April Newsletter
Well, I know I said A Storm Too Soon was going to be my last true adventure/survival book, and that my next project might be a sequel to There’s A Porcupine in My Outhouse. But then I watched a Weather Channel special about the sinking of the HMS Bounty and I was hooked. I’d also read several articles that were inaccurate, and that was all I needed to take on the project. So I’m hard at work with co-author Doug Campbell, and have uncovered multiple reasons why the captain set sail into Hurricane Sandy, but none of them seem logical to me.
A Storm Too Soon has gotten great reviews, and there was one review in the Providence Journal that I know is a tremendous write-up, even if I don’t quite understand the description they used! Here’s what it said: “Already a maven of maritime schadenfreude with books such as Overboard! and Fatal Forecast, Tougias cinches that title here. An enthralling book…” I’ve never been called a maven but I think when I was a kid my mother once said I was acting like a schadenfreude…
Other reviews were a lot easier to understand! (see bottom of newsletter) I think the main reason for the positive press, is that the book is written in the present tense and puts the reader in the middle of the action. The book is different than my other for another reason as the subtitle indicates: “A True Story of Disaster, Survival, and An Incredible Rescue.” The rescue was incredible – even the rescue swimmer was drowning. And the main character in the story, JP DeLutz, is such an unusual and compelling figure. It doesn’t hurt that the storm in the book produced bigger waves than those in the Perfect Storm!
I hope you will consider A Storm Too Soon for a mothers day, fathers day or graduation gift. If you order from Amazon, please post a two sentence review — I’ve read where the more reviews a book has the greater Amazon will feature the book in one of it’s special promotions. Some readers have written to me and want an autographed or personalized hard-cover copy to give as a special gift. To do that simply send me a note (let me know how you would like the book inscribed) and a check for $24 + $4 shipping, and mail to Michael Tougias 21 Cranberry Road, Plymouth, MA 02360.
I’m traveling across New England giving dramatic slide presentation of A Storm Too Soon, and the locations and dates are shown at the bottom of the newsletter. Hope you can make it to one of these programs. Librarians have been especially helpful to me, setting up presentations and recommending the book. A couple libraries are using my book in their Community Reads program (also called On The Same Page). If you think your library might be interested, just give them this newsletter and they can contact me through my website.
This fall and winter I did a couple business group presentations “Survival Lessons: Decision-Making Under Pressure” for both Raytheon and General Dynamics. I also spoke at the North Platte Town Lecture series where there was an audience of 1,000. I didn’t know there were that many people in Nebraska!
I just read that 45% of Americans have not read a single book in the last year. That absolutely blew me away – I can’t imagine not having a good book open by my bedside. I just finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and it was just as fascinating as her masterpiece Seabiscuit. Hillenbrand, in my humble opinion, is the best living American non-fiction writer.
In an effort to show kids that reading can fire-up the imagination, my co-author and I have partnered with Henry Holt to revise The Finest Hours: The True Story of the Coast Guard’s Most Daring Rescue into a book for middle readers. The tentative release date is this fall. The adult version was selected by the Massachusetts Book Award as one of the top 10 non-fiction books of the year, and I’m certain the young adult version will be just as exciting.
| Date | Time | Place | Topic | |
| 4/22 | 7:00pm | East Bridgewater MA Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 4/25 | 7:00 pm | Dighton MA Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 4/30 | 6:30pm | Meridan CT Library | Blizzard of 78 | |
| 5/1 | 7:00pm | Enfield CT Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 5/2 | 5:45pm | West Haven CT Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 5/8 | 7:00pm | Falmouth Historical Society | Storm Too Soon | |
| 5/16 | 7:00pm | Brentwood NH Library | There’s a Porcupine in my Outhouse | |
| 5/21 | 7:00pm | East Lyme CT Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 5/22 | 1:00pm | Norwich CT Library | Storm Too Soon | |
| 6/18 | 10:30am | Winslow House, Marshfield MA | Storm Too Soon | |
| 6/27 | 6pm | Maine Maritime Museum, Bath | Storm Too Soon | |
| 6/28 | 6:30pm | Penobscot Maritime Museum, Searsport | Storm Too Soon | |
| 7/10 | 7pm | Taylor Community Laconia NH | Fatal Forecast | |
| 7/11 | 7:15pm | Springfield NH Historical | Overboard | |
| 7/31 | 6:30pm | S. Hadley MA Library | Quabbin | |
| 8/1 | 6:30pm | Hudson MA Library | There’s A Porcupine in My Outhouse | |
| 8/12 | 7:30 | Tales of Cape Cod, Barnstable | Storm Too Soon |
If you are reading this at work, and you need a break from mind-numbing corporate bs, go to my blog michaeltougias.wordpress.com and you will find some articles I’ve written that will transport you out of your cubicle for some much needed relief. I also post frequently on my Facebook author page Michael J. Tougias. Some of my comments are a bit over the top and a few are adult only, so I’ve been using the hash tag “#ThoughtsTooSoon
And lastly, please forward this email to a friend of yours. Word of mouth and personal recommendations might just get A Storm Too Soon on the NY Times bestseller list. Thank you! Michael
REVIEWS OF A STORM TOO SOON
Kirkus Review: “By depicting the event from the perspective of both the rescued and the rescuers and focusing only on key moments and details, Tougias creates a suspenseful, tautly rendered story that leaves readers breathless but well-satisfied. Heart-pounding action for the avid armchair adventurer.”
NY Post: “The riveting, meticulously researched “A Storm Too Soon” tells the true-life tale of an incredible rescue”
Publishers Weekly: “Tougias deftly switches from heart-pounding details of the rescue to the personal stories of the boat’s crew and those of the rescue team. The result is a well-researched and suspenseful read.”
Booklist: “It’s a story of heroism, for sure (the captain, despite being seriously injured and near death, kept his two shipmates alive), but also of sheer terror. Cast adrift in the angry seas, the men seemed to have little chance of survival. Readers of true-life adventures, especially those involving disaster and rescue at sea, should find this one very much to their liking.”
Boston Globe: “Tougias is the author of widely admired character-driven sea stories.”
Fall River Herald: “Few American authors—if any—can better evoke the realities that underlie a term such as ‘desperate rescue attempt.’”
The Providence Journal: “Already a maven of maritime books with “Overboard!” and “Fatal Forecast”, Tougias cinches that title here. Working in the present tense Tougias lets the story tell itself, and what a story! Any one reading (A Storm Too Soon) will laud Tougias’ success.”
Yachts Magazine: “A compelling tale of man vs nature”
South Coast Magazine: “A magnificent culmination of what-ifs with such detail as to inspire reverence for the human spirit. Tougias’ use of present tense is ingenious, this is an armchair riptide of the reading experience.”
Oregon Coast Weekend: “To read this book is to become a believer in the unbelievable. Few stories are as harrowing.”
Metrowest Daily: “Tougias tells the story in the present tense, giving the story a gut-wringing immediacy that makes the book hard to put down.”
Too Many Heroes?
With recent attention focused on the alleged cowardice of the Captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, it is important to remember we also have our share of heroes on the ocean. We are approaching the 60th anniversary of the Coast Guard’s greatest rescue, in which four men received the Gold Life Saving Medal for heroism. It’s a good opportunity to review the men’s actions and ponder the question if we use the term hero too liberally today.
Bernard C. Webber saved 32 lives off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts in 1952. Bernie and his crew of three took a 36-foot wooden lifeboat into the teeth of a vicious Nor’easter off the coast of Chatham Massachusetts to rescue 33 men on a sinking oil tanker that had split in half. This was in February of 1952, when the Coast Guard still operated by the unofficial motto of “You have to go out, but you don’t necessarily have to come back.” No one at Coast Guard Station Chatham expected Bernie Webber to come back from his mission on a night where the seas were a towering 60 feet. Bernie not only came back, but he was able to rescue 32 or of the 33 seamen from the tanker, just minutes before it rolled to its side and sank. Imagine his small vessel crammed with 32 survivors battling seas twice the size of the boat as they groped their way back toward land!
Was Bernie a hero? He certainly didn’t think so, having told me, “I was just doing my job. The real heroes were my three man crew.” What Bernie meant by that statement was that his crew volunteered to go with him when they could have kept quiet and hoped others stepped forward or were chosen.
Bernie’s observation gets at the heart of the meaning of a hero. I’ve always felt a pure hero is someone who has the option not to undertake a mission of self sacrifice but does so anyway. These pure heroes are often bystanders who witness a disaster and step forward to save a life when most others are either running to escape the danger or frozen in fear. Of course the heroes also have fear, but they take action despite it, often venturing into the unknown.
Pure heroes are not limited to those who are involved with rescuing others during an accident or disaster, where physical daring is the paramount attribute for success. They can also include the person who sacrifices their energy and time on a daily basis to help someone less fortunate. This “quiet hero” is never paid, is never under any obligation, and is never looking for personal gain. They simply give of themselves because it’s the right thing to do – someone needs their help. These quiet heroes recognize life is unfair, and they are determined and persistent in their effort to give comfort to those less fortunate. I’ve been blessed to know one of these types. For 31 years my father has cared for my sister who was paralyzed and brain damaged by a drunk driver. Watching him do his work—and do it with a smile—is to watch a hero in action on a daily basis. And there are many more care-givers like him, going about their particular mission with little fanfare.
And there are heroes who by virtue of the goal they are trying to accomplish, cannot be quiet, but instead must be as vocal as possible. These individuals speak out for justice–often at great risk to themselves—so that others may have a better life. Martin Luther King certainly fits that profile.
* * *
Defining what actions are heroic is difficult indeed. Is every rescue made by firefighters, police officers, and the Coast Guard heroic? Are not these individuals paid to perform the work they do? But when one of these professionals goes above and beyond the call of duty couldn’t their actions be defined as heroic or are they just brave?
It’s far easier to know what is not heroic. We cheapen the word hero by anointing athletes as heroes. They may be accomplished, or even amazing, but I wouldn’t call them heroes. Next time an athlete makes the winning shot, gets the walk-off home run, or scores the touchdown with no time left on the clock, let’s just say they maximized their opportunity.
In my work as an author of books about survival and disaster, I became friends with a man who survived an ordeal in which most of us would have perished. His boat “pitch-poled”, capsizing stern over bow, and for two days in late November this individual was battered by enormous seas and repeatedly thrown from his life raft. In my view, this man wasn’t a hero, but he sure was brave and resourceful. We tend to automatically label an act of courage as heroic, but the words are not interchangeable. When we use the term hero to describe every brave or remarkable action we diminish and blur the concept of heroism.
Getting back to my earlier question of whether or not Bernie Webber was a hero, one should know that while it was his job to go out into the storm, he could have cut his mission short. He would not have been faulted if he turned back after one particularly large wave knocked out his compass (his sole means of navigation), smashed the boat’s window, and temporarily snuffed out the vessel’s power. But he and his crew continued on, even though they now knew the odds of coming back alive were stacked against them. That’s heroic.
Newsletter
Hi everyone, here is my most recent newsletter highlighting current and future projects. I hope you consider Overboard, The Finest Hours, or Porcupine as a holiday gift for that hard to please special someone, on Amazon! Have a happy and safe holiday season, and don’t forget to make time to get outdoors or pursue your passion.
Excerpt from A Storm Too Soon “A Woman’s Intuition”
In my new book, A Storm Too Soon, three sailors, JP, Rudy, and Ben set off from Florida to cross the Atlantic in a 45 foot sailboat. This short excerpt is from chapter 2 and illustrates how women see to have the ability to understand premonitions and intuitions far better than men.
Before casting off at 6:30 in the morning, JP checks the marine weather forecast as he has been doing the last few days. He downloads computer-generated forecasts and studies them for anything unusual, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. Their destination is Gibraltar after first landing at the Azores for refueling. As they untie the lines some friends from the marina come down to wave goodbye. JP then makes good on a promise. He will stop smoking now that the voyage has begun. To prove it, the short and slender captain with wispy gray hair takes his last pack of cigarettes, ceremonially holds them high in the air, and tosses them into the water. There are no hidden cigarettes on the boat –his new life as a non-smoker begins at this moment. Rudy and Ben exchange glances; they hope their polite and relaxed captain doesn’t turn into Ahab.
After doing some 360 degree turns to calibrate the new equipment, they slowly motor down the St. Johns River, going right through the heart of Jacksonville as the sun clears the eastern horizon. As they approach the first bridge Rudy can’t help but wonder if the mast—all 61 feet of it–will clear the underside of the bridge, but JP assures him it will, and it does. Near the river’s mouth they stop at a marina to top off the diesel tanks and fill up Jerry cans with more fuel. During the refueling Rudy says, “I’ll be right back, I’m going to make a last stop for food.” He leaves the boat and walks to a market and purchases three orders of fish and chips.
JP uses this opportunity to call his wife Mayke (pronounced My-keh), a highly regarded artist. They talk for a few moments but JP wonders why Mayke is so mad at him for not calling at the earlier scheduled time. She doesn’t tell him the real reason: she has had an uneasy feeling–“the kind you get right where your navel is”– that this voyage will not end well and is fraught with danger.
Mayke knows her husband is a safety-conscious sailor and that the Sean Seamour II is more than capable of handling rough weather, but ever since she dropped JP at the airport a couple weeks earlier her apprehension has grown in intensity with each passing day. Sleep has been difficult and her time painting in the studio has suffered, and now, talking on the phone, she just wants the conversation to end before she blurts out her misgivings and puts a damper on JP’s enthusiasm for the voyage.
When she hangs up the phone Mayke tries to analyze her anxious mood, but she simply has no idea where it’s coming from. If it’s intuition, it seems totally illogical. But try as she might she can’t shake the feeling that the trip is doomed. She doesn’t even try to return to the studio, knowing that anything she paints will be dark and foreboding.
(My next installment will be about the vessel encountering its first trouble from the storm.)
The book can be ordered on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Too-Soon-Disaster-Incredible/dp/1451683332/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349777523&sr=1-1)
Press Release: A Storm Too Soon
A Storm Too Soon
AN INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF SURVIVAL AND A DARING RESCUE ATTEMPT FROM MASTER STORYTELLER MICHAEL J. TOUGIAS
Seventy foot waves batter a tattered life raft 250 miles out to sea in one of the world’s most dangerous places, the Gulf Stream. Hanging onto the raft are three men, a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, JP DeLutz, a dual citizen of America and France. The waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with 9 broken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death. The captain, however, is a tough minded character, having survived a sadistic, physically abusive father during his boyhood, and now he’s got to rely on those same inner resources to outlast the storm.
Trying to reach these survivors before it’s too late are four Coast Guardsmen battling hurricane force winds in their Jayhawk helicopter. They know the waves in Gulf Stream will be extreme, but when they arrive they are astounded to find crashing seas of seventy feet, with some waves topping eighty feet. To lower the helicopter and then drop a rescue swimmer into such chaos is a high risk proposition. The pilots wonder if they have a realistic chance of saving the sailors clinging to the broken life raft, and if they will be able to retrieve their own rescue swimmer from the towering seas. Once they commit to the rescue, they find themselves in almost as much trouble as the survivors, facing several life and death decisions.
Three other vessels with 10 people aboard were caught in the storm, and only 6 survived. This 2007 disaster prompted one of the largest and most intense rescue in Coast Guard history.
Author Michael Tougias, known for his fast paced writing style and character-driven stories, tells this true saga in the present tense to give the reader an “edge of your seat, you are there” experience. A Storm Too Soon is a heart pounding read of survival, the power of the human spirit, and one of the most incredible rescues ever attempted.
“The three men are like soldiers on a battlefield, vastly outnumbered and outgunned, cut off from all help. They know they are going to be overrun, know they are going to die, but still they defend the little patch of turf, the raft.” From A Storm Too Soon.
Pre-order here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Storm-Too-Soon/Michael-J-Tougias/9781451683332
Quabbin and New Article
Hi all, two pictures of Quabbin, one is me at the Indian Kitchen (a cave in the woods) and the other is of Wendell’s grave hidden in the woods (the only grave not moved when Quabbin was created simply because it was overlooked by the grave diggers.) You can see where I’m giving the Quabbin lecture on my websitewww.michaeltougias.com and on my Facebook author page “Michael J. Tougias”.
On a different subject I’m so sick of hearing the term “hero” used for just about anyone who does something good I just had to write the following piece:
Too Many Heroes? An Anniversary of a Real One
With recent attention focused on the alleged captain’s cowardice of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, it is important to remember our heroes on the ocean. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Coast Guard’s greatest rescue, in which four men received the Gold Life Saving Medal for heroism. It’s a good opportunity to review the men’s actions and ponder the question if we use the term hero too liberally today.
Bernard C. Webber saved 32 lives off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts in 1952. Bernie and his crew of three took a 36-foot wooden lifeboat into the teeth of a vicious Nor’easter off the coast of Chatham Massachusetts to rescue 33 men on a sinking oil tanker that had split in half. This was in 1952, when the Coast Guard still operated by the unofficial motto of “You have to go out, but you don’t necessarily have to come back.” No one at Coast Guard Station Chatham expected Bernie Webber to come back from his mission on a night where the seas were a towering 60 feet. Bernie not only came back, but he was able to rescue 32 or of the 33 seamen from the tanker, just minutes before it rolled to its side and sank. Imagine his small vessel crammed with 32 survivors battling seas twice the size of the boat as they groped their way back toward land!
Was Bernie a hero? He certainly didn’t think so, having told me, “I was just doing my job. The real heroes were my three man crew.” What Bernie meant by that statement was that his crew volunteered to go with him when they could have kept quiet and hoped others stepped forward or were chosen.
Bernie’s observation gets at the heart of the meaning of a hero. I’ve always felt a pure hero is someone who has the option not to undertake a mission of self sacrifice but does so anyway. These pure heroes are often bystanders who witness a disaster and step forward to save a life when most others are either running to escape the danger or frozen in fear.
Pure heroes are not limited to those who are involved with rescuing others during an accident or disaster, where physical daring is the paramount attribute for success. They can also include the person who sacrifices their energy and time on a daily basis to help someone less fortunate. This “quiet hero” is never paid, is never under any obligation, and is never looking for personal gain. They simply give of themselves because it’s the right thing to. I’ve been blessed to know one of these types. For 31 years my father has cared for my sister who was paralyzed and brain damaged by a drunk driver. Watching him do his work—and do it with a smile—is to watch a hero in action on a daily basis. And there are many more care-givers like him, going about their particular mission with little fanfare.
And there are heroes who by virtue of the goal they are trying to accomplish, cannot be quiet, but instead must be as vocal as possible. These individuals speak out for justice–often at great risk to themselves—so that others may have a better life. Martin Luther King certainly fits that profile.
* * *
Defining what actions are heroic is difficult indeed. Is every rescue made by firefighters, police officers, and the Coast Guard heroic? Are not these individuals paid to perform the work they do? Maybe “brave” is a more appropriate term than “hero”. We tend to automatically label an act of courage as heroic, but the words are not interchangeable.
It’s far easier to know what is not heroic. We cheapen the word hero by anointing athletes as heroes. They may be accomplished, or even amazing, but not heroes. Next time an athlete makes the winning shot, gets the walk-off home run, or scores the touchdown with no time left on the clock, let’s just say they maximized their opportunity.
Getting back to my earlier question of whether or not Bernie Webber was a hero, one should know that while it was his job to go out into the storm, he could have cut his mission short. He would not have been faulted if he turned back after one particularly large wave knocked out his compass (his sole means of navigation), smashed the boat’s window, and temporarily snuffed out the vessel’s power. But he and his crew continued on, even though they now knew the odds of coming back alive were stacked against them. That’s heroic.
Facebook Fan Page
Hi everyone, I have an Author Facebook Page “Michael J Tougias” which I update every three days. Here is the link for the most up to date news:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-J-Tougias/142173262562318
