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| The real Harriott II will appear in the fictional novel Uncharted Waters. |
Excerpt From: Uncharted Waters
by Sara DuBose
Tourism Attraction: Harriott II
Riverboat
Location: Montgomery , AL
Photos: Diane Prothro
(Click any photo to enlarge!)
Model: Sarah Hunter
The riverboat Harriot II is making its first appearance in a tourism novel: Uncharted Waters by Sara DuBose, set for release October 1. In Uncharted Waters, Beth Davidson faces
frightening encounters with a stalker, but she takes matters into her own hands
by joining the Montgomery
Police Academy Montgomery
The following scene takes place
in the heart of downtown Montgomery ’s riverfront
entertainment district, within sight of the Montgomery Visitor
Center Montgomery
From Uncharted
Waters:
As I drove away from the safe
haven of the Honda dealership my mind kicked into fast forward. I told myself, don’t rush and don’t cut it too close and
let it make you nervous. Nervous? I almost laughed out loud. Nervous was my
middle name. Taking the I-85 interstate, the self talk continued. Hang in there. You’re gonna be okay. Try to
park in a business slot if you can. This will seem more normal. He may not be
watching you park anyway. My guess is he is more intent on getting you into the
tunnel.
My heart flopped in my chest. How reassuring, Beth!
Soon I took the Union Street Union , passing the back of the Alabama State Capitol on
my way to Madison Avenue. My mind accelerated. What . . . what if he has a gun?
Beth, this man wants a date with you. It’s not likely
he’ll have a gun. If by some slim chance he pulls a pistol, remember the
cautionary e-mail you received recently: run like mad. Run in a zigzag fashion.
I stared out the windshield,
trying to simulate a dash through the tunnel but my whole body suddenly felt
like someone had stuffed me inside a kettle drum during the William Tell
Overture. I turned onto Madison
Unlike Shannon ,
I’m usually on time. I’d be on time today. Now I turned right on Commerce and,
after driving a block, I spotted a parking place only half a block from the
tunnel. My Honda clock read five-fifty on the nose. The parking meter had
fifteen more minutes but it isn’t necessary to feed them after six anyway. I
reached for my water bottle and took a long sip, willing away the dryness.
What are you doing here? A tiny voice tried to flood its way into my
consciousness. I dammed it up. After all,
I told myself, if I could stop this
psycho now there’d be no need to spill everything to Domestic Violence.
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| Beth prepares to face her stalker. The Harriott II ticket office is in the immediate background, with the Renaissance Hotel standing above. |
Opening the door, I looked from
left to right and then down to the end of Commerce. The street seemed strangely
quiet. What to do with this permanent arm fixture, my purse. I punched the
remote for my car trunk and thought about the recent e-mail warning: “Don’t use
your remote after exiting your car.” Why? Something about a stranger picking up
the signal. I wondered if it were true. Well, too late. I tossed the purse in,
covering it with an old blanket. Someone was probably watching. I didn’t care.
I checked my watch again.
Five-fifty two. I’d enter the tunnel in three minutes, five minutes earlier
than planned. Would he be there? Yes. No.
I didn’t know.
Stepping up to the curb, I could
feel my heart pounding somewhere in my throat. One, two three, four. I counted the beats with each pace and tried
to remember how to swallow. Suddenly, something whisked by. I jumped. The skate
board almost scraped my arm but the boy hurried on. Was he headed for the tunnel? Probably. Would his appearance distract
the stalker? I kept walking and watching the boy as he turned into the
tube. I stopped, holding my breath. What
to do next? Had my admirer said to meet him at the entrance or inside?
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| Beth cautiously enters the tunnel leading to the Harriott II and riverfront. A train passes above the tunnel in the background. |
Waiting, I continued to watch
the boy but soon the sound of his footsteps faded. Now I was standing directly
in front of the entrance; my eyes traveling down the long cylinder, feeling
like a fox in fear of the hound. Waiting, I saw nothing unusual and heard no
sound except the kettle drum still pounding. Pounding.
I finally took several steps
just inside the tunnel and stopped, stifling a cough. Then, I looked behind me.
Still nothing. After waiting what seemed like ten minutes, I checked my watch.
Six-o-seven. The boy was long out of sight, but did I see someone down at the
other end? I blinked.
Trembling now, I moved closer to
the tunnel wall, wondering how long it would take me to run back to my car if
the man approached. Donnie was right. I shouldn’t have come.
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| Beth goes deeper into the tunnel. |
Someone sneezed. I looked behind
me. Nothing. No, it wasn’t a sneeze . . . it was a train—a six o’clock freight
train pulling through the train shed just west of the tunnel. Now came a
mournful whistle blow, followed by two more. Ordinarily, I love the sound of a
train, but this was distracting. What
should I do? I crept several more paces inside the hollow tube, hoping to
recognize the person at the other end. The man had definitely moved closer but
I couldn’t identify him . . .
---Excerpted with permission from UNCHARTED WATERS,
Copyright © 2012 by Sara DuBose. All rights reserved
TOURISM GUIDE
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| Gazing out on the Alabama River from inside the Harriott II |
One of the things that really stood out to me while reading this novel was all of the places the characters ate. I literally counted at least fifteen different places to eat, which for a tourism novel could be very instructive to other writers. I might have gained a few pounds just reading this novel. This illustrates the true nature of Montgomery, where eating delicious southern food is almost held as sacred as college football. There's no better place to be initiated into this tradition than Montgomery's Alley Station, which has several great places to eat like the famous Dreamland Bar-B-Que. Visit the Alley Station's website in the Tourism Links below to learn more about its other attractions.
While on board the Harriott II during this photo shoot, the captain told Sara and I of special murder mystery-themed cruises while piloting a riverboat in
Nowadays, some e-tourism novels
can even allow the reader to click on tourism links from inside the novel
itself if read on a Kindle or iPad, which enables readers to click on and browse
related tourism websites without going to a separate computer. For more
details, check out the links, photos, and excerpts below from two other tourism
novels set in Montgomery, Blind Fate and Dixie Noir, that were featured in USA Today for their innovation in using e-reader technology to promote tourism
through a novel.
A major theme in Uncharted Waters involves domestic
violence and Beth going through the real Montgomery Police Academy. Please also
check out the domestic violence education links provided by the author after
the tourism links. Sara conducted many interviews with Academy officers to make the academy scenes realistic. Although not everyone can go through the academy, Sara also consulted with Debbie Robison, who teaches self-defense classes at the Armory Learning Arts Center. Learn more about Debbie's classes at her Facebook page: Thorn of the Rose: Self-Defense for Women and Girls.
TOURISM FICTION NEWS
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| Senator Clay Scofield will invite all authors to focus on Alabama tourism attractions when presenting the 2012 SELTI Tourism Fiction Award. |
Novels are the perfect venue for promoting tourism to real attractions because they can engage potential tourists on a whole new level. Let’s face it; with the economy always on the verge of collapse due to lack of consumer spending, a new innovative tool that could revitalize tourism spending in areas all over the country could be very timely. After all: people who love to read also love to travel.
Nonfiction guidebooks are very informative, but they can't capture potential tourists' emotions like the characters in a novel can. If more publishers and novelists started setting stories in real places and including tourism guides, then that could ultimately have a very significant impact on our economy.
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| Author Sara DuBose |
Pete Peterson Lodge (Lagoon Park area: a very scenic place for a picnic, especially in the
fall)
OTHER MONTGOMERY
Featured in USA Today: Dixie Noir,
by noted author Kirk Curnutt. Dixie Noir is the story of a fictional former Crimson Tide
football star who falls hard and fast from fame into disgrace. When he returns
to his hometown of Montgomery Zelda Fitzgerald
Museum
Also featured in USA Today:
Blind Fate, by Patrick Brian Miller. Blind Fate is the story of a blind
violinist who must use all her senses to face off against a dangerous fugitive.
Written from her unique “perspective,” readers will experience the story with
no visuals to guide them. Features the tourism attractions of Jasmine Hill Gardens and Museum, the Rosa Parks
Museum
Cloverdale, by Daphne Simpkins.
Cloverdale is about a retired teacher whose quiet life is turned upside down
when two young church missionaries come to stay for a week. Featuring the real
historic neighborhood of Old Cloverdale, the most beautiful in DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LINKS
If you are a victim of domestic
violence, you may call:
- National
Alliance of Family Justice Centers toll-free: 1-888-511-3522/Website:www.familyjusticecenter.org
- National
Network to End Domestic Violence toll-free: 1-800-799-7233/Website: www.nnedv.org
- RAIIN(Rape
Abuse Incest National Network)/Sexual Assault Hotline:
1-800-656-HOPE/Website:www.rainn.org
- Hot
Peach Pages/search by country at: www.hotpeachpages.net (In the UK, help is through the
Women’s Aid and Refuge and the
Free phone 24 hour
Helpline is: 0808-2000-247.)
In the US
Since Uncharted
Waters is set in Alabama
- One
- TTY Hotline for the hearing impaired: 1-800-787-3224
