AUTHOR NOTE
The Speed of Falling Objects is the story of a young woman who faces hard truths about her past and her parents’ flaws, and flourishes despite the deeply ingrained belief that she’s defective, inferior and an embarrassment.
Many of us, especially as teens, face a moment like Danny does, when we see our parents for who they truly are for the first time and must decide whether to pardon them for not being the superhero we imagined. It’s only by developing the ability to empathize and forgive that we’re granted the freedom to become our own person without carrying the baggage of anger, regret and guilt. Maybe Danny’s journey will help readers find their way through that difficult transition. She’d like that, as she truly does overflow with kindness.
I think most people, at some point in life, have an internal voice like Danny’s, though the negative messages vary in type and decibel level. Maybe you don’t think you’re pretty, smart or talented enough. Maybe you don’t believe you’re physically or emotionally capable, lovable or deserving. That voice can, at times, be overwhelming. It casts a long shadow, not just for those brilliant, tender, terrifying and thrilling teen years but also, if not addressed, for an entire life. Truth.
Perhaps Danny will inspire readers to think about their inner voice and question whether or not it’s actually true, or based on misperceptions and faulty memories. Even if what that voice says is valid, remember that you get to choose how you live your life, regardless. Ask yourself: WWYouDo? Then make the conscious choice to pursue each goal despite insecurities and fears. You will never regret the things you try to accomplish, only the missed opportunities.
At the end of each novel, I have a wish for my readers. For The Speed of Falling Objects, my wish is this: open your arms and set the pigeon inside free, no matter how daunting the process, so that you can shine brighter than you ever dreamed possible.
RESOURCES
I have never had to survive in the Amazon rain forest. I’m terrified of spiders, snakes are a close second and I’ve been known to melt down under a horsefly attack. In my defense, there were a ton of horseflies that day and we were on mountain bikes so there was no quick escape. The worst part was that they were so slow that when I smacked them, after those buggers drew blood, I was left with giant globs of green-yellow goo on my skin. All this is to say that everything you read in The Speed of Falling Objects comes from research I did on my computer in a safe, clean and air-conditioned writing room...though at one point I did have a spider dangle over my desk that sent me running.
I’ve done my best to be accurate about the rain forest, its myriad challenges, threats and beauty. Please do forgive any mistakes and remember that this novel, while set in the Amazon, is about a young woman’s journey to quell her internal narrative and find her true self. I took a few liberties when necessary, as The Speed of Falling Objects is not meant as a manual for hard-core survivalists!
Research for this novel was both incredibly fun and fascinating. At the start, I could barely look at photographs of all the creepy crawlies. Today I can identify venomous spiders at first glance, describe the sensation of a bullet ant or scorpion bite, tell you which kind of snakes can end your life or make it miserable, and, if you’re lucky enough to survive, exactly how to gut a snake so the meat won’t be ruined. Learning about the birds, caimans, sloths and capybaras (rodents of unusual size) made the Amazon come even more alive and gave me so many opportunities to challenge Danny. Best of all were the caterpillars, scorpions and poison dart frogs, which look like the creations of a mad scientist. Their brilliant colors, intricate markings and venom are part of the perfect puzzle that is survival in an environment teeming with threats.
In the safety of my writing room, I learned how to build shelters from videos made by folks willing to live in the rain forest, weave palm fronds and huddle beneath them despite really desperate conditions. Those videos also taught me how best to start a fire in soggy weather, the way to transport coals, how useful lianas are to tie together shelters, rafts or for a quick drink of water, and reinforced my decision that firsthand research was best left to the professionals.
The World Wildlife Foundation was a great resource for the vegetation and plant systems of the Amazon along with the ParksWatch park profile of Alto Purus Reserved Zone. Peru Travel’s Handbook for Survival in the Rain Forest provided details for various insect bites and stings and the best way to find and purify water. Additional guides educated on how to identify trees that are actually food, the fruits to eat and the ones to avoid at all costs. Various reptile sites, articles about the most dangerous animals in the Amazon, as well as firsthand explorer stories supplied even more details.
I also consulted with emergency room physicians and nurse practitioners to make sure that the plane crash injuries made sense, the best ways to treat them, the types that might be sustainable for a time, like a head injury or a partially ruptured spleen, typical symptoms and where there might be an opportunity for Danny to showcase her medical abilities. Those same medical professionals also stopped me from going overboard, like when I wanted to stuff Jupiter’s open leg wound with maggots. In my defense, I read that maggots (fly larvae) are used in some hospitals to clean out necrotic (dead) tissue. They do work, but, among other issues, there wasn’t enough time in the story to get the job done.
Also invaluable were the pilots who helped me figure out the type of plane, Mack’s decision-making process, possible reasons for the accident and how, exactly, Mack’s bird would go down. Those pilots included my husband, Henry, and our friend Russ.
Finally, I want to give credit to the television show that provided great visuals for some of the challenges and discomforts of untamed environments. While I steered clear of the individual survivalist shows, as I was afraid they’d influence the creation of Cougar’s unique personality, I was fascinated with Naked and Afraid. That’s the reality show where two “normal” people, one guy and one gal, agree to go into the most demanding environments—deserts, islands, jungles, forests, mountains—NAKED. They don’t know each other, generally come from radically different backgrounds and are given only one tool each to aid in survival—commonly a big knife and a fire starter.
The challenge is to last twenty-one days in dangerous conditions. There are poisonous snakes, venomous spiders, flash floods, crocodiles, tigers, leopards, electric eels and even sharks that threaten their lives. On top of that, these naked and many times terrified people suffer food poisoning, hypothermia, dehydration, life-threatening infections and bites from every kind of insect...in unimaginable places.
Why do they do it? The challenge. If they don’t tap out before twenty-one days, they can say that they faced their biggest fears, struggled with intense hunger, discomfort or horrible pain. Their takeaway: they are far stronger and more capable than they ever imagined.
While the individuals participating in the show face real hardships, there is always a medical team on hand to transport those who are in dire condition to a hospital. How absolutely terrifying it would be to find yourself alone, with no backup, where a single error in judgment, a fall, a cut, a bite or a bone break could easily result in death. That sense of imagined dread helped inform me that a place like the Amazon was the perfect location to test Danny with very real consequences, and to allow her unique abilities to surface.
My hope is that my research has resulted in an exciting and fulfilling novel about an insecure girl, whose experiences and internal narrative supported her perception that she was defective, as she transformed into a young woman who faced tough truths, found her voice and claimed her power.
Finally, if anyone is inspired to spend time in the Amazon rain forest after reading this novel, please do send me a postcard detailing your adventure!
ISBN-13: 9781488051340
The Speed of Falling Objects
Copyright © 2019 by Nancy Richardson Fischer
Excerpts from THE
PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster, text copyright © 1961, copyright renewed 1989 by Norton Juster. Used by permission of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
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