Wonders of Shadow Key is alive!
Dr. Frankenstein gets excited
“It’s alive! It’s alive!” cries Dr. Frankenstein in the original Frankenstein movie, and I’m just as excited to say that Wonders of Shadow Key has been zapped into existence by the publishing world, courtesy of Regal House Publishing. However, unlike the monster in the Frankenstein book or any of the Frankenstein movies, Wonders of Shadow Key will not break into your house or hide in your shed or climb your windmill. You’ll have to go get it from your local bookstore or library or order it from your favorite online store. And then, pinky promise, it will absolutely not throw your sister into a pond.
Saving the World at Tombolo Books
I celebrated the release of WSK with a couple of wonderful events. I met with some young readers at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, then headed down to Key West to meet with school groups at the Key West Public Library. One class read it as part of their book club and went to lunch to discuss WSK beforehand. They had great questions!
“How to Make a Writer” presentation at the Key West Public Library
The young readers at Tombolo brought their spectacularly good ideas for saving the world. Everyone got stickers and book marks!
The Wizard is revealed! Thank you, Toto!
By the way, in future blog posts, I’m going to discuss some fun things about WSK, such as where the idea for the setting came from, and the characters and their names, along with some other things I hope will give you insight into the creation process for WSK. Like Toto in The Wizard of Oz, I will pull back the curtain and reveal all.
On the way to Key West, I stopped off at the Shark Valley Observation Tower in the Everglades. I’d missed the tram, so I rented a bike for the 15-mile round trip. Remember, I’m still recovering from my Achilles tendon rupture, so I hadn’t ridden a bike very far in months.
Shark Valley Tower
The day was brutally hot, and I had visions of collapsing on the path and having vultures peck at my liver until someone came along to rescue me. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. I pressed on and reached the tower, which looks like some sort of outpost from Avatar. You walk up the ramp and, wow, spectacular view of the Everglades in every direction. Shark Valley gets its name because the water there flows into the Shark River, where bull sharks go to give birth. The water is fresh, so I did not see any sharks. I did see alligators, herons, ibises, and other birds, but no vultures to eat my liver. One of the alligators had its nose sticking out of the drainage pipe that went under the path like a scaly troll demanding payment from passing travelers. He didn’t take credit cards, so I just booked it back to the visitors center.
Key West was a delight as always, and my wife and I rode bikes all over the island, ate fistfuls of good food, and floated in the motel pool. I picked up a couple of great Key West books at Judy Blume’s Books & Books bookstore.
WSK in the wild at Books & Books Key West
While I was there, I signed copies of WSK, and the staff took a photo of me for their social media pages. Now that I’ve read the books I bought—Carl Hiassen’s Wrecker and Jennifer L. Holm’s Turtle in Paradise—I highly recommend both, especially if you ever plan to go to Key West, but even if you just like a good story in a fascinating place.
Also in Key West, I visited a couple of very cool museums. The first is the Fort East Martello Museum. I went there to visit Robert the Doll. You can read all about this supposedly haunted doll online. You’re supposed to ask Robert’s permission before you take his picture unless you want bad luck. I was carrying my phone in my hand and discovered that I’d already taken a video of Robert without knowing. Coincidence? Or Robert’s way of telling me it’s okay to capture his image? I decided on the latter, and took lots of photos and videos, and now Robert and I are buds. The museum also features some amazing, quirky metal sculptures by well-known local artist Stanley Papio, “The Junkyard Rebel.”
Robert the Doll will haunt your dreams, my friend
Metal sculpture by Stanley Papio
The second museum I visited was The Shipwreck Museum, which is down in the most touristy area by Mallory Square. There you can learn about the Key West shipwrecking business. In the 19th century and before, whenever a ship wrecked offshore of the keys, the wreckers would race each other to the ship in order to claim its property. This was allowed by maritime law, and it made Key West the wealthiest city per capita for a while in the 1800s. A special court was created to make rulings about who got to keep the goods. Sometimes those goods included gold and jewels, so we’re talking about major wealth. The main character in Carl Hiassen’s Wrecker is a descendant of one of the wreckers. The museum experience gave me an idea for a novel of my own. I wrote a page just to try it out. I’ll jump back in and keep exploring the idea later this summer.
The Key West Shipwreck Museum
For now, my wife and I are off on a four-week road trip. I’ll update you on our travels at the end of the summer and, as promised, reveal all the secrets that went into making WSK.
Meanwhile, if you’re off from school, I hope you’re having a fantastic summer that includes reading good books. And if you’re not off from school, I hope summer school is as summery as school can be.
By the way, if you haven’t signed up for the JJ’s Jams newsletter, you can do that any time. The first issue included Weird Weather, Monster of the Month, and other jams. If you sign up, I’ll send you the first issue so you can catch up on the jams as you make your own. Jam on.
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