New England Spring
What are you doing this spring?
I've been working on a new novel -- I'm keeping it secret for now -- but it's not in the fantasy genre, more toward horror and thriller, set here where I live (but with an alternate place name and none of the same people, of course.)
I live right next to the sea -- well, a Sound -- across from a beautiful island called Fisher's Island (NY), and from the nearby harbor, you can get to Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Fisher's Island by ferry. I think we're going to spend some time this spring exploring these islands for book research.
Spring is a very small window in New England -- it's only just happening now, and even so, it's very cold out. So, April will probably be the month for these explorations. After Memorial Day, forget it -- the islands get packed, and I hate packed -- particularly when the peninsula I live on is practically an island in terms of very slight isolation from any town.
Well, it's a ten minute drive to town, but in the summer, we have a sandwich/ice cream place here, as well as our own post office, year-round.
I don't leave this little peninsula much in the winter, because of writing and cold. Also, I love being isolated by the sea in winter.
Now that it's spring, or almost-spring, I'm looking forward to getting out and exploring the coastline a bit more.
I'm also researching pre-20th century ships -- not for the current novel, but the next one. So my desk is covered with a ton of books about ships and shipbuilding, and I'll probably head over to Mystic this spring to ask some ship-experts some questions.
Who knows? Maybe I can convince somebody to take us out on an old sloop.
It is very strange to be done with The Vampyricon after spending so many years working on it. But, it's good to get right back into another novel right after one book's done -- it takes away the sting of loss of the previous novel.
Douglas Clegg