I’m connected to the universe again and
I’m ready to share another author story. Our next featured author is Barbara
Griffin Billig, an extremely intelligent woman, who has dabbled in a variety of
businesses before deciding to write.
Barbara Griffin Billig graduated from
Washington University in St. Louis at age nineteen with a degree in biology and
chemistry. She taught for several years in St. Louis before moving to Southern
California where she owned a range of businesses including pet shops,
restaurants, and a real estate brokerage firm. Deciding to take a sabbatical
from the business world for several years, she wrote in conjunction with
another teacher, Bett Pohnka, The Nuclear
Catastrophe. This fiction novel eerily portrayed what ultimately came to
pass with 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl, and the Japan Fukushima nuclear reactor
meltdown.
The
Nuclear Catastrophe Synopsis
This story was written as a fiction
novel of suspense to entertain while enlightening.
Set in
beautiful sunny Southern California, Ben Harrington and his pregnant wife,
Sara, live in San Mirado. Ben is head of Whitewater Nuclear Power Plant. On a
fateful day, what could NEVER happen.....does happen. Ben and Sara, the plant
workers, the people living in San Mirado and those in adjacent cities all have
to make decisions as to what to do, where to go.
Their
choices have both good and bad consequences - and some last forever.
This
fictional story brings home the reality of what would or could happen. History
has shown us time after time that......what can go wrong....will go wrong. What
would YOU do? Your answers may be different after reading this novel.
Motivation to Write The
Nuclear Catastrophe
Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park) always impressed Barbara as he based his stories on scientific fact. When she decided to write this novel there had never been a publicized major nuclear disaster. As a science teacher, she felt that the basic structuring of these plants, combined with natural disasters such as earthquakes, and mistakes by workers, could eventually lead to such a disaster as happened in Chernobyl and then Fukushima. Barbara constructed a fictional worst-case scenario, put together a cast of characters to experience it, and the novel grew from there. It is eerie how closely it parallels what actually happened with today’s nuclear disasters.
Reason to Self-Publish
The book was originally published in hardcover and was
widely bought by libraries; however, that publishing process took several years
after the initial year of work in writing the book. Traditional publishing is a
very slow process. E-books and Amazon Createspace are an almost instantaneous
way to get an author's work in front of the public. Barbara believes whether
traditional publishing or the instant way - it is up to the author to publicize
their books.
When the Japan Fukushima disaster
occurred, out of curiosity she Googled the name of her book (knowing it was out
of print). She found it was being sold as a used book on Amazon and Barnes &
Noble, and on some disaster survival sites so she decided to publish an updated
edition in paperback and as an e-Book. Barbara has priced the e-book at 99
cents to reach more readers. She hopes you will visit one of the following sites
where you can read a sample chapter.
I want to thank Barbara for sharing
her personal experience with traditional and self-publishing and for being a
part of Pay It Forward. Tell others about Barbara Billig - http://bit.ly/O5MKn0.
The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of suspense)
also published as: THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe in
paperback
Blog: http://www.thenuclearcatastrophe.blogspot.com
and http://BilligReadersandWriters.wordpress.com
Website:
http://mysite.verizon.net/resrrmof/
Follow
on Twitter: @barbarabillig
Available
for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WDRWXY
Read
an excerpt now: http://bit.ly/pY8HxX
History
and Catastrophes,
Bea
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