Leave a comment on today’s post and you’re eligible to win this author’s giveaway. Each day in November that you comment gives you an entry into the Grand Prize giveaway at the end of the month! (Print copies for US residents only, please. If you live outside the US and win, you’ll receive a digital version of the book.)
Traveling on the Page for a New Perspective
Travel and literature go together like Hemingway and Key West. Some of history’s most beloved books are journey tales that send protagonists adventuring from one destination to another, across lands real or imagined. In the travel tale there is always a physical destination, but it is about more than just that – characters embark on internal voyages of growth, be they spiritual, emotional or otherwise. The main character may be seeking treasure or fame but underneath they are seeking love, redemption, revenge or peace. Shakespeare, Tolkien, Hemingway, Steinbeck – the list goes on and on of writers utilizing the journey and rich depictions of a place to drive home their thematic purpose and bring a story to life.
As a journalist – travel writer to be exact – I put great value on these types of stories. And my travel writing influences my fiction writing a great deal, in style and substance. My novel, Stone Angels, is about a young man struggling with an extremely guilty conscience. The setting places him on a road trip, up and down the Atlantic Coast, to and from Spring Break. But the reader is placed inside his head, following his introspective journey from denial to acceptance to possible confession of his many sins and ultimately redemption.
In many ways, Stone Angels is a quintessential journey story, one that embraces the power of travel and the need to get out of one’s comfort zone, shrug off the warm fuzzy sweater that is our daily lives and let the unknown provide a new perspective. Stone Angels does this for the main character and for the reader. My goal was to send readers on their own journey, allowing them to explore their emotional response to this very intimate story and maybe gain a new perspective, like all good travel should do.
Martha Reynolds Writes 
Stone Angels sounds right up my alley! If I don’t win a copy, I just might have to buy one!
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Sounds interesting can’t wait to read this.
Jean60212atgmail.com
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As someone who loves to travel and to read this sounds like a book right up my alley.
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I would love to read this book about this young man’s journey to explore not only new places but his own heart and mind.
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I often have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone. Perhaps Stone Angels will give me some ideas. It sounds like an interesting book.
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I often have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone. Perhaps Stone Angels will help. It sounds like an interesting book.
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I would love to read STONE ANGELS. The road trip sounds interesting and may give me a few ideas to improve my own journey through life.
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While I don’t travel much now, I did love road trips. I was always curious about things I saw while on the road and loved stopping at museums to learn more about the areas. Now, I love reading about other people’s experiences while traveling.
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I’m sorry if this is a duplicate comment…it seems to have disappeared on my end! But as a travel writer myself, I’m interested to see how he used his nonfiction writing skills to craft a novel. Sounds like an interesting read!
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Sounds like an interesting read! I too am a travel writer, so I’m curious how his typical approach to nonfiction has been crafted into novel form.
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In all of my novels, readers always comment on the places I take them to, perhaps because they have never been there, or because I’ve taken them to places they know they will never get to. Your novel sounds like it must do just that, and quite often, if we are to follow the journey of this young man you briefly describe…a good teaser to want to read more. Best of luck to you, Michael.
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Sounds like a book that will take us on an interesting journey. Love the title!
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Let award-winning author Michael Hartigan take you away!
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Reading does take you to all sorts of places. Great post.
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This is a interesting way to have us all look at our own roads called life.
Great title!
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This is why I love reading so much… the virtual road trip. Good luck, Michael!
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