It's been a year since my novella Cat and The Dreamer was published! There have been lots of changes in my own life in that time, and I started to wonder what else had changed...
Thank you Rena for inviting me over today!
Today's topic: Felix Baumgartner!
In February 2012, no one had jumped from the edge of space, and now they have. That's a pretty big change in the world, don't you think? And I'm still trying to get my head around why someone would think it was a good idea.
To be honest, I came to the party late - I only realised he was jumping when the first jump was delayed. The day he jumped, I was sitting with my kids and they were just as fascinated.
The ascent in itself was impressive - two and a half hours watching the balloon gradually getting higher and higher, listening to all the technical info, that none of us really understood, being bandied about between Baumgartner and his ground crew. In fact as someone who's scared of heights, I'd have been happy if he just went up and didn't jump, but...
- Felix jumped from 128,100 feet above ground
- He spent 260 seconds free-falling before deploying his parachute, a total of 119,846 feet!
- He span uncontrollably for 10 - 20 seconds - and I held my breath for all of them
- He hit a world record speed of 833.9 mph
- It took 5 years and 300 people to plan and carry out the jump
- 8 million people world-wide watched, on 40 different TV stations
- It took 10 minutes for Felix to reach the ground, landing - amazingly - on his feet!
Did you watch it? Were you glued, open-mouthed to the footage like I was?
As a teenager, Julia survived a suicide pact, while her best friend Rachel died. Julia’s only escape from her guilt, and her mother’s over-protection, is her imagination. When Adam arrives in the office, Julia’s world takes a startling turn as she realises reality can be much more fun than fantasy. Finally she has someone who can help her make the most of her life. But can she allow herself to be truly happy?
Cat and The Dreamer is available on Kindle UK, Kindle US, Kobo, Nook, iTunes/iBooks, and via Vagabondage Press.
Annalisa Crawford lives and writes in Cornwall with a good supply of beaches and moorland to keep her inspired. She finds endless possibilities in the relationships between people. Several new projects are on the cards for 2013.
Find her on her blog, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.
Thanks for hosting me today, Rena!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely my pleasure!
DeleteI caught it after the fact, but it was still amazing beyond belief!
ReplyDeleteI know! I was completely riveted!
DeleteI would have expected something like that to be much more widely advertised, to be honest.
DeleteTalk about courage! Wow. I don't even like ferris wheels!
ReplyDeleteLoved "Cat and the Dreamer"...excellent story!
I'm not afraid of heights, but yeah, I could never do that! And what I loved most was that the team to get him up there included the last guy to break the record. Pure awesome!
DeleteThank you Elizabeth. I had to watch the moment he jumped through my fingers!
DeleteI didn't watch it live, because i, too, was a bit behind the news on that one. But man, how awesome are people and science?
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing people have the vision to do something like that, just because they can.
DeleteI caught it on a live cast on the internet, and then realized I could go outside and see it for myself! what a trip!
DeleteMy sister was very excited about all of this, and for a bit of an odd reason. :) Her one year old son is named Felix and she says now no one can say it's a sissy name. This guy is BA!
ReplyDeleteLol, yes, I think Felix is suddenly a very cool name indeed!
DeleteFelix was my great grandfather's name, so I use it all the time in stories.
DeleteGlued, open-mouthed describes it perfectly! Great post! :-)
ReplyDeleteI was too! I was absolutely rivetted, and not just because it was happening close enough for us to view the balloon directly (I live in New Mexico), but because it was such an incredible event.
DeleteThanks Linda.
DeleteRena, I didn't realise you were so close to the action!
New Mexico has the Balloon Fiesta where hundreds of balloonists show up. Because of this, we also have this awesome balloon museum, which has the capsule used in the previous world record jump from the sixties. (and the balloon was just a tiny dot mostly washed out in the sun).
DeleteThe Balloon museum is great, and has a whole exhibit on the balloon terrorist devices used in WWII. Pretty crazy stuff.
I watched it on the news, but not as it was happening. It's amazing. I'd love to do something like that one day, but my stomach can barely handle a carousel any more!
ReplyDeleteYou know, my stomach has never been able to handle the carousel. I've always been able to manage rollercoasters just fine, but a ride that goes round and round? That'll make me a bit green at the gills.
DeleteI'm very happy to let other people do that!
DeleteHOW DID I MISS THAT JUMP!?!? Oh my gosh! So completely fascinating and remarkable and just ... INSPIRING! WOW! I'm still sitting here with my mouth open!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, it's pretty epic to take a weather balloon ride straight up to the edge of space and leap off. Crazy. And pretty awesome.
DeleteI was on the edge of my seat when he jumped, especially when he went into free fall for a few seconds.
DeleteThat video was INSANE! I watched with my mouth open and my hands over my face. I wish we had more stuff like this on the news. We need to be inspired. :)
ReplyDeleteCat and the Dreamer sounds wonderful!
Oh yeah, jumping from the edge of space is KRAZY KAKES! But also awesome. And I love all the interviews with Felix; he's really not the crazy adrenaline seeker you'd expect.
DeleteI think the jump caught people's imaginations because it was SO different from the normal record-breaking attempts!
DeleteMissed this one -- congratulations on a great book, Annalisa :)
ReplyDeleteIt did sort of sneak up. They'd been planning to do it for a while but kept having weather delays. Then they picked a perfect day for it.
DeleteThanks Damyanti :-)
DeleteWow, I'm totally out of the loop, because I didn't even know about the jump. That would be totally cool to be a part of that, though. And Cat and the Dreamer sounds cool! I think a lot of people can relate to a person who escapes to her imagination; I think that writers in particular spend a lot of time "escaping". :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely escape into my imagination - it's a wonderful place in my head :-)
DeleteYes the escape into the imagination is absolutely the best.
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