RMS TITANIC
It may have been Charles Dickens who inspired the loaded announcement ‘I have good news and bad news’ in his famous opening line: ‘It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.’
Of all the April 15ths that have come and gone, two were particularly notable: one celebrates the arrival of a beloved genius, the other, marks the infamous sinking of a doomed ship.
A GOOD DAY – April 15, 1452
Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
LEONARDO DA VINCI, is born – a child prodigy who became the consummate renaissance man. From wunderkind to master, Leonardo studied the arts of ongoing exploration: science, anatomy, and flight. He was an artist, inventor, engineer, philosopher, botanist, musician, and poet. By all accounts, Leonardo was a gentle compassionate soul, possessed of a boundless curiosity – a dedicated perfectionist, driven to record the entire world in one lifetime.
A BAD DAY – April 15, 1912 – RMS TITANIC SINKS
The RMS Titanic sank in the early morning hours of 15 April, 1912 in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg four days into the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. More than 1,500 passengers perished from an estimated 2,224 people on board Titanic, including 53 children.
These shoes were last worn April 15, 1912 by a child from Titanic
I saw them in the Halifax Maritime Museum in 2005, and vowed I would honour the children of Titanic in a story. It took ten years of listening before I knew what to write. You can read that fictional story in ‘THE UNTHINKABLE SHOES’ *link below
A NEW DAY – April 15, 2020
Humankind rallies together under a menacing cloud, grateful for its silver linings of courage, compassion, and sacrifice. Life continues to unfold under the natural laws of duality. Daylight follows night even the during the worst of times.
Creating art remains one of humanity’s greatest celebrations of life.
P.S… STAYING HOME IS YOUR LIFEBOAT!
DISCLAIMER It feels like a strange time to talk about books and the business of marketing them, but it’s relevant to this newsletter to follow through with how these two April 15th events changed my life. I progressed from imagining stories to writing them down which led to studying the craft of writing for ten years and starting a self-publishing venture. Silent K Publishing has subsequently produced ten full-length time-slip novels that reconcile historical facts with imaginative fiction.
By happenstance, the birth of Leonardo da Vinci and the Titanic disaster inspired ‘Lisabetta’ and ‘The Unthinkable Shoes’, respectively
‘LISABETTA – a stolen glance’ by V KNOX
THE ‘MONA LISA’ MAY BE PRICELESS… NOW SHE MUST BECOME A WOMAN WORTH SAVING
In order to reclaim her true identity, the embittered spirit of the ‘Mona Lisa’, trapped in her portrait for 500 years, must join forces with an autistic boy and his troubled mother.
THE PREMISE: WHAT-IF Leonardo da Vinci could paint the soul of a sitter into a portrait? WHAT-IF the true identity of the ‘Mona Lisa’ was lost due to a sixteenth-century typo? WHAT-IF the ‘Mona Lisa’ was Leonardo’s kid sister, Lisabetta? WHAT-IF she’s still trapped there after 500 years? WHAT-IF there’s a way to release her?… WHAT-IF an autistic six-year-old boy visiting the Louvre is her knight in shining armor? WHAT-IF his fraught mother needs saving first?
A ‘LOST BOY’ FROM THE TITANIC LOSES HIS SHOES BETWEEN HEAVEN AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
When death separates a pair of child passengers onboard Titanic who were destined to marry, the ghost of the boy chooses to remain earthbound as the surviving girl’s invisible childhood companion in order to fulfill a sacred promise made in haste. Finding a pair of lost shoes is their one chance to reunite in the future.
In 1927, Max Ehrmann, a wise compassionate man, wrote the ‘Desiderata: “whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” DESIDERATA – is Latin for ‘desired things’. I urge you to read and share Max Ehrmann’s original text here: https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html
Veronica Knox 