Finish the Civil War Thriller Contest!
Free iPod Cast of New Civil War Thriller!
Synopsis of Iron Maiden
The Swedish inventor of the U.S.S. MONITOR, John Ericsson, is driven by love and the need for money to bring his young wife back home from England, so he hatches a clever scheme to trick the Union Government into buying more MONITOR class ships, and this plan involves recruiting a young executive officer, whose father was also an inventor, to serve aboard the ironclad and make certain it does not defeat the enemy. Meanwhile, a British blockade runner and spy for the Confederacy has agreed to assassinate the inventor and torpedo the MONITOR before it reaches its rendezvous with the C.S.S. VIRGINIA (MERRIMACK) at Hampton Roads, Virginia. A former slave is recruited into the mix as the Captain’s Orderly, and the characters converge, in a strange twist of fate, as the MONITOR sinks in a storm off Cape Hatteras. They all “escape” to Easter Island to find paradise, but they instead find a version of Lord of the Flies.
James Musgrave is looking for a story about what happens when the characters in Iron Maiden arrive on Easter Island. They are all attempting to “escape” the insanity of the Civil War at home, and yet they will find something they did not expect. The ending should contrast with the idyllic ideas about Easter Island that Ericsson has been telling Lieutenant Dana Greene throughout the first part of the novel. Musgrave would like contestants to incorporate the giant moai statues and also the slave trade into their conclusion ideas. The final manuscript is scheduled for completion in March, 2003. The winner will receive a free copy of the book before publication in bookstores, and he or she will also be mentioned in the Acknowledgements.
*Iron Maiden was a Finalist in the 2001 New Century Writer Awards for Novel Excerpts.
E-mail your plot ideas to:
jimmusgrave@cox.net
or snail mail to:
Grossmont Community College, Attn: Jim Musgrave
8800 Grossmont College Dr.
El Cajon, CA 92020
Please include your name and a mailing address.
You're allowed to enter as many ideas as you can think up.
Contest Deadline Extended!
The contest will run from August 15 through December 31, 2004.
We'll announce the winner in the February edition of the Jim Musgrave Newsletter.
Download and install the free reader:
Next, Download and read the free book
New! Download Acrobat Ebook Reader Version!
Take a virtual tour of the famed ironclad, U.S.S. Monitor!
Read article in The Civil War News
Questions? E-mail Jim at jimmusgrave@cox.net