"It isn't how long one lives, it is how wide that really matters."

– Kathryn's Beach

"...chase after life with the drive of an eight-year-old chasing an ice cream truck!"

– High Tide

"You are the person you are when you think no one is watching."

– Storm Surge

Trivia

Email trivia questions to the author here.

Book Trivia:

Kathryn's Beach:
Kathryn's Beach, affectionately called "KB," was originally written as a short story on January 16, 2000. From January 17 to February 6, 2000 – at the urging of Terrie Berg – the story was expanded into a short novel. During 2004 Kathryn's Beach was combined with High Tide. In 2005, the two stories were separated again.

High Tide:
High Tide follows closely on the heels of Kathryn's Beach, beginning a few days after the end of KB. When the tide comes in, the force of the water grows stronger. It is more difficult to stay on course. Ditto, life.

Storm Surge:
Storm Surge follows four years after High Tide. Kathryn's life is forced in a perpendicular direction to where she would have it go. Her sense of family obligation wars with her desire to have a life of her choosing.

Coffee!
More than a caffeine craving, coffee is Kathryn's security blanket against the cold world of child abuse investigations and the chill it left within her.

Naming Characters:
Kathryn was originally named "Maggie," as a reference to a role played by Patricia Neal in the 1965 movie, IN HARM'S WAY. Before the first chapter was finished, it became apparent "Maggie" better fit her best friend. Kathryn does not have a last name in Kathryn's Beach because she is not a two name person in that book. Her last name takes on significance in High Tide.

Ending:
The ending to Storm Surge is in the first chapter of Kathryn's Beach AND High Tide!

Ioseph:
"Ioseph" is the Gaelic spelling for Joseph, according to my Irish baby names book. Pronounce it as you would Joseph. Maggie tells this information to Kathryn at the dinner party at Maggie and Dave's home.

Speed Writer:
Kathryn's Beach, my first novel, was written in a couple of hours a night for 21 days, or about 40 hours.

Larger Font:
What's with the font size? Frankly, reading shouldn't be work, especially fiction, most especially beach books! Book fonts should be a readable size and absolutely no serifs. Period. (Take notes publishing industry!)

Mural:
The mural is simply imaginary -- I made it up -- not based on anything. It is a literary device to show how "into" the project the nuns are. If anyone paints the mural in Kathryn's Beach, please send photos. I'd love to see them!

Seal Beach Trivia:

Setting:
The setting for Kathryn's story is based on Seal Beach, California, in Orange County. The real Seal Beach is 0.8 miles long, whereas, in the story the beach is 5 miles long. The cover photos were taken at Seal Beach.

The town of Seal Beach and the beach have been in several movies and television shows, and I am told, the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. If you have trivia on Seal Beach's Hollywood history -- email me!

Roaring 20's:
During the 1920's, Seal Beach was known as the pleasure place. "Seal Beach had the buzz. You went there for fun in the sun," said the Red Car Museum president Laura Alioto. Seal Beach featured bath palaces, a huge roller coaster, gaming rooms, gambling ships, rum runners and wicker boardwalk carts. Scintillating lights illuminated the water and night bathers from the second longest pier in the state. Bathing Pavilion with 1000 dressing rooms renting for 25 cents each, opened directly onto the beach. Their motto was: A beach without an undertow."

Red Sea:
Moses parted the "Red Sea" for Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 version of "The Ten Commandments" on the flat seashore of Seal Beach.

Filmed at Seal Beach:

The Ten Commandments (1923)
The Born Losers (1967)
Surf Nazis Must Die (1987)
Under the Boardwalk (1989)
"Sunset Beach" (1997) TV Series
As Good as It Gets (1997)
American Pie 2 (2001)
Mr. Fix It (2006)
Spirit Space (2008)
The Sun (2009)

American Pie 2:
The small town called Grand Harbor in the movie American Pie 2 is actually Seal Beach, California, a quaint seaside town with a nice pier. The movie features the boys cruising down Main Street in Seal Beach, and you can spot local Seal Beach landmarks such as Walt's Wharf restaurant, O'Malley's Irish Pub, and the Seal Beach Pier.