Intersections of Life and Work
Over the weekend I had an interesting experience. I recently completed narrating Thunder Below! by Eugene Fluckey, a Rear Admiral in the US Navy. A friend who knew I had narrated the book forwarded me an email he had received- one of those “FW:FW:FW” ones that we all get from friends and family members, you know the ones I mean…
This one was about the Barb! It described in great detail some of the exploits she undertook in WWII, focusing mostly on the fact that the Barb‘s crew “sank a train”, or more literally- blew one up by planting a scuttling charge from their own ship under the railbed and rigging a switch that would set it off when the train went over.
I’m sure glad to know that people are interested in the Barb, but it’s also just a sort of interesting thing- life and work kind of intersecting in strange ways. It also reminded me of how entertained I was when narrating Thunder Below! – the image of the Barb coming into port with her battle flag flying and the people on shore seeing a train on it- that must have been a head-check moment!
It’s just another reminder of why I’m so privileged to do this for a living. I get to give life to these amazing stories. It’s humbling.
Thunder Below is being released in audiobook format on August 12th from Tantor Audio. You can preorder it on Tantor.com or enter to win one of five free copies on GoodReads.