If you’ve read Tempest, you can probably guess the reason behind my post title today. I’ve held off writing it for a few days, but I feel now that I should say something about it.
During the writing of Tempest two years ago, I researched and wrote in a fictional doomsday scenario involving a hurricane. I just went back and looked at it today, and here it is, unedited, copied and pasted right from the book itself:
…The logo for Future Disasters popped up on the screen and dramatic music played in surround sound.
Janelle stood behind the couch and sniffed. She had to get it together. Crying wouldn’t help her situation. Leslie was still trapped here somewhere. If any good was to come out of this, she’d have to get herself back under control.
Gary appeared next to her. His hand wrapped around hers and squeezed, sending waves of calm through her body. It felt warm, safe. It was the only comfort she’d had all day.
It was short-lived. The screen filled with the Manhattan skyline and slowly zoomed in. A man narrated with a voice filled with doom. “New York City. Home to eight million people and also the economic center of the country. And also a place not commonly associated with hurricanes. And yet,” the man paused as the screen changed to a satellite map of Long Island, “New York City is one of the most susceptible cities to their wrath, with damages potentially in the hundred billion dollar range if one were to strike. And it is not a matter of if, but when.”
When. That word again.
The screen changed to a satellite shot of an unknown hurricane in the Atlantic. Ominous music played. Gary’s grip on her hand tightened. Joey flinched. Bile rose in Janelle’s throat. No, she didn’t want to see that. She stared down at the leather couch until it vanished.
The narrator continued. “If a Category Three storm or higher arrived at or near New York City during high tide, a storm surge of as high as thirty feet could race up the Hudson River towards Manhattan, flooding the island and the subway systems.”
Water rose in a subway tunnel, then around a group of office buildings. “It would rise around Wall Street, shutting down the stock exchange for weeks. The windows to all the skyscrapers would blast out, raining glass on anyone standing in the streets. Millions of people would need to be evacuated in a very short amount of time.”
Now, I don’t feel good about this being mirrored in real life.
Really, I don’t. I feel pretty awful, in fact. It’s something I hoped I’d never see take place. Granted, the nightmare scenario from Tempest isn’t exactly what happened in real life, but it’s pretty close.
This puts me in a bit of a quandary about what to do next. As Tempest has already had thousands of downloads, changing the scenario it contains will not be a good idea. I’ll leave Tempest up for free download, but continuing to promote the book might not be a good idea due to issues of sensitivity.
Now, this does not change my plans to finish the five-book Destroyers series. I am still going to release the fourth book, Frostbite, later this month when edits are complete. I’m slightly more than halfway through with that now. I also fully intend to complete the fifth book.
But for the first book, I’m still not sure.
Holly, it is what it is. It’s scary when real life evhoes our stories, but remember that it’s sometimes cathartic to read stories that remind us of bad things. It gives us a safe way to look at things that are too painful, or scary in life. So i geuss I’m saying, you are right nnot to change it.
Thanks. I guess I’m just pretty worried right now. I still have no plans of changing the story. That would make too many people angry.
I found the story to be really great and, after finishing it today, was left with the feeling of good natured irony. There was no underlying disrespect towards the unfortunate devastation NY is currently enduring. Looking at the publication date is all anyone would need to do if they questioned the integrity of the novel. Finally, your unique storyline was delightful and I’m looking forward to devouring the others very soon.
Thank you for the feedback! I do admit that it creeped me out when that scene played out in real life.
Never commented before, but I’ve been a big fan of the Destroyers series from the beginning and I wanted to chime in about how much I love it. When Hurricane Sandy struck, I was kind of like, “omg this is just like in Tempest,” but I never blamed you or the series, or felt like the real-life scenario made the series seem in bad taste. The bottom line is that you are writing a series about natural disasters, and since you are largely staying within the realm of possibility, they are realistic natural disasters. A hurricane striking New York like this was always a distinct possibility, and it happened. That’s not your fault. I kind of found it almost comforting having read Tempest before it happened, because, in the way that people will incorporate any story they’ve loved into their own mythology, I found myself thinking and talking about Sandy in the terms of the tempests: “Oh dear, this is just what Andrina wanted, I wonder what kind of person Sandy would be if Destroyers was real,” etc. In that way, a series that humanizes these kinds of disasters and makes it about good vs. evil, etc, can be a consolation for those affected. So I hope you won’t turn away from this series, because it really is an amazing series that is so unique and well-done. Thank you for continuing to write!
Thank you for your feedback! I mostly found it creepy that the New York city hurricane happened, even though I researched the scenario beforehand and knew it was possible before I wrote the book. I will definitely be seeing this series through to the end. Right now, there’s one more book, although I’m open to doing a possible spin-off series or a new series based on the Destroyers people in the future.
I am from NY. Many people I know lost everything.I was lucky and only lost a tree which missed my house by two feet. I never been so scared before of a storm. I am on the south shore of the island. I have to say when I read NY was the target I was a bit thrown back then I realised that no way was this written in bad taste or at the time of the storm. Just a coincidence. No one ever expected a hurricane to hit NY and NJ. Doesn’t make me angry but it does make me a little sad. So many people are still suffering. Maybe you should become a psychic lol. hurricane has been predicted for many years but you predicted a monster and it came true
Wow, it’s good that you only had a fallen tree. I do feel awful for the folks who lost everything. I can’t imagine. The closest I’ve come to anything like that is having my storage shed fly across my yard, which is very minor in comparison.
The scenario in Tempest was actually based on scientific predictions I researched, so I wouldn’t say there’s anything psychic going on here. Still, nobody thought this would really happen so soon, myself included.