ReadWriteZone

I have a new project and I am both excited by it and thrilled by the response to it. I probably sound over-earnest, over-enthusiastic and all too serious but this is something that is important to me.

ReadWriteZone is a project aimed at fostering an interest in reading and writing though blog-based classroom interaction between students and authors. Teachers provide input on the focus they would prefer for the project and incorporate the blog conversations in their literacy studies. Early posts have ranged from comparing books and movies to first paragraph writing exercise. The post on The Story Detective - Finding Story in Pictures might be of interest to schools intending to patrticipate in the NSW Department of Education's WriteOn competition where a photo has been provided as the story stimulus.

The project is in its first term and I am currently blogging with three schools - Smithfield Public School (NSW), Arncliffe Public School (NSW) and Manor Lakes Specialist College (VIC) for 8 weeks. Ultimately I hope to involve more authors and on ongoing stream of schools. Initial feedback is suggesting a 4 week period might be a more practical option for some classes.

A stumbling block for NSW public schools has been the Department of Education and Training's block of blog sites. In these cases a workaround is in place and a solution is being investigated by the teachers involved. Some schools access the blog via interactive whiteboard and others in library computer sessions. Students are encouraged to log in at home.

It is very early days yet but the project is proving popular with students and lively comment-based discussions are in place. I endeavour to add a multimedia element to the exchange and this always encourages comment. Already students have logged in from home to check what's happening and they are beginning to engage in discussion across school blog posts, commenting on the discussions I am having with other schools. Ultimately I hope this leads to direct cross-school conversation between students. Some students are already sharing written work, recommending books for others and contributing book reviews.

Any teachers or students are welcome to join current discussions. Teachers interested in participating next term can contact me samuraikids~at~people.net.au (replace ~at~ with @ when emailing).

Personally, I find ReadWriteZone a lot of fun and the feedback from the students is inspiring. Some of them are readers and writers and some of them are not. But they are all up for a good ReadWrite discussion!

Masterclass at the Sydney Writer's Festival

I been a little blog absent of late. I've just been so busy - writing to an approaching deadline and doing a number of day trips into educational literacy. One of those excursions involved holding a Masterclass for primary school students at the State Library as part of the Sydney Writer's Festival.

For a number of years I've poured over the Festival program wishing I could make it to an event or two... or three... or ten. But I never expected to see my own name on the program. Was it exciting? Yes. And that's a huge understatement.

It's enormously thrilling for an author to find themself in a room full of kids who just want to write. I was inspired. But what happened next was even better. MAGIC. And none of it was coming from my pen. How's this for an example? We were doing a building block exercise about descriptive writing - back to basics with metaphors, similes, alliteration and adjectives - giving familiar phrases a bit of a twist. Like a rainbow of lorikeets, one student wrote. The sky was filled with a city of stars, wrote another. Descriptions to die for!

We imagined, we pretended, we giggled, we banged a gong (all in the name of onomatopoeias), helped Snoopy finish off that troubling first line (It was a dark and stormy night never had so many possibilities applied to it) and even played a little "Australia's Got... First Lines" (It goes without saying Australia's got Talent, young literary talent, by the roomful!)

I wish I had a photo but I was enjoying myself so much I forgot to take the camera out of my bag. Still, I have heaps of memories and even received a little writerly advice when it comes to first lines. One of my suggestions was given an overwhelming majority of thumbs down.

I had a wonderful day and at the end of it the kids gave me a card saying they thought it was wonderful too.

Cyberlaunching

Today I have my fancy dress on - the one with the shiny things on the front, my coloured glass jewellery (more shiny things) and gold sandals - OK I'm not much of a fashion follower - but I do have an important job today. I'm launching a book. Not just any book. A book by a very talented Australian writer who is also a friend. A wonderful verse novel by the author of one of my favourites, Pearl Verses the World.

So drop in here to attend the cyber launch of Sally Murphy's Toppling. We're partying all day.

Today is also the release day for a book I've been looking forward to ever since I saw the cover and read the blurb. Gabrielle Wang's Little Paradise. So it's busy reading evening for me.

I'm also celebrating one more thing- keeping the bubbles inside for the moment but watch this space... Today is also the release date of my latest book Jaguar Warrior, an adventure story set at the end of the Aztec Empire. the Spanish have risen against the Aztec people and Atl must take a message for help... But why should he? Until they needed his help he was a slave imprisoned for sacrifice. Even as he runs, another warrior hunts him down. Should Atl run for help or run for his own freedom? Read the Book Chook's review here.

Just Imagine 2010

I'm very excited to be part of Wollongong City Gallery's Just Imagine 2010 project. I'm a sort-of author in residence - opening the exhibition and running writing workshops for students and teachers. The program "encourages children’s creative writing skills by the exploration of real and imagined worlds experienced through close engagement with art" to plagiarise the Gallery website. I couldn't have put it better myself and I'm the writer!

It's exciting stuff. Twelve exhibits - paintings, sculpture and even a marvellous contraption called a Windmobile are on display until 6 June. Primary (Years 5 -6) and secondary students and teachers are encouraged to attend workshops to learn creative inspired from visual stimuli. Students can enter a competition with winning entries published in an anthology.

Here is my favourite piece. I want to write about that one. Very, Very Important by Michael Zavros. I would do what I call "looking with my other glasses on" and extract my story from what is unusual in the picture. I would use lots of dialogue because I can see an opportunity to be quirky and funny. There's a conversation happening here. The shoes are talking!

Today was the teacher's workshop. I was a little nervous. I am a overawed by teachers. When my first child started school it took me six months before I could stop addressing his teacher as Mrs... no matter how many times she told me not to! I have so much respect for the work teachers do and committed teachers like today's attendees are wonderful people.

While I was there I heard the most amazing story. I apologise if some of the details are not 100% as I heard this second-hand from a Gallery volunteer- it was discussed at an earlier session before I arrived. But the concept is the important thing. I was admiring a display of stories and images and asked what it was about. In a previous year, a primary school and high school had written their stories and exchanged them for the other to draw pictures from. The story and subsequent picture were placed alongside the original artwork stimuli. There were some interesting differences and amazing similarities as the circle turned. But what I like best was how the community of schools worked together.

And that's what the whole program is about, interaction. Between image and word. Between Gallery and schools. Between artists, writers, student and teachers. Just imagine that!

A Novel in My Lunch Hour

My friends and colleagues are often involved in writing challenges like NaNoWriMo where they write a novel in a month. The mind boggles in admiration - I have neither the time nor the ability to produce this mega output.

But recently I found that I have accidentally set myself a challenge after all. I have always believed that there is no such excuse as "I don't have time to write." While logistically there are always time constraints and it is very true some people have extremely small windows of spare time - the moment a person makes time, the moment they prioritise their writing - they have taken the first step towards becoming a writer. Even if it is only ten minutes at the bus stop.

I was speaking on a panel a few months ago and during the break, a woman approached me to say: "I have always wanted to write. I just don't have the time." I immediately dragged out my soapbox and explained: "You never will, until you make the time." After the break she said goodbye and started to leave. "Aren't you staying for the second half?" I asked. "No. I'm going home to write. I'm starting now." So either I inspired and motivated her or bored her so badly in the first half she was glad to have an excuse to get away. I hope it was the former.

Lately I have had to eat my words. Literally. For lunch. I have been so time poor with the demands of the holiday season and family issues. While I am lucky enough to have a full time writing schedule (two books a year), I'm too early in my career to be making even a part-time income and I need to juggle writing with a full-time job. With five books on the shelf, I not only have to find the time to write but to answer reader emails, run workshops, visit schools, manage two websites and follow up promotional opportunites.

Suddenly I am so tired. My 10pm - 1pm window has shrunk. And at 12pm I just can't think anymore. So what's left? Lunch hour. And that's what I am doing. I am writing a novel in my lunch hour. So far it's working well. I did the last few chapters of Fire Lizard (Samurai Kids 5) this way and the initial editorial feedback didn't include: This sounds like someone wrote it in their lunch break *grin*

Strangely enough, that hour in the middle of the day is a very productive one when it comes to spitting out 500 words. By lunchtime I've been rattling my ideas and thoughts around in my brain for hours. Some days now, I even know where the plot is going before I start typing!

I'm making time and the words are flowing faster than ever.

I've been to New Zealand (sort of)

I have been expecting to receive a 'Worst Blogger in the Universe' award any day now. But *phew* it seems I have avoided the dishonour and managed to take up the blog pen again just in time. So now for my excuse... I have been busy both writing and being a writer. The latter has been the most time-consuming of all with lots of school visits, workshops and speaking engagements. I'll be blogging about those over the following few days.

I have also been working hard *cough, splutter* to finish the last draft of Fire Lizard (Samurai Kids 5). I am not a good finisher of projects. This is how I first knew I was destined to be a writer - I actually finished (most of) the manuscripts I started. But now the idea for Samurai kids 6 is hammering at my brain and I am in a hurry to get to it. I've seen the first paragraph and that's huge green light for me. My foot is hovering over the accelerator. It's taking all my self control to finish Fire Lizard before I ram my foot down and go. And then there's Lion Heart. I really want to write that too.

In my defence I haven't technically not been blogging. I have been globetrotting - visiting Wellington Library's Kid's Blog (in New Zealand) for the past three weeks. You can find my blogs about Writing History here:

Do You Have to Tell the Truth?

Is Research Boring?

How Do You Know That Happened?

The Questions Kids Ask #2

I usually begin my author talks with a quick discussion about where authors get their ideas from. I've found if I wave a few books from the Captain Underpants series right from the start - I have immediate credibility. Especially as I know the names of all the titles. Then I talk about my own ideas, where they came from and how I turned them into a story.

This is my all time favourite end-of-talk question.

A Year 5 boy put up his hand and asked: "Do you get headaches?" I was surprised because I do. I get terrible migraines. "Yes. How did you know?" I asked. "It's so crowded with ideas inside your head, your brain must be stretched really tight," he said.

Then his friend spoke up. "That's why she writes books. To empty out her head so it stops hurting."

And in a way they are both correct. There are lost of times when I feel if I don't write it down my head will explode.

[PS Word of warning - never type 'exploding head' into a Google images search late at night. What you see will keep you awake for hours. And it's not public domain so you can't use it anyway!]

First Workshop Ever

Finally getting around to blogging my first workshop experience. I was petrified. But in true Sandy-style I was determined to make it as hard as I possibly could. I signed up for video conferencing. Hey, if you're going to make a fool of yourself first time round, why restrict it to one school? Let two schools have a laugh.

Fortunately for me I had friendly library faces to work with. Mrs Mac at Thirroul Public School and my own children's librarian extroadinaire, Jane Pretty. So lots of help there to begin with. And the kids were very keen.

I sent out an SOS to my writing colleagues. And I have to do a thank you speech here because I am truly indebted to these friends for their advice, notes and shared exercises. Drum roll. Red Carpet. Janeen Brian, Sally Murphy, Sheryl Gwyther, Dee White, Claire Saxby, Lorraine Marwood, Julie Nickerson, Katherine Apel and Sally Odgers. What a name dropper I am.

I have to detour here for a moment and talk about Sally Odger's wonderful e-book (Giving our Kids) A Reason to Write. It's an absolute treasure trove of information about how children (and adults) write - from their different approaches and thought processes to how to best manage their writing strengths and weaknesses. I began by flipping through the pages for exercises I could use in my Workshops and ending up reading it from cover to cover. Thoroughly recommended and at $7 for the PDF - it's the best value for money resource you can buy!

But back to the workshops. Two out of three are complete with the follow up/evaluation still to come. They were wonderful fun. They didn't go perfectly - the video conferencing was a new experience all round - but the end result was absolutely golden. The kids enthusiastically produced heaps of writing. OK. Not all of them. There was one child who I suspect was waiting for a real author to show up. It's not quite as magical when it's mum even if you are really proud of her! Here are some sample efforts - ebooks created based on the workshop sessions.

You can visit the project at Thirroul Public School's blog.

Long Weekend Reminiscing - Henry Lawson Festival of the Arts 2008

Being a children’s author can be quite confronting. Embarrassing even. The questions some primary students ask range from jaw-dropping to ego shattering. And on other occasions they can make you feel like Master of the (Writing) Universe. I thought I’d blog about one of my MOTWU moments. I don’t want to mention the others!!!

Back in June 2008 I was guest of honour at the Henry Lawson Festival of the Arts in Grenfell. Grenfell is a tiny rural town in the central west of NSW, population 2200, the birthplace of Henry Lawson. The weekend long Festival is very prestigious. It’s the longest running arts festival in Australia and past guests of honour have included Patrick White, Di Morrissey and Thomas Keneally!

So how did I get this gig? Well, I’m not proud. I’m willing to admit I was the Guest of Honour to Be Named Later. Last Minute actually. TV actor Simon Westaway was the original choice and when he had to cancel, the rush was on to find someone arts-related who would come to Grenfell at extremely short notice. My sister, who lives on a small farm in the area, happened to mention me. Even if she wasn’t the best sister in the world this would have immediately earned her the dedication in Shaolin Tiger!‘My sister is an author,” she said. “And she visits here all the time.”

So there I was, pretending to be a famous person of literary note. Crowning the beauty queens. Cutting the ribbon. Keynote speaker at the dinner. Presenting trophies and medallions. Conducting TV interviews. Chatting with the writers from Underbelly who were accepting a scriptwriting award.Grenfell opened its heart to welcome me. I think the townspeople were sort of proud that I had a local connection. I might not have been the ilk of the previous guests yet I was an honorary ‘one of their own.”

But my really big moment was absolutely huge. It’s one of the highlights of my writing career. I was sitting on the official dais (trying to look official and literary!) watching the street parade. Around the corner came a local primary school all dressed up as my Samurai Kids. Banging gongs and waving swords and banners. They marched down the main street and when they reached the dais their teacher yelled “Stop”. “Yes Sensei,” they responded.Then they turned to face me and bowed, Japanese style.

I stood and bowed too. And I bawled my eyes out. To be honest, I bawled my eyes out again writing this. It’s still such a vivid and emotional memory.There are many times when I am asked why I don’t write proper books. Books for adults or older readers. Well one day I might write those too but in writing for kids, I am totally fulfilled. I do write proper books. The people who ask that question don’t understand the craft of writing for children. And they certainly don’t understand how wonderful young readers can make their authors feel. It’s real magic.

[First published Persnickety Snark March 2009]

CBCA BOOK WEEK 2009

While I was preparing my Book Week Resources for Polar Boy I found many great site chock full of useful information and activity ideas. These sites also contain multiple links to other sites offering various resources to support individual titles or the Safari theme.

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) - activity sheets, display ideas, craft, ideas for uing shorlist books in the classroom and much more

Mrs Mac's Library Site - activities and a mega list of useful links

Children's Book Council of Australia website - loads of ideas and even a loink to a Maths activity book based on shortlisted titles for Early Readers and Picture Books

Mrs B's Interactive Literacy - ideas, quizzes and fun jigsaw puzzles

And last, my own contribtuion - a Teachers Resource Kit for Polar Boy including Interactive Whiteboard Resources here

MONKEY FIST BLOG TOUR Day 8 - Alphabet Soup

It's blog tour day 8 and I'm visiting Alphabet Soup magazine where editor Rebecca Newman is interviewing me about my research techniques and asking questions to discover whether all that historical research is really any fun.

Visit the Samurai Kids website to find a Webquest for How to Build a Samurai Ryu

Tomorrow you can find me at The Book Chook where writer, reviewer and children’s literature advocate Sue Stephenson will be interviewing me about how my children’s reading experiences have influenced my writing. The complete tour schedule is here.

MONKEY FIST BLOG TOUR Day 6 - Sally Murphy's Writing for Children

It's blog tour day 6 and I'm doing two things at once. Isn't cyberspace wonderful? Today I'm visiting Sally Murphy’s Writing For Children Blog to talk with Sally Murphy (author of many books for children including the verse novel, Pearl Verses the World) about book promotion and how to harness cyber resources.

I'm also speaking in the evening at Canberra's Asia Bookroom. More details about that here.

Visit the Samurai kids website to find media related information or click here to visit the Samurai Kids Forum.

Tomorrow you will find me at Writing Children’s Book with Robyn Opie where Robyn Opie, author of more than 75 books including "How to Write a Great Children's Book" and the novel “Black Baron” and I will be discussing Zen and the Art of Writing for Children – my view on why the series has been so successful. The complete tour schedule is here.

MONKEY FIST BLOG TOUR Day 4 - Spinning Pearls

It's blog tour day 4 and I'm visiting Spinning Pearls where I'm talking with author and manuscript assessor Sally Odgers (too many books to name but the Jack Russell Dog Detective series and the e-Manual (Giving our Kids) A Reason to Write are just two examples) to discuss ‘the hour of the rat’ and how I get to Japan and China inside my head.

Visit the Samurai kids website to and click on the interactive map of feudal Japan to learn more about life in Samurai times.

Tomorrow you can find me at Tales I Tell where storyteller and author Mabel Kaplan interviews me about how my interest in Japanese and Chinese history has influenced the series. Mabel uncovers the meaning of Monkey Fist. the first person ever to ask me what the title means. The complete tour schedule is here.

Off to Canberra and the Asia Bookroom

I'm really thrilled to be heading to Canberra's Asia Bookroom. Like a bee in a honeypot can't compare to Sandy in a bookstore specialising in Asia titles with lots of history and books about Samurai Japan on the shelves. I'm taking my piggy bank and hoping to get some Korean history books to supplement my research for Samurai Kids book 5. It's hasn't been proving easy to find out the information I need to know - but I am confident I'll find lots of useful and interesting 'got-to-have' books on Thursday.

Come along - 6pm on 6 August, to hear a few tales - some tall and some true - about writing Samurai Kids, children's literature, researching 17th century Japan and my latest release Monkey Fist. More information here.

MONKEY FIST BLOG TOUR Day 1 - Dee Scribe Writing

It's blog tour day 1.

An easy day for me. Niya Moto, the narrator of the Samurai Kids series is doing all the talking. Check out his interview at Dee Scribe Writing where Dee White, author of the recently released YA novel, Letters to Leonardo will be finding out what it’s really like to be a Samurai Kid. "My name is Niya Moto and I’m the only one-legged samurai kid in Japan. Usually I miss my foot and land on my backside. Or flat on my face in the dirt."

Visit the Samurai Kids website and take a quiz to see Which Samurai Kid Are You?

Tomorrow you can find me at Orangedale Journal where Dale Harcombe, poet and children’s author (latest release The Mystery of Goanna Island) will be interviewing me about writing Samurai Kids. The complete tour schedule is here.

A New Look For Me

I've never been one to splash my mug shot around (one look and you will see why *grin*) but... I never had one that looked like this before. One of the wonderful things that happened to me as a result of beginning to write was I connected with a huge pool of wonderful authors and illustrators, all passionate about children's literature. I made many new friends. And one of those was illustrator Sarah Davis, so talented she can make me look good. And also magically able to see inside my head and find all those Samurai Kids roaming about. A picture is worth a thousand words, which for me is about a third of a chapter. But this picture - worth a whole book. It makes me feel, and look, like an author. Thanks Sarah.

SANDY WRITES

The conversation went like this: "When I was pretending to be an author today..." and I told the story. My much-loved friend, always brutally honest and tactless, rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Sandy, it's getting bit tired. You are an author. You've had lots of books published and you've got that award sticker thingy."

I've been thinking about her comment a lot because she's often right. And I think she is again. Why don't I feel like an author? Why do I hide behind throw away lines like 'when I was masquerading as an author.. "? I have seven trade and education books published, another one due out in 6 months, two more contracted and four more accepted. And yes, I have a CBCA shortlisting sticker. So what's my identity crisis all about?

Finding your author identity is a tricky business and one I've often heard my yet-to-be-published and newly-published friends talk about. For me it all began when I first realised I was an aspiring author. I never had a problem with the 'wannabe author' tag as I always knew 'you have to wannabe if you're gonnabe' And this became my mantra of sorts. But what was I? I wanted to be something that said I was professional about wanting to be an author. I was attending courses, workshopping and writing lots. But when I was at these seminars and conferences with the real authors, who was I?

Another friend, a much published author, helped me out. "You are a writer," she said. "A writer is a word craftsman who just hasn't been published yet." I doubt it's an official dictionary definition *grin* but it worked for me. I was a writer.

Then one day the call came. Walker Books Australia wanted to publish White Crane. In the two years between that call and publication I had lots of time to get used to my authorly skin. But I never did. And all of a sudden I was published with as my friend pointed out - books and a sticker. I think my problem was it all happened so fast. It's been less than 18 months since that first novel was published. I call myself the Cinderella author because it seems like someone has waved a wand over me. I joke and say I hope I don't turn back into a pumpkin in the middle of a school visit. But in truth, it does feel surreal.

And then there's this other problem - whenever I pick one of my books off the shelf - it doesn't read like a real author wrote it - it reads like I did.

It's been a month since that conversation and a transformation has been happening. I'm beginning to accept that I am an author. That the dream did come true. I've been doing a lot of school visits lately and that's helped me put it all into perspective because - when I stand in front of the class - I really do feel 100% author.

[Footnote: I picked the picture to load for this post from the White Crane launch files and then noticed what I had labelled it at the time: 'Author Impersonator' Ha! Karma.]

REVIEWS FOR ME

Last week I was on the receiving end of two wonderful reviews - the sort that bring a tear to an author's eye. Now that I've put the soggy tissue away, here's a sample of what was said:

For Shaolin Tiger
As with the earlier volumes, it’s a story told with warmth and wisdom, and Sandy Fussell is a wizard herself, casting spells over the reader with a deceptively simple style which fits the Eastern wisdom perfectly. This is a series which deserves to be widely read and recommended. Malcom at StoryTime Books for Kids in NZ

For Polar Boy
What an unusual book! This shortlisted book for younger readers is amazing and very, very different... I found the writing riveting. One of the early chapters sees Iluak fall through the ice while on a seal hunt. The tension in that chapter simply caught my interest and held it until I finished the book in one sitting. Lowly's Book Blog

GIVING IN TO THE PRESSURE

I keep being asked why I haven't blogged my recent shortlisting in the 2009 CBCA Younger Readers category. Aren't you thrilled they ask? Oh yes. Very, very, very thrilled. Also astounded and humbled. But most of all, for once in my life, absolutely wordless.

INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR 2007-2009

I was surprised to discover it's still International Polar Year (IPY), a large scientific programme focusing on the Arctic and the Antarctic. Australian research scientist Ian Allison is the leader of the Ice, Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate Programme. IPY is really two years - from March 2007 to March 2009.

I found all this out when I saw my novel Polar Boy on a reading resource list. And that started me thinking about other Australian books about the poles. Anthony Eaton's Into White Silence and Hazel Edward's picture book Antarctic Dad are personal favourites. Both authors were recipients of Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowships and spent time in the Antarctic writing and researching. Applications for the next summer (Dec - Jan) are close 31 March 2009. Oh how I wish! I did my research sticking my hand in the freezer, listening to mice scrabble in the wall (imagine a polar bear scratching on an igloo) and sitting in a bath of ice! The closest I ever got to a live polar bear was at Sea World - and it looked very sad and refused to move.

Other Aussie books about things of ice and snow which I would recommend are Alive in the Death Zone by Lincoln Hall - great non fiction for primary school boys, Hazel Edward's young adult adventure Antarctica's Frozen Chosen and Mathew Reilly's Antarctic adult thriller Ice Station. Plus two more that aren't Australian but deserve a mention - James Patterson's The Final Warning, the fourth book in the science fantasy series Maximum Ride (suit ages 10 and above) and Polly Dunbar's award-winning picture book Penguin.

Here's what I thought of Into White Silence - one of my favourite reads for 2008

Into White Silence, by Anthony Eaton Woolshed Press (Random House) Young Adult Fiction Australian Paperback rrp $23.95

It is said that no man who experience the ice escapes untouched by its beauty and its danger. Author Anthony Eaton spent the summer of 2005 at Casey Station in Antarctica to research polar life. His original intention was to write about the landscape but his focus soon turned to the story of the people whose sacrifices had made the ice accessible.

Into White Silence is a powerful thriller about the fate of the Polar Exploration Vessel Raven. Through the words of Lieutenant William Downes’ diary and the comments of the author we meet the men who shared the Raven’s disastrous voyage. The expedition leader Mr Rourke is a man of means with a troubled past and a heart as murky dark as the black steel-plated vessel itself. From the moment Rourke appears and Downes expresses doubt, the reader cannot help but make ominous comparisons to earlier explorations that ended in tragedy.

As I read, I was constantly fighting a battle to remind myself that Downes was not a historical figure and the diary was a literary fabrication. It is a testament to Eaton’s research and ability as a writer, that the line between fact and fiction is so blurred.

Rourke’s callous decision to not search for the first man lost overboard sets the tone for the physical and mental unravelling that follows when the Raven is trapped in pack ice. How long can a man hold on to hope and how will he deal with watching it melt away?

Into White Silence is a compelling study of the stark cruelty of the polar landscape and its effect on the men who dare to challenge it. A terrible but fascinating story. A dark tale of white ice. Recommended to all.