Monday, May 23, 2016

AIR TIME and TWO fabulous giveaways!


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It's "What We're Writing" week--as you could see from Susan's wonderful post about Paris yesterday. And we'll be talking about, well, what we're writing, and what we're thinking, and what's happening in writing world.  First, four things.

One: Hurray! WHAT YOU SEE is nominated for the Anthony for Best Novel! I am so thrilled!

Two:  Tell us--if you're writing--what YOU're writing! Published, not published, we'd love to hear.

Three: at the bottom of this post is a wonderful giveaway from my dear and talented pal Andrew Gross. This is--amazing.  Readers, you MUST enter--all you have to do is click.

And four--my dear AIR TIME is coming out on June 14. The level with which I love AIR TIME beyond description  Here's the beginning of the book. (Is this completely fiction? What do you think?)  

Do you have to read the TIME books in order? Nope. As Sue Grafton says: "Sassy, fast-paced and appealing! This is first-class entertainment!}

 (And make sure you scroll down to the big giveaway!)

And--have you had any travel trouble recently? Are you traveling this summer?  A copy of AIR TIME to one lucky commenter!


AIR TIME

 Chapter 1

It’s never a good thing when the flight attendant is crying. Franklin, strapped into the seat beside me, his seat back and tray table in the full upright position, headphones on and deep into Columbia Journalism Review, doesn’t notice her tears. But I do.

She’s wearing a nametag that says Tracy, a navy blue pencil skirt, a bow-tied striped scarf, flat-heeled pumps and dripping mascara. We’re sitting on the Baltimore airport tarmac, still attached to the jetway, a full fifteen minutes past our scheduled takeoff for Boston and home. And Tracy’s crying.

I nudge Franklin with my elbow and tilt my head toward her. “Franko, check it out.”

Only Franklin’s eyes move as, with a sigh, he glances up from under his new wire-rimmed glasses. Then, without a word, he slowly closes his CJR and finally looks at me. I can see he’s as unnerved as I am. His eyes question, and I have the only answer a television reporter can give. 

“Get your cell,” I whisper. “Turn it on.”

“But, Charlotte—” he begins.

He’s undoubtedly going to tell me some Federal Aviation Administration rule about not using cell phones in flight. Like any successful television producer, Franklin always knows all the rules. Like any successful television reporter, I’m more often about breaking them. If it could mean a good story.

“We’re not in flight,” I whisper. “We haven’t budged on this runway. But one of us—you—is going to get video of what ever it is that’s going on here. The other—me—is going to call the assignment desk back at Channel 3 and see if they know what the heck is happening at this airport.”

I look out my window. Nothing. I look back up at Tracy, who’s now huddling with her colleagues in the galley a few rows in front of us. Their coiffed heads are bent close together and one has a comforting arm around another’s shoulders. The faces I can see look concerned. One looks up and catches me staring. She swipes a tapestry curtain across the aisle, blocking my view.

Part of me is, absurdly, relieved that our takeoff is delayed. I hate takeoffs. I hate landings. I hate flying. And if something terrible has happened, all I can say is, I’m not surprised.

But I have to find out if there’s a story here. Maybe Tracy just has some sort of a personal problem and I’m making breaking news out of a broken heart. I yank my bag from under the seat in front of me and slide out my own cell phone. Bending double so my phone is buried in my lap, I pretend to sneeze to cover the tim-tee-tum sound of it powering up, then sneeze again to make it more convincing. As I’m contemplating sneeze three, I hear my call to the assignment desk connect.

“It’s me. Charlie,” I whisper. I pause, closing my eyes in annoyance at the response. “Charlie McNally. The reporter? Is this an intern?” I pause again, picturing a newbie twenty-something in over her head. Me, twenty-two years ago. Twenty-three, maybe. I start again, calm. Taking the snark out of my voice. “It’s Charlotte McNally, the investigative reporter? Give me Roger, please.” I glance at the curtain to the galley. Still closed. “Right now.”

Franklin’s up and in the aisle, holding his cell phone as if it’s off as he pretends to take a casual stroll toward the galley curtains. I know he’s got video rolling. I know his phone has a ten-minute photo capacity, and he’s done this so many times he can click it off and on without looking. Talk about a hidden camera. Our fellow passengers will only see an attractive thirty-something black guy in a preppy pink oxford shirt checking out the flight attendants. I see Franklin Brooks Parrish, my faithful producer, getting the shots we need. Whatever is happening—all caught on camera. Exclusive.

“Roger Zelinsky.” The night assignment editor’s Boston accent makes it Rah- jah. “What’s up, C?”

“We’re in Baltimore, on the way home from the National Journalism Convention,” I say, still doubled over into my lap and whispering. Luckily Franklin and I had an empty seat between us. A hidden camera is one thing— a hidden forbidden conversation on a cell phone is another. “We’re at the airport. In a plane. On the tarmac.”

“So?” Roger replies.

“Exactly,” I say. “That’s what I’m trying to fi nd out.” I give him the short-version scoop on the tears, the delay, the closed curtain. 

Franklin’s now made it to the galley, his phone camera nonchalantly pointed at the spot where the curtain would open. But it hasn’t opened. Maybe Tracy broke up with the pilot. Maybe they don’t have enough packages of peanuts. Maybe someone decided to smoke in the bathroom.

Then, even through the fuzzy phone connection, I hear all hell break loose at Channel 3. Strapped in and surrounded by passengers and pillows and carry-on bags, on Flight 632 there’s only the muted sounds of passengers muttering, speculating. But about five hundred miles away, in a Boston television newsroom, bells are ringing and alarms are going off . I know it’s the breaking news signal. The Associated Press is banging out a hot story. I bet it’s centered right here. And any second, I’m gonna know the scoop in Baltimore.

 “Runway collision. Two planes. A 737 and some commuter jet. Cessna. I’m reading from the wires, hang on.” Roger’s voice is now urgent.

 I can picture him, eyes narrowed, racing through the information coming through on his computer. Bulletins appear one or two sentences at a time and with every new addition more alert bells ping. “No casualty count yet. One plane taxiing toward takeoff, one on the ground.”

“The little plane,” I begin. “How many— was it— which—”

“Don’t know,” Roger replies. Terse. The bell pings again and our connection breaks up a bit. “Fire engines,” he says.

I’ve got to get off this plane. I’ve got to get into the terminal. This story is big, it’s breaking, and I’m ready to handle it.

“Call you asap,” I whisper, interrupting. “I’m getting out of here.”

HANK: So--tell us what you're writing. Tell us about your travel troubles--and I'll pick a winner.

And don't forget--here's Andrew Gross's giveaway! (Click on Andrew's name) Can you believe how great it is?



62 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Hank, on the Anthony Award nomination for “What You See” . . .

    How wonderful to revisit “Air Time” . . . I’m looking forward to reading Charlotte’s adventures once again.
    After seeing all the news about the l-o-n-g, slow lines at airport security, it may be a good thing that we don’t have travel plans this summer . . . .

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  2. Well, yes, amazing! (I'm hoping people just bring AIR TIME with them on their travels :-) ( was at O'Hare a few weeks ago, and it was MAYHEM. Truly, incredible.

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  3. Congratulations Hank, and thank you again for the book. Did I do that already? Hope so.

    I look forward to reading AIR TIME. (Off to Amazon shortly.)

    I travel a lot, although not as much as ten years ago. I've have a few scary experiences, but the worst was arriving at SFO a few weeks after 9/11. I saw soldiers in combat gear, assault rifles at the ready, patrolling the concourse. I burst into tears. What happened to my country? Nothing before or since has made that impression on me.

    This from someone who was in Dallas when Kennedy was shot, in LA for the Rodney King riots, in OKC for the Murrah Building bombing, and in NY for 9/11. I don't have a lot of neighborhoods left to move out of.

    Yeah, I am old too.



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  4. Loved this book! So nice to see it back, and what a great opening. Whenever I'm on a plane and a flight attendant gives their spiel I think of this.

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  5. Oh, my pleasure, Ann! Crossing fingers you love it…

    And yeah, that must have been chilling. And even more chilling--we were glad they were there.

    (And thank you Hallie! I must say--I do, too.)

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  6. Air Time is my favorite of the Time books!

    As for me, the older the I get less I seem to enjoy flying. I have loved that many of the Bouchercons have been within driving distance - and of course, Malice Domestic is pretty much localish. I will need to fly to get to some of the UK book events I want to do some day, but just the thought of it makes me shake my head.

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  7. I'm writing Hacked, the fourth Tucker book. It's due on Aug 15 (my first deadline.)

    On June 6, I'm launching the third Tucker book, Child Not Found, at Brookline Booksmith. Will be telling the story of how the book was inspired by a biscotti with help from Facebook.

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  8. Kristppher--before y u fly, get TSA pre-check, and global entry. It'll make a huge difference, and it is SO easy. It won't make flying wonderful, but it'll be better! And aw, thank you! xxoox

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  9. Ray, that's wonderful! YOu'll come to Jungle Red and tell us all about it, right? Hurray! And..biscotti?

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  10. I'm finishing up NO WAY HOME, the fifth of my Zoe Chambers mysteries. It's due June 1st, so welcome to Deadline Madness!

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  11. I can't believe I haven't read AIR TIME yet! (Although when you consider the sheer number of books in total the Jungle Reds have written, it's probably not surprising I missed one.)

    Hank I so love the reporter's instinct kicking in - as I was reading my first thought was, "Oh, that poor girl. She needs to be comforted." Clearly, I don't have the newshound's mindset.

    It's definitely going into my summer beach bag - although I may wait to read until AFTER Youngest has safely made her flights to and from Chicago this June (she's been accepted to a language immersion summer course at UIUC!)

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  12. Oh, hurray for Youngest! What language? Congratulations!

    And the only thing about flying out of CHicago--get to the airport astonishingly early. The lines are..yeesh.

    And yes, the reporter instinct. Someday here on the blog, I'll tell the true story behind Air Time! Suffice it to say, now, that the opening scene is not entirely fiction..

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  13. Yay, Annette! And did I hear some buzz about you keynote speakering??? Tell all!

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  14. I just got back from Pennwriters, but that was driving. A lot of driving and thank the good Lord for Annette being a total trooper by undertaking the Turnpike. Man, I was glad to get home and into my jammies!

    I'm working on a historical short story set in 1942 Buffalo at the Bell Airplane facility (my grandmother worked there). It'll be for submission to next year's Malice Anthology, MURDER MOST HISTORICAL. I'm also working on my novel, IDENTITY UNKNOWN, in case I get a request for pages from the agent I met last weekend.

    Flying, ugh. I need to look into TSA pre-check before Bouchercon in the fall because I'll be flying to New Orleans since I had a short story, "Three Rivers Voodoo," accepted for inclusion in the Blood on the Bayou anthology.

    My absolute worst travel experience had to be the last Bouchercon in Raleigh. Four hours before my flight is supposed to leave, I get an EMAIL from American Airlines saying my flight has been canceled and they've oh-so-kindly booked me on a flight leaving Raleigh at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning! Um, hello, I've got to get to work Monday and that totally doesn't work for me. There went the rest of the conference as I haggled with American to get on an earlier flight, then had to leave without saying goodbye to ANYONE because while the flight was delayed, I was petrified something would change and I'd be stuck in Raleigh.

    Never flying American again. Thank goodness I've got Southwest to New Orleans!

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  15. Glad to do the driving, Mary.

    Yes, Hank, I'm going to be the Saturday luncheon keynote at the 2017 Pennwriters Conference in Pittsburgh! I'm excited...and a little terrified!

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  16. Oh, please, Mary. American. FIrst the first-classers board, okay fine. Then Executive platinum, fine.

    Then, silly me thinks, Group 1 (me) gets to go next.

    BUT NO.

    Next is Diamond, then silver, then Ruby, then Emerald--SERIOUSLY!--then sapphire- then priority. I am NOT kidding!

    THEN number ones.

    HOW can there be so MANY categories higher than Number 1?? I finally caved and paid for priority. Sheeesh.

    Done with the rant.

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  17. I'm currently working on the second novella in a 'near-future' YA series I've been planning for over a year! The first novella is currently entered in a competition, and the winner will get their novel/novella published! Fingers crossed!


    Traveling story...hmm...The most interesting trip for me was on a 15 hour flight from Tokyo, Japan back to the US (Texas, I think?). For whatever reason, we had several people cancel their flights, so everyone on the plan had whole rows to themselves. We all ended up making little forts with the airplane pillows/blankets. Only time I've ever been able to sleep on a flight!

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  18. It was a dark and stormy night. My flight was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. from Providence, and I was an hour and a half away, alone in my house on Cape Cod, where it was snowing heavily. I slept for a few hours, got up and shoveled. And shoveled. And shoveled. The roads were pretty clear, and I got to the airport. I had paid $15 for an "A" position on my Southwest Airlines flight, so after a smooth transition through parking and security, I stood in line, ready to board.

    As we on the A List stood in our places, we watched the clock and began to notice activity at our gate. The plane was there; we were ready. But we didn't board.

    An announcement: "This flight is scheduled to go to Baltimore, but it is fueled for a longer trip. We need to offload some fuel before we can fly." I still don't understand the physics or mechanics or engineering of this dilemma. But I sat down, and we all waited.

    Everyone's connecting flights had to be cancelled.

    I spent that day in four airports,zig-zagging my way to Los Angeles.

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  19. Oh, Denise Ann, the best laid plans. And that always terrifies me. Didn't they KNOW that? How much is enough, and how much is too much?

    And, sigh, many a time I have paid to be in the high A group. (The scourge of ONLY having a carry on…)

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  20. I haven't seen an official announcement from the Bouchercon folks yet, but Greg Herren said it was okay to mention that a short story I submitted for the Bouchercon Blood on the Bayou anthology has been accepted. squeeeeee!

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  21. That is FABULOUS, Kaye-- YAY!! (I hope you'll tell all your next Sunday!) But what's the title, at least?

    (ANd you are ALL entering Andrew Gross's contest, right?)

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  22. The title is "Pretend Voodoo at The Jitterbug." (which will make sense when you read the story). :-D

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  23. Congrats, Hank! Congrats, Kaye! And Hank, I can't believe I haven't read Air Time! I don't know how anyone could NOT read it after that opening. Going to buy right now.

    I always fly American because Dallas is an American hub. And yes, I pay for Priority and all that jazz when I don't log enough miles in a year to keep my status. And I have Global Entry and TSA Precheck. Only thing that makes flying bearable these days.

    Hank, I should think you'd have so many air miles you'd have elite status on every carrier! :-)

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  24. Yeah you'd think so, sigh. Maybe I'm not careful enough about my miles. (and thanks, dear Debs! Crossing fingers you love it.)

    DO you all track airline miles?

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  25. Wow, Hank, you know how to start a novel!

    I'm working on the third County Clare mystery (hysterical about it last week but seem to be back in a groove this week) with number 2, WHISPERS IN THE MIST, arriving in bookstores near you August 8th. :-) I'm calling the third one "Touch of Death." Shall we wager on whether that title will make it to publication? :-)

    Traveling, yeah, I'm with Kristopher--getting harder. And, let's talk about travel trouble. In March I went to Ireland for novel research (I'm vibing with you right now, Susan). I get to the airport in Portland and find out that I don't.actually.have.tickets. WHAH! Talk about panicking and sniveling. I showed them my confirmation, but it seems it was fraudulent. I was snookered, completely banjaxed (as the Irish say). I had to buy another round trip (PDD<-->Logan) and then in Logan deal with Aer Lingus, and hope and pray they had availability on their flight.(Thank goodness they did.)

    I bought my ticket through Expedia--or I thought I had!

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  26. Oh, my GOSH, Lisa! Terrible!

    Do you know any more about it? Where it came from? Oh, awful.

    But, um, congratulations on the book! zoo

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  27. I know--so awful. The airlines folks said they're seeing more of that kind of fraud. What I think happened while on Expedia: A pop-up window appeared that said something reassuring about my ticketing/confirmation and to click "Next" to continue. And then I was somewhere else entirely--the fraudulent site. It was so seamless. Beware if you ever land on something called eDreams. Totally bogus.

    They sent me an official-looking confirmation--it all looked great! So nutty.

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  28. Oh my, so many airplane horror stories from which to choose. This is really my most pathetic story, by far not the worst.
    I was traveling with my two small children (don’t we all) to visit my parents in Ohio. We had changed planes somewhere in the middle of the country or in some other country for all I knew, and none of us were in such a good mood. Fortunately this was back in the good old days when actual food was provided on airplanes, not just bags containing two pretzels. This meal contained, among other things that needed to be opened, cut (with plastic utensils) and portioned. As I am juggling children and their food preparation, one of my angelic children picks up the salad dressing packet, gives it a squeeze, and squirts it all over top of our cabin area. Greenish yellow slime is dripping down all over everything, but the trajectory of the dressing was such that it also went into the overhead area of the seats in front of us.

    IT’S DRIPPING ON PEOPLE I DON’T KNOW AND IT LOOKS LIKE SNOT.

    I pushed the attendant call button, tried to corral the dripping salad dressing with the one tiny napkin that the airline provided, and leaned over to the people ahead of me to explain that it was just salad dressing dripping. I don’t think they believed me. The flight attendant eventually brought something to clean up the dripping dressing, and when we landed I waited until the people ahead of us had gotten totally off the plane before we got off.

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  29. These internet ogres are very clever. So sorry Lisa! I loved the opening of Air Time, Hank! Now I have to go get it to read! My last flight was in October. I flew from Houston to JFK, spent the night, and boarded Air India for my really big adventure. While waiting to board the plane we saw about 40 wheelchairs lined up to board our flight. With passengers. I thought I was watching an Olympic wheelchair team going to competition. But, no. I suppose they were all going home after getting medical treatment or visiting family, or whatever. But the sheer number of wheelchairs floored me.
    A few years ago I was returning to Minnesota from Dallas after a visit to my parents. DFW had gotten snowed on and our Sun Country flight was delayed while they found an airline willing to let us use their de-icing stuff. Adventures in flying.

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  30. Congratulations, Kaye! What exciting news!

    And Lisa, how appalling. It's unnerving to see these hackers pulling such horrid scams on the Internet . . . .

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  31. Also loved Air Time! Congrats on its rerelease. I'm also glad I have nowhere to fly to until September (yay - New Orleans!).

    I'm polishing MULCH ADO ABOUT MURDER, my eleventh novel and fifth Local Foods mystery - hard to believe, really. Then I'll start writing the third Quaker Midwife mystery, possibly titled BREAKING THE CHAIN, which has a women's suffrage sub-theme. Thanks for asking!

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  32. Lisa, that is disgusting. And thank you for the warning. Amazing.

    Oh,Barbara, I am so sorry--but that is hilarious. oh, dear…

    Pat D, that's--well, that's why they call it a "trip," maybe . Because there's always something unusual.

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  33. Thanks, Edith. Congratulations! And your new cover is beautiful.

    Have any of you all ever taken a trip with miles?

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  34. Hank, I haven't but my friend was just telling me how her latest vacation to Sonoma only cost $11 because she's switched to paying all her bills with her Visa that accumulates miles and she's racked them up like crazy.

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  35. YES I HAD A TRAVEL ISSUE ON AMTRAK WHEN THE TRAIN WAS GOING SO FAST THAT THE WHEELS STARTING SPARKING. THANKS FOR THE GIVEAWAY! SHELLEY S. calicolady60@hotmail.com

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  36. Rushing to give a library speech--back later! xoox

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  37. First things first, congrats on the nomination!! Yay!

    I need to read the Charlie books again. That's a great excerpt.

    Fortunately nothing too terrifying with travel (or I've blocked it out) but yes, O'Hare is always mayhem. And every once in awhile during flight I do peek out on the wing just to be sure there isn't a creature out there ;-).

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  38. TSA pre-check! It is great and I'm sure it will be until everyone gets it and then we'll all be back in the long line. At least it still should go faster when people don't have to disrobe and take everything out of their bags. I traveled from Denver to Tampa and then from Denver to Bend, OR in April and both trips went fairly smoothly. My horror trip was in December. I decided that I needed to go to Dallas because my mother was having back surgery and my parents are in their late 80's so I was sure my dad would need support. So I made that reservation. In the meantime, my 30 something daughter was put into the hospital with a severe infection in Denver and scheduled for surgery the day before my mother's surgery. So I head down to Denver on Monday afternoon and spend the night in her hospital room as a blizzard is coming in overnight. We woke up in the morning to snow blowing sideways outside the hospital window. DIA cancelled all morning flights. In the meantime, my daughter had her minor surgery and was back in her room and all was well with her. I was flying Southwest and they said my afternoon flight was still scheduled on time. So I get into my car and white-knuckle it from downtown Denver to the airport (took just over an hour). I parked in an outlying lot and took their shuttle to the airport. There was almost 2 feet of snow on the ground by then. But, hooray, my flight did take off (2 hrs late) and I got to Dallas that evening. Then got a couple of hours sleep before we had to get mother to the hospital for her surgery. It was one of those wild and crazy experiences you hope never to have.

    Hank, that is one great beginning for a book. I have to read it now, because I can't stand not knowing how it progresses from there.

    It's so much fun to hear about everyone's experiences with travel. And, of course, what they're writing! I love you all.

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  39. Congratulations, Hank!

    Love the cover art on Airtime, especially the new style including your revamped "reissues." Is that the right word?

    I'm writing a historic novel based on my family history between Salem in New England and Quebec City in New France. the most difficult part is trying to contain it.

    For those who have expressed concern about me: I haven't been commenting much, because my speech-to-text no longer works and can't be replaced. I have to write on my iPhone, email it, then cut and paste it into a document. Too much stress on the motor neurons that are still working. It's still a bit much. Still working out a plan for making it all work better. You know I never give up!

    xo

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  40. Congrats! :)

    I traveled to NC from Ohio in March. We didn't really have any troubles - except the one night the phone navigation told us we arrived at our restaurant destination...when we were clearly on the other side of town and in the parking lot of a car dealership. We eventually got there lol.

    brookeb811 at gmail.com

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  41. Congrats on the Anthony nom! You rock, Hank.

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  42. Oh, Bev. SNOW. The scariest. And de-icing. I hate de-icing.

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  43. Reine, Reine--you are too wonderful. Try talking to us telepathically…we understand each other so well--it might work!

    And oh, cannot wait to read YOUR book!

    And Bev, I keep thinking about how brave you were..

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  44. Brooke--how was the food at the car dealership? :-) We should do a whole mother blog on GPS mistakes...

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  45. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  46. Okay, typo. That was supposed to say whole NOTHER blog, but spellcheck apparently insisted.

    Aw, Denise Ann, we love YOU, too..xoxo

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  47. Hank, I love all the Time books. It's about time I re- read them all!

    When I was recuperating from my back surgeries I had to wear a heavy duty body cast type of brace for many months.There was a lot of metal in it: hinges, buckles, etc. I had to fly somewhere a few months after one of the surgeries. When I arrived at the check in point I told the TSA person to expect the alarm to go off and I explained why. She thanked me for the info and ended up wanding me when the metal set off the alarm. She was very professional. On my return, leaving from the tiniest airport I'd ever seen, I told the TSA person about the metal. He told me to walk through the metal detector as fast as I could. The alarm went off. I assumed he would get out the wand. Instead, he told me to come back and run through the detector! I did, and nothing happened. He said "you're okay; you can go!" Good thing I wasn't a terrorist!

    From DebRomano

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  48. Oh my gosh, DebRo. Terrifying. xxoo

    When I walk though I unhinge my watch, and hold my hands in front of me wait=st--as instructed! Happy to do so--but should that work?

    xoxo

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  49. Oh, Hank, that's quite an opening. My goal is to catch up on the Charlotte McNally books this year. I have Prime Time and will read it soon. After checking with Amazon and Barnes & Noble, it looks like Air Time isn't available until June 14th. Is that right?

    I'm convinced that I need to apply for the TSA pre-check from all I hear, and I plan to do so soon. The last few times I've flown, I've been lucky to be waved on through to the TSA pre-check line, and it is nice.

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  50. Congrats on your award nomination. Looking forward to reading your book. One time my sister and I were flying home from San Francisco and we were called up to the check in counter and we were asked to give up our seats together so one of us could sit by the emergency door and so some otherfamily could sit together. I guess they didn't consider me and my sister family and I really didn't want to be responsible to open the emergency door. They were extremely rude when we said no. I was not with that airline's customer service.

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  51. Congrats on your award nomination. Looking forward to reading your book. One time my sister and I were flying home from San Francisco and we were called up to the check in counter and we were asked to give up our seats together so one of us could sit by the emergency door and so some otherfamily could sit together. I guess they didn't consider me and my sister family and I really didn't want to be responsible to open the emergency door. They were extremely rude when we said no. I was not with that airline's customer service.

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  52. Kathy -- cannot wait to hear what you think about the Charlie books! They are different from the Janes… So I am crossing fingers. Big time.
    Xxx
    And yes, formally do TSA pre-check. It is so worth it!

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  53. Oh dear, Diane. The exit row, that is always a decision, but the seats are so great… xx

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  54. And Diane, thank you so much! Yes, I am still floating…

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  55. I've always thought that was one of the best beginnings ever, Hank! You always suck us in on page one.
    Love from London,
    Rhys

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  56. Hank... Denise Ann... everyone... Hank, Hank Thank you. I'll be here with my telepathy cap on.

    XOXO

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  57. Yay, Rhys! Cannot wait to hear all about it! xoxo

    Reine--thinking of you!

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  58. AND THE WINNER OF AIR TIME IS:

    DIANE CASEY!

    Diane, email me at h ryan at whdh dot com with your address!


    Yay!













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