Hurricane Hugo, A Monster In The Dark
As I worked with my publisher on the back cover blurb for this week’s release of my next novel, Hugo, I was reminded of how people in the Low Country around Charleston, SC described the horror of the long night through which they endured Hurricane Hugo. Many of us can relate to the fear of what might be lurking in the darkness, especially if you add crashing thunder and flashing lightning, or wild winds howling and scaping limbs against our windows, like grotesque fingers of a monster trying to get in. Horror and suspense movies typically play up a raging storm for a very good reason.
The eye of Hurricane Hugo passed just north of Charleston close to midnight, and anyone who thinks it’s melodramatic to personify the impersonal force of a Category 4 hurricane as a monster has never lived through one. Hugo viciously roared onto the coastline at the worst possible time for storm surge—high tide. Marinas were destroyed and boats were left absurdly stranded in streets or heaped in random places in piles. Survivors speak of the monster they could hear but not see as it attacked in the dark. They had to rely on the ghostly blue glow from lightening to discern their suroundings. They were rescuing others in darkness from the black water that carried who knows what along with it. Some didn’t get to the roof in time to avoid being trapped and drowned.
While writing my debut novel, Painter Place, I had the benefit of hindsight, suffering the hurricane's wrath farther inland above Charlotte with my husband and our two small children. I knew the island setting in my novel would likely be obliterated. I began a Pinterest board with links to photos, news, and interviews so that readers who didn’t experience Hugo in the Carolinas could grasp some of the devastation and understand why it ruined some people yet provided opportunity for others.
I believe the publisher described the setting well on the back cover of Hugo:
“Like a monster roaring in the dark of night, Hurricane Hugo came, slamming its Category 4 power into Charleston at the worst possible time—high tide. On September 21, 1989, Painter Place was scoured by a storm surge as part of the writhing Atlantic Ocean, while the 'storm of the century' continued its rampage far inland, mauling the rest of the Carolinas.”
For more information on the historic Hurricane Hugo, see my Pinterest board “Hurricane Hugo in Charleston, SC”
To peek inside my novel inspiration for Hugo, see my Pinterest board “Painter Place Saga, Book 2, Hugo”
To peek inside my debut novel inspiration for Painter Place, see the board “Painter Place, a novel by Pamela Poole”
For more information about the Painter Place series, see the "Books" page on my website at http://www.pamelapoole.com
Painter Place
The eye of Hurricane Hugo passed just north of Charleston close to midnight, and anyone who thinks it’s melodramatic to personify the impersonal force of a Category 4 hurricane as a monster has never lived through one. Hugo viciously roared onto the coastline at the worst possible time for storm surge—high tide. Marinas were destroyed and boats were left absurdly stranded in streets or heaped in random places in piles. Survivors speak of the monster they could hear but not see as it attacked in the dark. They had to rely on the ghostly blue glow from lightening to discern their suroundings. They were rescuing others in darkness from the black water that carried who knows what along with it. Some didn’t get to the roof in time to avoid being trapped and drowned.
While writing my debut novel, Painter Place, I had the benefit of hindsight, suffering the hurricane's wrath farther inland above Charlotte with my husband and our two small children. I knew the island setting in my novel would likely be obliterated. I began a Pinterest board with links to photos, news, and interviews so that readers who didn’t experience Hugo in the Carolinas could grasp some of the devastation and understand why it ruined some people yet provided opportunity for others.
I believe the publisher described the setting well on the back cover of Hugo:
“Like a monster roaring in the dark of night, Hurricane Hugo came, slamming its Category 4 power into Charleston at the worst possible time—high tide. On September 21, 1989, Painter Place was scoured by a storm surge as part of the writhing Atlantic Ocean, while the 'storm of the century' continued its rampage far inland, mauling the rest of the Carolinas.”
For more information on the historic Hurricane Hugo, see my Pinterest board “Hurricane Hugo in Charleston, SC”
To peek inside my novel inspiration for Hugo, see my Pinterest board “Painter Place Saga, Book 2, Hugo”
To peek inside my debut novel inspiration for Painter Place, see the board “Painter Place, a novel by Pamela Poole”
For more information about the Painter Place series, see the "Books" page on my website at http://www.pamelapoole.com
Painter Place
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