Musings of Two Creative Minds

Here is the first newspaper review of one of my novels.  I tried getting my first novel "The Bridge" reviewed, but never seemed to have much luck.  I think the fact that "The Ship" was set in Santa Cruz and featured a local landmark The S. S. Palo Alto, aka "The Concrete Boat", really helped. Here's a shot of the S. S. Palo Alto...

The numbers for Part 1 were looking very good for my new Vlog, but not so much on Part 2.  I wondered if people hadn’t been able to find the link for it so I’m posting it here.  Hope you all enjoy meeting the SS Palo Alto and how it helped inspire and entire novel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpr7d3aQ0z4

     Today I want to discuss a setting and also a plot device I'm using.  Above you see the remains of a concrete ship.  Yes, you read correctly a ship partly made from concrete.  This vessel is the S. S. Palo Alto, built to serve in WWI when steel and metal supplies were becoming scarce.  She was part of a fleet of 12 experimental vessels.  Unfortunately, she was completed in 1919 after the war was over and made her only self-powered voyage to the San Francisco Bay Area.  There she sat for 10 years and was eventually purchased by an entertainment company and towed to Seacliff near Santa Cruz.  Once she came here, she was refitted and turned into an entertainment showcase.  An arcade, fine dining, a bar, even a pool was built inside of her to the pleasures of her many visitors.  The middle photo above is a model replica of her in those glory days when she was known as "The Amusement Ship".  Unfortunately, two ye...