Time Machine with Veronica Scott

I’m thrilled to welcome Veronica Scott back to our Time Machine this week!

What’s the Time Machine about? As a historical romantic suspense author, I love all eras of history. You name an era, I can probably find some sort of trouble to go digging into.  So I thought it would be fun to check in with other authors and see what their favorite eras are and what they would do with just 24 hours to spend there.  Stay tuned every Monday to see where we’re headed to next…

If you could go back in time for just 24 hours, what era would you go to and where would you land?

I would like to visit the Titanic on April 14^th, 1912, although it would of course be quite bittersweet and poignant, knowing the eventual fate of the ship. Frustrating too, since by the rules, I couldn’t do anything to avert the tragedy. No hints to the captain about the icebergs ahead, no remarks to Officer Lightoller about how many people a lifeboat could actually hold, no advance warning to poor Mrs. Allison in First Class that her baby was going to get off the ship with his nurse on an early lifeboat, so it would be ok for her and her little daughter to take a later lifeboat…no way to ask the Marconi operators to be sure all the ice warnings get to the bridge!

 You have 24 hours… what would you do with your short time?

I’d want to explore the ship for myself, see the Grand Staircase, hear the musicians playing, visit Third Class, look at the lifeboats…I’d want to attend the final elegant dinner in First Class, spend time with the famous passengers in their last few carefree hours, so I could preserve some happy memories of them. I’d want to see it ALL, you know? (And I’d sneak a tea cup into my voluminous pocket.) I’d leave right after the ship struck the iceberg, because I would not feel right about watching all those people go to their deaths in the icy sea, especially since there’s nothing I could do to help in the midst of such tragedy.

There was a real person who had nearly this experience, although of course he didn’t know it at the time –  Father Frank Browne, SJ, who was given a ticket for the Titanic’s voyage from Southampton to Queenstown by way of Cherbourg as a gift. He took the photographs of life onboard the ship that we have today. When a millionaire he met in First Class offered to pay his full fare to New York and back to Ireland, he sent a cable to his superiors asking for permission. They unequivocally told him no, so he left the Titanic when she docked in Queenstown on April 10^th.

You can personally see, visit, talk with (or whatever….) one historical figure in that time period.  Who would it be and what would you do?

This is a hard one, so many people on board, including my grandfather’s maybe cousin-by-marriage (or so the family legend goes) in Second Class. I’d be tempted to sit with her over tea and try to figure out if we were related. Distant cousin or no, she did survive the sinking. But the person I gravitate to the most would be Second Officer Lightoller. I’m sure he’d be extremely busy but cordial (up to a point). I’ve read his autobiography, “Titanic and Other Ships” and he had a very adventurous life, even without a berth on Titanic. I’m guessing he could tell some seafaring yarns based on his experiences, including a previous shipwreck. But he probably would have been too modest to really share much…still, I think I’d try to get a bit of his time, maybe up on deck in the late afternoon, leaning on the rail, watching the Atlantic slide by under the keel.

You have your cell phone with you — someone sees it.  How would you explain what it is?

I’d tell them that I was friends with Mr. Thomas Edison and he’d made this device just for me. That it was a very newfangled contraption!

Best Selling Science Fiction & Paranormal Romance author and “SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

About Veronica

You can find Veronica at Blog  @vscotttheauthor   Facebook

Veronica’s novel WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM is a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award and Laurel Wreath winner and is loosely based on the sinking of Titanic, but set in the far future, on a spaceliner.

The Story:

Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?

Available from  Amazon Barnes & Noble  All Romance eBooks iTunes Google Play   Kobo

Audiobook, narrated by Actor Michael Riffle – Available Now at Amazon and iTunes