(My latest novel, The October That Changed Everything, is available in eBook for pre-order through April 1, 2024 on Amazon. It’ll be delivered to your Kindle device on April 2. Pre-order price just $0.99. The price goes up April 3, 2024.)
It’s the closest the world has come to nuclear war. It was October of 1962. The US discovered the Soviet Union was building missile bases in Cuba where nuclear warheads could be fired at the United States or any other nation in the Western Hemisphere. President Kennedy issued an ultimatum to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove them, or else. The tense stand-off lasted thirteen days.
The main character of my new novel, Cheryl Donovan, lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with a big Army base and an Air Force base nearby. The Cuban Missile Crisis has a major impact on her life. She’s got friends and relatives deployed to protect the American border. The threat of annihilation seems far away in 2024. But it was very real at the time. School kids practiced “duck and cover” – hiding under their desks with their heads down. Which seems laughable now as a way of protecting them from a nuclear blast. Many children were traumatized.
Having the end of the world hanging over their heads caused some people to stock up their fallout shelters. It caused others to rethink the priorities of their lives. There were also those who responded with a shrug. If you couldn’t do anything about it, why worry?
It was a unique time for Americans. And it makes for a dramatic backdrop for my story.
For more on my books, sign up for my newsletter here. Or connect on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok.