<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Thank you, Beverly, whose novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Telling Stories–</i>“</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stories lie. Truth hurts. Secrets can be deadly.”–</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">is NOT for children. Beverley, I enjoyed your blog post at </span><a href="http://bevjoneswriting.wordpress.com/... style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">http://bevjoneswriting.wordpress.com&... style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">, so I wrote up one like it. But something strange happened last night­­–something I don't understand and can’t explain. It seems that 10-year-old M-Man and 7-year-old T-man (Story Boys <a href="http://storyboys.wordpress.com/2012/1...) got in email contact with Nathaniel Childe. I’ve called M-Man and T-Man, but they won’t say a word about it. No doubt Nat made them spit on their hands and shake on not telling. Don’t take my word for it. I managed to hit “print screen” before it disappeared….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">M-man: What was it like to grow up without a dad?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">Nat: My heart felt hollow and aching. </span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The nights hit me hardest. I tossed and turned through nightmares about Father. He clung to a beam while the sea washed him to an unknown island. He called, “Nat! Nat! Nat!” while Mother and I stood at his plaque, saying, “He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead.”</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">T-man: What was it like going to sea for the first time?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nat: Father must’ve had the salt sea in his blood and passed it on to me, for I could feel my own blood sing in our rhythmic rise and fall over the sparkling swells that stretched in unbroken splendor to all horizons. The tang of the salt wind that whisked over my face was more delicious than the aroma of any spice. The splash of our bow, the snap and rustle of our sails, the creak of our mast, all seemed the loveliest music.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">M-Man: What was your favorite place in New Bedford?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nat: The docks. They always swarmed with men: ship owners in satin frock coats, tough-looking sailors covered with tattoos, and expert whalers with their favorite harpoons slung over their shoulders. Some sailors swapped stories over their long clay pipes and talked about newly discovered trade routes. Others scrambled up masts, dangled from the rigging, and even dived into the water to clean the submerged hulls. Their shouts, commands, and coarse laughter competed with the screaming gulls.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">T-Man: What was the scariest part of your journey?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nat: A pistol shot rang, an impact hitting my back. Time slowed. My dagger fell, flipping leisurely. Then the green water slowly came to meet me as I tumbled over. The sunlit roof of water closed above me like slow curtains. The bullet in my back throbbed as I sank deeper into the darkness. Then I remembered what lay at the bottom of that darkness—Snake’s corpse. My foot hit sand and, terrified, I shoved myself upward. A cold dead hand gripped my ankle. The last of my air went out in a silent scream.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And there you have it, Beverly. By the way, <b><i>Sea Cutter</i></b> is now out in paperback through Amazon (<a href="http://amzn.to/RkseQX">http:/...), and I'm <b><i>giving away a signed copy</i></b>. To enter the drawing, <b><i>just leave any type of comment</i></b>. I'll pick the winner from a hat on Friday, Nov. 9.  </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now I have the great pleasure of handing The Next Big Thing Blog Hop over to fantastic children’s novelist Michelle Isennhoff <a href="http://michelleisenhoff.wordpress.com...