Is it the Thunderbirds...or...?

...me!!  At the controls of the 747-400 the other day flying to Narita, Japan.  This cool shot was taken by the United flight going to Osaka, Japan as they passed under us.

A grass-roots effort on my book's behalf

May it bear fruit!

Read about it at Galaxy Express

A podcast!

I did a podcast.  I hope you enjoy!

A Rare Peek at a Remote Area

On the way to Osaka the other day, we were routed very far north...right over the Kamchatka Peninsula.  I can't remember the east coast ever being clear enough to see the ground, because the scene was stunning.  Volcanos everywhere--huge ones.  I didn't bring my camera but luckily one of the other pilots did, and we got these shots between the two of us.  Incredible landscape, and sooo remote!  Oh, the screen depicts UHPP, which is the identifier for a big airport there: Petropavlosk.  We are told to land there only if on fire or engines out (more than one).  In other words, it's not an ideal choice, but the only one in this area.

Layover: Osaka, Japan

I’ve blogged about many different countries, but never Osaka, Japan. Why? It’s my least favorite layover. Taipei used to take that prize, but thankfully the 777 fleet inherited that trip some years back.  Unfortunately, we got Osaka in exchange.  It’s not the city of Osaka itself I despise; in fact, back in the day when we used to stay in a hotel downtown, I loved going there, visiting the glorious old castle, haunting the underground eateries for Okonomiyaki, a kind of local pancake or pizza made with chopped cabbage and egg topped or mixed with red ginger, yakisoba noodles, tenkasu (tempura crumbs), corn, green onion, squid, shrimp, dried bonito flakes, bean sprouts, and an optional sprinkled of hot chili power.  Then the hotel was switched to one  wa-aay out in the boonies, far from downtown, near to the cargo docks and an area known for a trade and convention center, providing a complete absence of culture or anything at all to do..  It’s not a layover; it’s a sentence, each excruciating hour spent there a hatch mark mentally etched in the hotel wall.  Yet, it’s a productive trip pay-wise, almost 22 hours of flying punctuated by a single overnight in the hotel.  It’s also where I can get to be the flying first officer as opposed to the Bunkie (relief pilot), meaning I get hands on the controls and a landing.  The FAA requires we pilots have three landings every 90 days.  It may not sound like a lot but we international types can fly only so many trips in a month in which most have two legs total, and with a crew of two or three first officers to one captain, well, we fight over the few landings like hungry coyotes over a jack rabbit.  And so to Osaka I must go.

This time we took a route that brought us over Alaska.  Rare clear skies offered the treat of a glorious view.  You can almost see the curve of the earth.  This is the mountain range where the volcano Redoubt is making news as it gets ready to blow.

 

I ate while the scenery rolled by below.  Here is a typical "yummy" crew meal:

 

Then it was time for my rest break.  The bunkie relieved me, taking my seat as I left for the bunkroom in the cockpit and made my bed:

 

Sweet dreams:

 

Three and a half hours later I was awakened by the chime.  A couple of cups of coffee and about three hours later we landed at Kansai International.  It was approximately 5 pm local, about 1 am body clock time (ouch!).  I got to land, and it was fun as always.  I’m always grateful and a bit amazed that this is my job, that I actually get to fly this venerable, whale of a jet, which surprisingly is quite graceful and maneuverable.   On our final approach, the sun was setting and the cities ringing Osaka Bay--Osaka, Kobe--glittered like sequined patches on black silk.  A hundred feet from touchdown several dark forms whizzed past.  Birds.  No surprise that the Hudson water landing is in the back of my mind in that second, all of the pilots’ minds, but had we hit our feathered friends at least the asphalt wasn’t far below! 

After clearing customs, I dozed during the long, 45 minute bus ride, exhausted.  With a sense of resignation, I drag my bags through the luxurious lobby and to my room.  The work day is over.  I sip a drink in my room, check e-mail and unwind.  By 8:30 pm I’m asleep. 

 

I wake at 10:30 pm, for it’s morning at home.  I take two melatonin lozenges then am able to sleep some more, until about 3 am.  I get up to write until the café opens.

Here’s the view from my room.  

Very sterile, industrial, lacking the charm I love about Japan.  On the higher floors there’s a great view of the docks where the huge container ships load and offload.  It’s fun to watch sometimes, to imagine where the ships are going--or where they came from. 

 

The hotel is 5-star excellent, a no-expense-spared property with acres of wood and stone.  

Even the elevators are decked out.  

It is simply gorgeous, but out in the middle of nowhere.  I imagine it would normally rely on companies and business folks attending shows at the convention center next store but with the economy as poor as it is worldwide, it was a ghost town.

 

I love a Japanese breakfast. 

 read and ate then returned to my room to write until I could workout.  I tried sleeping before the late afternoon pickup back to the airport, but couldn’t.  I was tired when I got to the plane.  It was the middle of the night body clock time.  It was a marathon of effort staying awake until my break arrived at about 5 am home time.  My break was an allotment of only 2.5 hours.  The chime didn’t wake me this time.  I woke to a pounding on the door and the Bunkie yelling, “Sue!  Wake up!”  lol.  I usually never sleep that heavy but needed it.  Refreshed, I performed my first officer duties for the captain’s landing at San Francisco International about 3 hours later.  I drove home to Sacramento, about 2 hours away.  It is Tuesday.  I am tired.  Friday I do it all again.

 

 

 

How did this happen?

I just found out, quite by accident, that Library Journal chose Moonstruck as one of their Top Books of 2008!!  This, as I understand it, is a huge deal.  Reading the announcement, it sure seems like it:

Best Books 2008

Listen up, Barack Obama! You'll find useful reading on LJ's annual Best Books list, from Stephen Hess's What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect to Mahvish Rukhsana Khan's My Guantánamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me and Raja Shehadeh's Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. It's not all politics, though. From fiction debuts by Uwem Akpan, Nam Le, and Saša Stanišic´ to works from masters Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and Marilynne Robinson, from a biography of Shakespeare's wife to a chronicle of Sixties “girls like us,” and from accounts of divorce and madness to hot thrillers and cool how-to, this list has enough to occupy anyone for the coming year. 

I mean...holy sh--wow!  Right?  Sure, you gotta scroll down to get to romance where Moonstruck is listed--as one of six...SIX.  Hundreds, maybe thousands of romances released last year and they picked six.  Here, here's what they said:

Grant, Susan. Moonstruck. HQN: Harlequin. ISBN 978-0-373-77259-9. pap. $6.99.

A Coalition starship admiral and a Drakken warleader, former bitter enemies forced to work together to keep a fragile peace from unraveling, find mutual respect and unanticipated love in a passionate, fast-paced futuristic tale that should satisfy both romance and sf fans. (LJ 6/15/08) 

So, did I hear this from my publisher?  My editor?  My agent? Other authors? My mommy? No, no, and no!  Dude, do they even know!  The only writing news I've had in a 24-hour period is a bit of a sucky review on a major website for my new book and someone blogging about finding my debut book in the 69 cents dump in CVS!  Seriously!  

But MY BOOK is a TOP READ of 2008 in LIBRARY JOURNAL!  Yay for science fiction romance!!!

So what if no one noticed.  I'm gonna throw my own party, just like my cool aunt is throwing her own 80th birthday party, because dang it, she's feelin' like celebrating even if no one else is.  No one's around, the kids are away, the boyfriend is away on business, but hell the cats and dog are here, along with three bottles of champagne leftover from the New Year's party. Heh.  And ya know what, all y'all are invited to partay with me cyberly! 

Oh, and by the way, Loretta Chase, Susan Kay Law, Pam Rosenthal, and Sherry Thomas are the other 5 sharing the spotlight with me.  Congrats to you!  I won't assume anyone told you! :)

Interesting link, and a few comments on the Miracle on the Hudson

Sorry to be so delayed in responding to the numerous questions after the US Air accident.  My flying schedule has been a bit heavy, and crisscrossing the Pacific can get in the way of best intentions.  Yes, I've had many a bird-strike in my 30 years of flying, but nothing ever left more than a dent.  None ever got sucked in an engine.  Thankfully that really is rare, in general.   

I am glad to see The Other Pilot, the first officer, finally being given credit for the safe and happy ending to that flight that day:  

(pic courtesy of group on Facebook)

Every time I saw a reporter write: the pilot, I groaned.  In the cockpit there is a TEAM, not "A" pilot.  There were two highly trained fliers in there that day and the first officer was actually the one flying when the birds hit. Sullenberger took the controls at that point so The Other Pilot could run checklists, make radio calls, talk to the people and the flight attendants, and try to get those &*$% started.  The Other Pilot was no doubt flipping switches like crazy trying to get those motors started, putting the fire out...until they ran out of time and altitude.  Both deserve all the kudos on the world, and, yes, they were, in Captain Sullenberger's words, just doing their jobs.  Next time you hear someone ragging on the flight attendant for forgetting to put ice in a drink, or scolding the pilot for landing late, remind them that the primary responsibility and focus of these CREW MEMBERS is to keep them SAFE.  

That said, take a look at THIS:

Don't forget, my brand new release, The Warlord's Daughter, will be out February 1st!!!  I hope you'll look for it and do your part in helping me lighten my flying schedule. :)

And the winner is...

I'm posting very quickly from Hong Kong on a wireless signal I've managed to briefly kidnap so I must be quick. I'm about to fly home and will be out of contact until sometime Tuesday, USA time.  But I promised the 19th would be the day I announced the winner of Warlord's Daughter.  At the moment I looked at my laptop after booting it up the time showed "16:03".  Trying to use a random method, I thus timed 16 by 3 and it gave me 49.  There were 43 comments as of that moment.  I counted through and went 6 more and landed on Natalie D.!!!  Yay for you, Natalie.  Send me your snail mail and I'll shoot ya off a book.  I wish I could give everyone a copy.  For everyone else, please look for the book around the 1st.  And for those trying my stories for the first time, start with Moonstruck.  It's not mandatory to do so but it'll add so much to enjoying Warlord which is second in the series.

For all of you who left such wonderful comments--THANK YOU-- and also questions about the recent Hudson River landing, I'll definitely be back to answer those and offer my views on that accident as a pilot.  Probably a bit later in the week.

OK, see y'all on the other side of "the pond."  

The Warlord's Daughter!

February 1st sure is coming up fast.  This was really apparent when the door bell rang, luring me away from my laptop and the next in this series, my space pirates book.  Whaddya know, it was a box of books--The Warlord's Daughter!  

So!  Who wants a copy--for free, signed by moi--and before most people can find it in the stores? (that is, if the stores adhere to the laydown date).  You know you do!  Here's the deal: Just leave a comment here on my blog...about anything: the book, my other books, anyone's books, the weather, your favorite place in the world, your favorite food or recipe, why you love your husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/kid...anything at all!  I love getting to know the people who are nice enough to visit my blog and comment, so go on and do it, and before January 19th.  I'll pick a name and send you the book.  But you'll have to contact me after I post your name.  I've had a prize go unclaimed in the past because the winner never checked back!

The Warlord's Daughter

The first review appeared online HERE, and it's a good one!  The reviewer is known for being quite positive in all her reviews, but I'm going to let myself believe she seemed a little bit more excited than usual by this particular story.