Interviewer: Why did you write the book?
Diane: The realization that most young people – and by that I mean anyone around age 55 or younger – didn’t realize how excited we all were about the space program in the Sixties. About the race to the moon. About science and its possibilities. I wanted to write a book that depicted that. The excitement over what space exploration has to offer just isn’t there anymore and it’s important to rekindle that.
Interviewer: Why did you choose Mackinac Island as your setting?
Diane: I was looking for a setting that would be captivating. Mackinac Island is such a stunning place – undeniably beautiful and almost unique in all the world for its life without the automobile. I also knew it had to be a place I knew intimately for my writing about it to be believable. My son and I lived in nearby St. Ignace for three years and spent a lot of time on the island. Then we moved to New York City. That extreme urban environment was in stark contrast. So I started to wonder, what if that happened in reverse? What if a kid was raised in New York until age 11, then had to move to an island where they didn’t even have cars? So that became the situation of my protagonist, Walter Hudson. First of all, he doesn’t want to go!
Interviewer: How did you bring the space program to Mackinac Island?
Diane: That was easy once I discovered Jane Hart. Sure, I had my 11-year-old protagonist follow the news of the astronauts and rocket launches. I picked a spot on the island for the fictitious home he lives in with his mother and housekeeper almost by closing my eyes and sticking a pin on the the map. Then I discovered, in real life, Phil Hart and his family had a cottage on that same street. Hart was well respected United States senator from Michigan. His wife, Jane, was one of those larger than life people, entirely fearless and daring. She rode horses, sailed, and took up feminist causes. Most pertinent, she was a pilot who wanted to become an astronaut. When she and her fellow female pilots agitated for inclusion of women in the space program they took all the same tests the first astronauts, the Mercury Seven, were given and performed as well or better. With the prevailing attitudes of the time, women were not sent into space in the Sixties or even the Seventies. But Jane, the first female helicopter pilot in Michigan, is there to whisk my protagonist off the island when he needs to escape the bad guys.
Interviewer: With an 11 year old protagonist, is this a kids’ book?
Diane: Absolutely! And absolutely not! It’s a book for all ages and crosses genres. Adventure, historical fiction, mystery….I like to think my 11-year-old is like 11-year-old Flavia deLuce in the Alan Bradley mystery series. Flavia is a precocious youngster who has an affinity for chemistry, poisons in particular. The Flavia deLuce mysteries are read by all ages. So what if she’s an 11-year-old Miss Marple? Mystery lovers enjoy the intrigues and clever plot twists all the same. They love Flavia for her grit and intelligence and her philosophic introspections. In the same way, I hope readers will love Walter Hudson. Youngsters will appreciate him in the spirit of vintage Hardy Boys. They’ll love the adventure. They’ll also get a look at the Sixties decade, which was so dynamic, setting the stage for dramatic progress in civil rights, feminism, and ending the war in Vietnam. For those who didn’t live in the Sixties, I’ve provided an extensive glossary to explain its people, places, and things. Those who lived in the Sixties will enjoy a trip down memory lane. Those who love Mackinac Island will be reminded of its iconic landmarks and annual doings.
Interviewer: Where did you get your ideas for the book?
Diane: Reading, living, and researching. Some of the incidents in the book are similar to ones my son and I lived when we were on Mackinac Island. Others are pure fiction. Others are drawn from history, like the Apollo 1 fire or the Lansing riot of 1966. Those involving real people – like Jane Hart, Buzz Aldrin, and Mitt Romney – are based on historical research. The Sixties backdrop is always based on fact.
Interviewer: What is your favorite scene in the book?
Diane: In Chapter 27 when my protagonist explains the importance of the space program to a black doctor. At this moment the doctor is a stand in for Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King’s successor, who called space program spending an “inhuman priority” and said the money should be spent on programs for the poor. Abernathy led a contingent of protesters to Cape Canaveral during the Apollo 11 launch. So the black doctor in my story, likewise, says the money should be spent on solving problems on earth. Aside from the fact space program money would only be a drop in the bucket compared to the money already spent on programs for the poor, my protagonist replies:
“…I wish I could remember all the medical advances and stuff (we’ve gotten from the space program) but I, personally, think about it like this – this I know – because I’m building a telescope now and grinding the lens myself. It’s kind of an old fashioned method. Lenses were first made about 400 years ago. And 400 years ago there was even worse poverty and starvation than we have now and people were getting the plague and lots of other preventable diseases because they didn’t know about germs.
“So, the first person who starts grinding lenses to allow him to see small things bigger – well, people could have said that was a waste of money and his money should be used helping the poor and the sick. But you know what? The result of those lenses was more help to the sick than a billion dollars because they allowed the discovery of germs. For the first time they could be seen because the microscope was invented.
“And the discovery of germs led to better sanitation and better care being taken around sick people not to give them germs or pass their germs on to others. It led to keeping water clean so people wouldn’t get sick from that. Not to mention eyeglasses that were to come from it. Eyeglasses must have allowed people to go on making things their families needed because they could see again. So you would have told this person not to spend money on lenses research? Not to… not to …strive to learn new things? How do you know we won’t discover some things at least as important and useful out in space?…”
Interviewer: Will there be more Walter Hudson adventurers?
Diane: Yes. Walter will be 14 in 1969 and he’s going to be in London when we land on the moon.
Interviewer: And what type of adventurers is he going to have?
Diane: Wait and see!