Douglas Arvidson is a past winner of the WICE/Paris Transcontinental International Short Story competition. His short fiction has been published in Paris, Prague, and in literary magazines in the United States and he was recently invited to be a staff writer for the Prague Revue, a cutting-edge, online literary journal (http://bit.ly/1mMT6ZC). The novels in his fantasy series, The Eye of the Eye of Stallion, include The Face in Amber, The Mirrors of Castaway Time, and A Drop of Wizard's Blood. His new novel, Brothers of the Fire Star, was selected as a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews 2012 Book of the Year national awards and as a finalist in three categories in the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards: Action Adventure Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction. It has become part of the pantheon of Pacific literature and is now included in school literature programs. Brothers of the Fire Star is an adventure story set in the Pacific during World War II and concerns two boys of different races and cultures who escape the island of Guam in a small sailboat when the Japanese army invades. They must then struggle to survive as they master the secrets of the ancient Pacific navigators. Appropriate for young adults as well as adult readers, Brothers of the Fire Star is available on Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com (http://amzn.to/1j3axVk) and Crossquarter.com. Visit the author's website: douglasarvidson.com



Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Remembering Guam One Year Later



I lived on a sailboat on the island of Guam for eleven years and sailed the islands of Micronesia  while studying the secrets of the ancient Pacific navigators. I eventually returned to the mainland U.S. to be closer to my grandchildren, but returned to the Pacific every year for the past nine years.

It's been a year since I was a "Visiting Author" for the public schools on the island of Guam, courtesy of the Guam Chapter of the International Reading Association. It's gratifying to think that my novel, Brothers of the Fire Star, is a success on the island and is being used in the schools in their reading programs.

It's a long flight to Guam--literally to the other side of the planet--and the schedule was tough. I visited sixteen schools in six days and often presented to five hundred students in each school. At the end of the week, I was exhausted but happy as I boarded the plane for the thirty-hour trip back home.

Brothers of the Fire Star has won literary awards in Adventure fiction, Young Adult fiction, and Historical fiction and is set on Guam and in the islands of Micronesia during World War II.






2 comments:

  1. Are you the Douglas Arvidson who taught with the DoDDS overseas schools system? (I'm impressed with your commentary and will be getting "Brothers...."

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  2. To "Unknown" who left a post here on April 6: Yes indeed, I am the Douglas Arvidson who taught with DoDDS overseas school system. And thanks very much for the good words on my commentary and thanks for ordering a copy of Brothers of the Fire Star. Would enjoy connecting with you regarding your interest in Guam and methods of the ancient (and modern) Pacific island navigators. Feel free to contact me: darvid46@yahoo.com

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