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In the spirit of sharing with other authors, each page of this website will contain a tip intended to help authors write or promote better.
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Linda Ballou Wai-nani: Her Journey in Ancient Hawai`i Through the eyes of high chiefess, Wai-nani, experience the Hawaiian society as it existed when Captain Cook arrived at Kealakekua Bay in 1779; ride the billowing seas with Eku, the wild dolphin she befriends; learn why she loved the savage, conflicted ruler, Makaha; walk with her as she defies ancient laws and harsh taboos of the Island people; share the love she received from all who knew her and learn how she rose to become the most powerful woman in old Hawai`i. To access LInda's media kit click here. Wai-nani is now ready to order. Signed copies are available at Linda's site for $17.95 with free shipping anywhere in the world. www.LindaBallouAuthor.com
Linda Ballou in a vest she boughtin Hawaii. It is my favorite because of the rich colors and is symbolic of her coming novel.
Review of Wai-nani: Voice from Ancient Hawaii Reviewed by Barbara Sharp Milbourn Travel writer and photographer Linda Ballou delivers a generous slice ofHawaiian history with details of land and sea so vivid, it is almost better than being there. Wai-nani: Voice from Ancient Hawaii is a meticulously researched account of the Hawaiian Islands around the time of Captain James Cook. The major theme of the novel is the dismantling of the social hierarchal system based on kapu (taboo) that had been brought to the Islands by the Tahitians years before. But what a story! Meet Wai-nani whose character is based on Ka'ahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great, unifier of the Hawaiian Islands around 1810. She is a young woman of royal descent so at home in the sea that she thinks of herself as half sea creature. Her comfort in the water is juxtaposed to her conflict on land, particularly her resistance to the kapu system. We accompany her as she leaves home and meets Makaha (Kamehameha) two hundred years ago when chiefs in feathered capes and tattooed warriors battled for island dominion, priests read the future in pig entrails, men and women ate in separate houses, and human sacrifices were commonplace. We know her and her people, and we connect to place through stunning details of mamo birds, koa trees, 'ie'ie flowers, and taro fields. We drink the bitter 'awa, trek up steep palis, peer into smoking volcanoes, and wave slide bearded monsters. Much changed with the arrival of Captain Cook, the death of Kamehameha, and the pressure brought to bear on the system. But some things are eternal—love, the circle of life, and the grand and vibrant sea. The author’s reverence for the land and its people inhabits her words. Linda Ballou is a new voice from ancient Hawaii. ------ Barbara Sharp Milbourn is a writer and editor living in Nashville.
Biography Triangle Fare- At twenty-three I took advantage of a discount rate offered by Alaska Airlines to fly the pacific triangle between California, Hawaii and Alaska. I left my home in Southern California to visit my parents who lived in Haines, Alaska. My father wanted us to spend Christmas at a lodge on a lake just over the Canadian border. When I arrived in the frosty wonderland, I was treated to a snowmobile ride across a frozen lake in 25-below to my father’s fish house. We trundled threw a forest of spiky trees stacked with shimmering nodules of ice. That night the northern lights wafted across the heavens in blue green and red diaphanous curtains. I left there reeling from ethereal northern exposure and headed to Hawaii for New Years. Like Captain Cook who sailed from the northwest to Hawaii in 1779, I was need of sunshine, warm seas and rest. Unlike Cook, who took months to make this journey I did it in about eight hours. When I arrived on Kauai it was a balmy 90 degrees and my body couldn’t catch up. I was bed-ridden for two days, but once acclimated to paradise I didn’t want to leave. I returned to the garden isle years later exhausted from putting myself through school selling real estate in Los Angeles to live on the north shore of Kauai for the most carefree year of my life. My love triangle of extremes has proven to be a solid base for my writing. From my roots in Alaska I receive strength, solitude, centeredness and respect for the awful power of nature. My short story Raindrop People and numerous adventure articles including my most recent “Raven Brings the Sun” about my float down the Tatshenshini River take place in my homeland. In Hawaii I found nurturing, a spiritual awakening, sensuality, peace and my heroine for my historical fiction, Wai-nani—High Chiefess of Hawaii—Her Ancient Journey. In proud California I obtained a degree in English Literature from Northridge University and a doctorate in urban savvy. I continue to enjoy opportunities here for intellectual stimulation, exciting contacts and friends. It makes a great base for exploits that I will share in my travel collection Lost Angel Walkabout. Seeds planted on this head-spinning, bargain holiday are yielding the beautiful harvest I enjoy today. Denise Cassino recently interviewed Linda for Long Story Short. Find it at www.alongstoryshort.net/interview-lindaballou.html Soon to Come:
Lost Angel Walkabout, A spirited collection of travel essays recounting serendipitous adventures. In the stories in this collection, strive to take you to special places I’ve enjoyed, so you may share the sensual experience of being there without straining one muscle, getting altitude sickness or tipping your canoe. Even though many of my adventures call for a modicum of fitness, be assured that I am one of you. I don’t go to the villages of headhunters on the island of Borneo, or to the Salt Mines in Timbuktu. I do enjoy the comforts of home, but I am willing to forgo these pleasures in search of solitude and sublime beauty. The secret to youth is to fill your mind with beauty. My quest is to know those treasured places before they are no more.
North American Travel Journalist
Association
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