A NEW TITANIC

I am still working on edits for my new book, but must take time off to give you some interesting information.


The news that captured my attention this week is about Clive Palmer, an Australian millionaire (some say billionaire), who is building a replica of the Titanic in China (why China?) to be launched in 2016. Yes, launched, as in a ship that will take passengers and sail somewhere. Not a replica like the portion of a ship that I visited in Branson, Missouri, the year I was writing COLD APRIL. Or the many small replicas built for tourists in advance of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship in April 1912.

Since COLD APRIL takes place on board the ill-fated original ship, I am, of course, intensely interested in the project and will keep my readers advised of the progress of the undertaking. What I know so far is that the ship will be named Titanic II and (it is hoped) will sail from Southhampton to New York in February 2016. It will be as glamorous as the original, but not powered by coal. The four smokestacks will be mere decoration. On the original, one of the four wasn’t used for venting smoke either.

By coincidence, this is the very same week in which my publisher is putting COLD APRIL into Amazon’s KDP Select program and the book can be downloaded free for one day, Friday, March 1st.

It’s also a mere week after I suggested cruise ships should have helicopter pads on top to avoid the horrific experience of Carnival’s passengers stranded at sea for five days. However, if Titanic II is indeed a copy of the first, I don’t know where they’d put a helicopter pad. And wouldn’t those 1500 passengers who died that day have wished helicopters had been invented?

COLD APRIL is a love story set on the Titanic and it received many five-star reviews when it was released in January of 2012. If you want to know more, and read an excerpt, just click on the Book List in another place on this website. As you may remember, I posted several articles on this blog on the fascinating things I learned about the ship while doing my research. They can be found in my blog archives beginning August 22, 2011 for seven weeks.