Yesterday, during lunch, I stopped by an historical site I’ve driven by many times. During previous trips there never seemed to be spare moments to visit the farm and cultural center honoring the poet Byron Herbert Reece. The place is small and rustic, featuring a barn, old farm equipment, among other ephemera, but the most engaging part of the landscape for me was the large stones where excerpts from his poems have been carved. I slowly stood and read each one, appreciating Reece’s quiet observations of both nature and feeling. It’s obvious from his words that he lived outdoors.

It was inspiring to stand and read each stone and get a sense of Reece’s admiration and kinship with the natural world around him. His work is from another era, but it has relevance today.

My newest novel, The Sea Within, is set in a not too distant future where society can no longer ignore climate change… the change has come and the heroines of our story, a scientist and a soldier, join forces to find a way to heal the Earth. At first glance the setting might seem rather dark, but I’m hopeful about our future, and this story conveys hope. At least, that was my intention.

Climate science is a topic that has interested me for more than a decade. There are many elements in this story that may sound like science fiction but are lifted right from the headlines of news stories covering current events. We are living these changes right now, especially in California. Where we live, in Northern California, the fires haven’t stopped since mid-August… fueled by heat lightning and drought. I started writing this book long before the pandemic or this year’s epic fire season. When I edited the book before it went to the printer I was struck by how eerily certain scenes in the novel mirror our current reality. It always surprises me when that sort of synergy happens.

I have no doubt that we will adapt and change. We really have no choice but to do so. It’s interesting to imagine what that will look like.

Here’s more about The Sea Within:

Scientists have sounded alarms about the demise of Earth’s oceans for decades, and now the extinction event is here. As the world braces for disaster, paleobotanist Dr. Elle Graham finds a possible cure. Unfortunately, it’s been extinct for over one hundred thousand years.

Captain Jackson Drake lives in the past because she can’t stand to face the present after the woman she loved sacrificed herself to save others, a casualty of a world ravaged by superbugs.

The last person Jackson wants to travel back in time with is another woman trying to save the world at the cost of her own life. When things go sideways on primeval Earth, Jackson and Elle must put aside conflicts and work together to save the mission. Faith in each other just might give them the strength to save the world and rescue a broken heart in the process. But can Elle convince Jackson that the future is worth saving?