First Place Award in the 2009 writing contest. I'm very pleased since this was my favorite story. I sailed out of the same harbor as the Woo and Read More
BREE'S BLOG: In The Wake of the Fitzgerald
First hit! Wake has been Kindle-ized.
January 27, 2010
Wow. I was just mousing through Amazon.com's pages when I came across my book, Wake of the Green Storm: A Survor's Tale (Marlor Press, 2001). Not only does Amazon have a Look Inside the Book feature, but it also has snuck it onto its Kindle e-book. I'm delighted, because this is the first of my books to be Kindle-ized. The trade paperback sells for $13.95, but in Kindle format it goes for $9.95 (price set by Amazon). I'm wondering how the two-page drawings, charts and maps (I hate books without maps and such) will all turn out on Kindle format. Maybe I'll have to re-read this favorite of mine, even if I gotta pay for the Kindle version. Read More
All eyes on the prize (es)
January 21, 2010
Now that the judging is over, all that remains is for Boating Writers International to announce the prize-winning writers for 2009 at the Miami Boat Show, coming up February 12. I've entered a few of my favorite stories--you can almost guess which ones from the ones I have posted here. I cross my fingers and my toes as well, hoping the writing judges liked the articled as much as I did writing them. But one never knows, do one? Read More
The Kindle's the thing -- or is it?
December 21, 2009
Got a new Kindle...and it's absolutely great! I'm still learning how to use it...this takes a while. While books come across just fine, I don't think the e-delivery of magazines will compete with the real thing. Just can't get that quality--and color.
Titanic's steel was OK -- even in cold temps
November 20, 2009
Last night, I went to the Science Museum in St. Paul (currently hosting the Titanic exhibit) and listened to ex-U of M professor Dr. Bill Gerberich's lecture on the causes of the Titanic's sinking. His conclusions: the steel plates used in the Titanic were OK and not especially notch sensitive. He talked about the " Read More
New e-book reader program is fun!
October 21, 2009
I've been eyeing the rash of new e-book readers -- Amazon's Kindle and now B&N's Nook. My guess is that they'll both improve and come down in price as they evolve. In the meantime, I've downloaded B&N's e-book reading program for my computer and it gives me some idea of how these Read More
Titanic: What Sank this Great Boat?
October 8, 2009
"Rivets" said the tour guide. I was at Titanica, the exhibit of the lost liner's artifacts, and standing next to a two-ton piece of the liner that had been retrieved from the Atlantic's bottom. It was awesome looking at that old, sunken ship -- and admiring its massive construction. I also looked at the Read More
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Kindle-ing Green Storm?
July 28, 2009
The publisher of my Wake of the Green Storm: A Survivor's Tale is making the best-seller into a Kindle version. That'll be my first electronic book.
New "Old Man & Inland Sea" in magazine
July 28, 2009
The October / November issue of Lake Superior magazine features a new version of my Old Man & the Inland Sea article. That's the story that won BWI's Grand Prize in 2008. It has a handsome piece of art to introduce the streamlined (by me) article. The cut went from over 6,000 words to about 4,500 words (Ensign article) Read More
Campy crusing comedy?
June 24, 2009
Loved Soundings review of my Dangerous Book for Boaters when Esther Pope called it (tongue firmly planted in cheekbone)"not for the faint of heart." Heh. Heh. It explored "the rough and seedy side of boating"...covering the downwind rail's importance of mal de mer and (even)...one finger salutes." Hey, one back at you, Esther. The proper kind. (Seriously, thanks Soundings and Esther.) Read More