The Truth In Fiction

Today terrorists attacked the Bardo Museum in Tunisia. I read this in the USA Today article:

Some of the Italians at the museum were believed to have been passengers from the Costa Fascinosa, a cruise liner that had docked in Tunis. Ship owner Costa Crociere confirmed that some of its 3,161 passengers were visiting Tunis and that a Bardo tour was on the itinerary, but said it couldn't confirm how many were in the museum.

Many of you know my husband and I have cruised on the Costa Cruise lines several times. I believe it is 7 now. I wrote approximately 60% of my release Cruisin For A SEAL  on the Costa Fascinosa in December 2013. I blogged about the journey and posted pictures. In my story, a group of terrorists decide to board and take over an Italian cruise ship off the north coast of Africa. Although I didn't name Costa as the line, that was the ship I based this book on.

We have also taken this ship on this particular Mediterranean cruise and stopped at Tunisia, and I have walked these halls where people died yesterday. It is customary for cruise lines to take buses based on language. Costa caters to mainly European travelers. I don't think they planned to target a particular nationality of tourist-I think it was the crime of opportunity. This particular bus held Italian tourists, and they were unlucky to be the ones who had pulled up to enter the museum. It could have been American or Brit, Germans or French tourists. Such a sad waste of innocent life.

In addition to the senseless loss of life, antiquities were ruined, something that has increasingly been happening. Relics and symbols of civilizations long past are memorialized in wonderful museums like the Bardo. In this case, these priceless floor tile mosaics were from the ancient city of Carthage, and were said to have been walked upon by Christ himself. St. Peter wrote letters to the Carthaginians, as recorded in the Bible, and is said to have walked these same tiles during his lifetime.

Terrorism isn't something we think about in a romance novel, yet these things that are happening do remind us the real world is dangerous. As in any good story, weaving a believable thread into our plots is important. Yes, I do write romance, but sometimes these stories are closer to the truth than we would like to admit.

It is important to understand that there are those who fight to defend us from these acts of terror, which is the basis for my Navy SEAL Brotherhood Series, but they cannot be everywhere around us all the time. We have to understand that innocents will be victims of this new insane war. As far-fetched as it might seem, it is impossible to keep this from happening, and that perhaps it's coming to our own shores. Traveling in Europe is not what it used to be. Families living off bases in foreign posts are being relocated back to base for their own protection. Our military and their families are asked to stay off the internet, off Facebook and other forms of social media.

In SEAL My Home, which comes out 3/31/15, I also deal with a home-grown terrorist cell that target the families of military men and women.

The world is becoming a very unsafe place. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who sacrifice so we can have the lifestyles we currently have. But let's be vigilant. Let's keep our eyes and ears open.

That's not fiction. It's fact.

Sharon Hamilton

Life is one fool thing after another.

Love is two fool things after each other.

Author Page ** Sharon's Blog ** Sharon's Website ** Facebook**Twitter

Sharon’s Newsletter

Where Were You on 9/11/2001?

Today I'd like us to honor those who died on 9/11. It's a devastating day of events that we'll never forget. Everyone has their own story about where they were, and how they remember that day. This blog will include photos I took on a visit to NY and the Towers site and a visit to New York, New York Casino in Las Vegas.

The first photo was taken before 9//11.


I was in CA, and got up early. My husband was on a business trip, but my son had to get up for work. I was planning to drive him. I watched TV, and saw the first tower in flames. My son joined me in front of the TV, and we watched in horror as the second tower was hit.

I got a frantic call from my mother in FL. She wondered if my brother-in-law was working in the Towers that day (his building was one of the surrounding ones). My mother couldn't reach my sister or brother in NY. But, I was able to get my sister. She didn't know where her husband was. I relayed messages back and forth from NY to FL.

For eight hours, there was no word about my brother-in-law. Finally, he was able to call my sister. He'd been in his building, filmed some of what happened (works in photography), and walked along one of the bridges to catch a train ride home. When he arrived at the station, my sister said he was in shock and didn't realize that he was covered in dust. He's seen terrible things...dead people, people jumping from the towers, the collapse of the Towers.

One thing he mentioned is the ferries that took people from that area to NJ. Barriers were torn down to allow more ferries. People were anxious but civil. He took footage of this, and let me view his films/photos. By the ferries, you can hear people saying, "Women and children first" and I could see women being rushed to the front and kids being lifted to the bow of the ferry. Strollers were taken and passed along to the front, too.

My brother watched with the same sadness we all felt. He'd worked on the building of the Towers for a summer job while in college. As a teacher on Long Island, he knew children who lost parents that day.


It was my daughter's 26th birthday, and I called her at work as soon as I saw what had happened. She hadn't heard about the towers. And for years, she didn't celebrate her birthday on 9/11.

My husband ended up being stranded without plane travel existing. He and others thought about renting/buying a car and driving from KS to CA, but decided to stay put. They were needed at Sprint. Sprint had a hell of a time trying to keep up with phone lines/connections working throughout their system in the NY area. He returned home when flights were allowed to take off days later. He mentioned how strange his first flight was, with extra scrutiny of passengers...and one man being taken off the plane. My husband went through long passenger approval steps...and this is a man who had top security clearance when he worked at the White House for 7 years.

How eerie it was, looking up at the sky and not being able to see or hear planes. Some military jets flew above my area, and some helicopters, but nothing else.

I remember walking outside and seeing some neighbors all with the same look of shock on their faces. I told them (at that time) that we didn't know if my brother-in-law had been inside the Towers, something he did on a fairly routine basis. One neighbor had her own story of a relative who worked occasionally in the Towers. Luckily, both our family members were spared.

The horror that day of the Towers collapsing, the Pentagon being hit, and the plane crash in PA, will long live in our memories. It changed us. It humbled us. We were vulnerable, right here "at home". Definitely an eye-opener for all of us.

I visited the Towers site a few years later. My brother-in-law came with me, and told his story as we walked around the area. All but the first photo and the last two were taken at that time.

The last photos were taken in Nov. 2001 at the New York, New York Casino in Las Vegas. Along the fence, people placed flags, tee shirts and hats as a makeshift memorial. And, no one spoke aloud along the whole distance of sidewalk fence line...only whispers could be heard.

I flew a week after 9/11 to visit family. People stared at each other in the eerily quiet terminal. I got through my security check, and watched in a sad, humorous way as celebrity "Hulk Hogan" was randomly chosen to go through an extra security check in front of everyone. No one would be exempt from going through extra security measures.

I've told my story. Would you like to share yours?