Vacation Photos (2): Alaska

Later in the trip, we had more port stops - Ketchikan, and Victoria Canada. And I was lucky enough to see libraries in most of the cities. I missed the one in Ketchikan (the online pictures are amazing)

One of the ship's seven kitchens

A mosaic in Ketchikan

A tree in the park in Ketchikan

One of the whale benches in the park - it was a small part but beautiful 

Lumberjack Show - which was hysterical. I had a sore throat from cheering so much and I cried four times with laughter. 

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay selfie

Glacier 

A glacier - the blues in the ice don't really pop here, but it's gorgeous.

It was a cloudy day, but beautiful. 

Leaving Glacier Bay

A Secret Garden in Victoria (not really secret but I love the idea)

Victoria

Victoria 

Heading into Chinatown in Victoria 

One of the government buildings in Victoria

The Victoria Public Library

Back in Seattle where we catch a baseball game because we knew one of the National Anthem singers. 

All in all, a great trip! 

Meeting Marissa Doyle

Last week, I had the good fortune to attend the CT Librarian conference, where I sat in on a fabulous program with Melissa Doyle.

She's the author of two awesome books, Bewitching Season and Betraying Season.

And she has a new book in the works called MAGIC IN SEASON and it contains the story of the twins' mother from her previous two books. You can read the teaser here. (Look for the April

News post). I think it sounds amazing, but the bad news is that it's not available for another year.

She talked about her love for history, facts, and mixing fiction with history. You can read about that at my friend's site here.

She mentioned how the first novel started during a writing exercise with the words "Oh My God, you killed me." From there she imagined a brother saying these words to his sister in a world with a young girl soon to be Queen Victoria. As a young girl, her role was threatened by her own mother who wanted her to sign over her crown to a regent. What if this man had an control and an assassination plot to kill the girl in line for the throne. Would he be the next king? What would happened if magic was involved - would that change things.

The movie Young Victoria gives viewers a sense a of the political drama. I love these period movies because I do love the time period, but I also love seeing the clothes.

If you notice the above book covers, they also have the power to draw in readers by the clothes, but stay for the story. Overall, I loved hearing her speak (and getting her to sign a book for me too!)