Rosemary: I think my novels are very relevent to 2011. My novel "Mission Mururoa" highlights radionuclides leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a Greenpeace warning many years ago. Imagine, if they are leaking and are being added to the ones from the Fukashima disaster. My novel Journey Great Barrier Reef warns of a Cyanide spill, also into the Pacific Ocean, from a Greenpeace warning. Add 600,00 pounds of Cyanide to the radionuclide mix and you have a potential for great damage.
"Alaska Now" is about The Alaska Native Wildlife Refuge and the attitudes of oil executives who value money more than wildlife or eco-systems, given the horrendous Gulf Oil Spill. One in the Arctic if they drill off shore will be even more disastrous. So much for Engineer assurances they have everything under control. What happened with the Gulf spill and the Japan Nuclear Plant. Such arrogance.
My Hawaii novels are all about Aloha and Identity as a Native Hawaiian (Do I want to become American or retain my native culture). Today the Akaka Bill which would give the same status to Native Hawaiians as Native Alaskans and Native Americans is still trying to pass Congress.
"Last Wild Place" and "Timber Sale" are about past and present unbridled Capitalism, a problem still obviously happening in the world.
"Return of the Canoe Societies" is about British Columbia's First Nations people still trying to reach agreement about land claims after one hundred and fifty years.
Even my funny novels, "The Wager" and "Healing Khadijah" explore contemporary issues. "The Wager" explores how to live well past mid-life while "Healing Khadijah" explores the relevence of such things as Burqas and Face Coverings for Muslims.
"Alias the Tank" talks about identity for disabled individuals, a pressing problem in today's world.
"An End To Innocence" explores young, bright women dealing with love, identity and politics in today's world.
"Money Child" explores the loss of God in today's business atmosphere and the substitution of seeking only happiness, one of the causes of losing personal meaning in today's world.
Yes, it has been quite a journey. I have been in a type of designated retirement for eleven years, although I have been extremely busy. At the age of 55 is when I officially retired from my career as a School Psychologist. I had many mishaps along my journey to retirement with a lot of unexpected events. I decided to write a narrative story about my journey in the "Freedom 55 years" which then with the help of two of my colleagues was expanded in a self-help book for Baby Boomers who wanted a new type of retirement in which they could strike the perfect balance between leisure and purpose. The book we wrote is called "The Way of the Supernova: A New Baby Boomer Retirement Era That Will Change The World."
I've also just released a riveting action/adventure novel set in West Papua on the Island of New Guinea that highlights the plight of West Papuan tribesmen called "Last Wild Place" and I've finished "Liliha and the Sacred Dagger" exploring a young Native Hawaiian girl's worry about the loss of everything Hawaiian in her country. Imagine a planned Air Force runway taking up most of the island of Ni'ihau, which has remained Hawaiian in nature despite foreign ownership since 1850. I'm now in the midst of writing "Code Blue", a novel that explores medical issues and people's heroic coping mechanisms in the final years of their lives.
My Bio And Books
Questions And Answers With
Rosemary .....
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1) Rosemary, how did you first become interested in writing historical fiction novels? And what is your latest novel.
Rosemary: My latest novel is a Young Adult Adventure Novel "Liliha and the Sacred Mission". In this novel, Liliha, a fourteen year old Native Hawaiian girl gets to battle Evil to help slow the pace of development on the Island of Kauai. She has to find the bones of Hawaii's greatest kings to use in an ancient ceremony her grandfather, a kahuna will conduct. It's a little like a Hawaiian Harry Potter.
I am a former School Psychologist who now does career assessment work and retirement coaching/planning through my office in beautiful Qualicum Beach BC. I started to write when I visited Hawaii back in 1988 and I thought about the culture clash that existed between the Native Hawaiians and the Americans. Since I had Psychology training, I explored how Erik Erikson's Adolescent Identity Achievement Task (who am I and what do I want to do with my life) would apply to all the multi-cultural teenagers such as those in Hawaii. Do they, for instance, decide to identify with their American counterparts, or people from their own cultural backgrounds (in Hawaii people can often be a mixture of Hawaiian, Japanese, European, Chinese, Portugese, etc.) as a result of four hundred thousand people who came to work the sugar plantations in the 1900's. The result of this musing and travels has been twelve novels about multi-cultural people growing up with their cultural backgrounds and becoming involved in issues involving injustice in their countries.
2) Where in particular have you set your novels?
Rosemary: So far I've set novels in Hawaii, Tahiti, Malaysia, Australia, West Papua on the Island of New Guinea, Canada, Alaska, and California.
3) What are some of your most successful moments as an Author of your novels?
Rosemary: My Hawaiian novel "Aloha and Mai Tais" received a 5 star review from Midwest Book Review and my Australian novel "Journey Great Barrier Reef" became a winner in the 2003 Telluride Indiefest Contest when I turned it into a Screenplay.
4) Is it true that you have added genres and made a partial transition from Historical Fiction Writer to Self-Help Expert around Baby Boomers and retirement issues? How did this happen? Also, do you think your novels are relevent to 2011.
