LAST LIGHT OVER CAROLINA

Dear Readers,

In the afterglow of Fourth of July fireworks, I am preparing for my book tour for Last Light Over Carolina. Book tours are both exhausting and exhilarating.  I give out all my energy, whether to one person or one hundred.  Yet what amazes me is how much energy I receive back from you, my readers.  Many of you have shared personal experiences that came after reading a story of mine and, often, when I hear your story, we've both been brought to tears.  These quiet moments of sharing are gifts and I thank you for them. 

In Last Light Over Carolina, I tell the story of a shrimp boat captain and his wife of thirty years on the day he is lost at sea. Through his flashbacks, and those of his wife, Carolina, we journey with the couple through the thirty years of their marriage and witness the transitions not only between the couple, but in the shrimping industry as well.   

I had several goals as I wrote this story. 

First, as a wife in a 30 year plus marriage (I was a child bride... J ) I wrote from personal experience of the transition from that first flush of love to commitment.  Joseph Campbell wrote:

"Marriage is not a love affair. A love affair is a totally different thing. A marriage is a commitment to that which you are. That person is literally your other half. And you and the other are one. A love affair isn't that. That is a relationship of pleasure, and when it gets to be unpleasurable, it's off. But a marriage is a life commitment, and a life commitment means the prime concern of your life. If marriage is not the prime concern, you are not married."

Second, how many of you have visited the coast and saw the shrimp boats out on the horizon and wondered, what's it like out there on that boat?  What's that life like?

I've wanted to write that story for almost a decade.  I often have several book ideas floating in my head, but I wait until some signal from the universe-an event, a chance meeting-tells me the timing is right. For Last Light Over Carolina, the trigger was my friend and vice-president of the SC Shrimper's Association, Clay Cable.  One day he said to me, "Mary Alice, if you're going to write a book about shrimpers, you better do it now while you still can."  I was electrified, knowing he was right.  Many boats are docked because captains just can't make a living.  This lifestyle is part of our coastal heritage and landscape that is quickly vanishing.  If you live, or are visiting restaurants or stores, along our southern coast, ASK FOR LOCAL, WILD AMERICAN SHRIMP! 

Finally, this is the most spiritual book I've ever penned.  During the course of Last Light Over Carolina, Captain Bud is injured and lost at sea.  While injured, Bud takes a very personal journey through the stages of approaching death.  I made a difficult, personal decision as an author while writing these scenes.

I had a near death experience twenty years ago.  It is not something I've ever chosen to publicly discuss, much less write about.  But after much thought and prayer, I knew I could not write about Bud's experience without delving into my own experiences for insight.  These words are, in a small way, my thank you gift to all you readers who have shared your personal experiences with me.

The story of Bud and Carolina and their marriage is not mine.  My novels are never autobiographical.  However no author writes in a vacuum.  He or she must use her personal arsenal of experiences, values, and moral to create her story world.  This is what gives an author "voice."  I am one of ten children.  I am a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, and friend.  I have plenty of fodder for my stories!

Yet I find a good writer is a good listener.  What I learn from those people who inhabit the story world I research-turtle ladies, raptor rehabilitators, sweetgrass basket makers, fly-fishers, cancer survivors, shrimpers, and more-rings more true than anything I could make up in my imagination.  These seemingly unremarkable lives and events that I find so utterly remarkable I share with you in my stories.

For those of you who live near Charleston-Please join us at a book launch party on Sat, July 11^th at the McClellanville Arts Center, 733 Pinckney St, McClellanville, SC.  5pm - 8 pm.  Food, drinks, and readings and autographing! 

I hope you enjoy Last Light Over Carolina.

Mary Alice Monroe

For information on the party, books, book trailers, Reader's Guide andmore,  please visit:

www.maryalicemonroe.com