I’ve studied science all of my life—from oceanography to astronomy, from dinosaurs to quantum mechanics. Yes, I’m a nerd and was an outcast in high school. Never mind that. I’ve a story to tell you.

One evening, about five years ago, I saw out of the corner of my eye a scene playing out on the TV a screen from a movie (I don’t know the movie, my husband was watching it). The director filmed the scene in a distorted room that creates an optical illusion of people being giant on one side and dwarfed on the other. (An American scientist, Albert Ames Jr. invented the Ames Room in 1946).

I exclaimed to my husband, “I remember a scene from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea filmed on that set!”

I hadn’t thought about that show in a long time! Remember Admiral Nelson, Captain Crane, and the submarine Seaview and their adventures? They encountered manta rays and squid. Battled enemy submarines and drones. Raced to the Northpole to save the world from a natural disaster. I’d forgotten the role that TV show played in my developing interest in science.

So I googled it, bought season one, and started watching it on my Apple iPad that night—you’ve got to love technology.

By 3 AM, the episode called The Enemies came on. In this episode, a general from an adversarial country placed the admiral and the captain (who were the best of friends) in an Ames room to make himself seem more formidable. To throw them off balance, in an emotional sense.

As weeks passed, I imagined myself aboard Seaview weaving my own episodes. In time, the idea popped into my head that I should tell the story of a submarine from the submarine’s perspective. I dabbled with the musings of a submarine that kept company with whales and wrote some free style poetry…

Then over time, from my memories emerged the story of a new life form, Submarine Expedition.

Now, Submarine Expedition travels the seas with his designer and builder, Admiral William “Bill” Martin, describing what is out there and what is going on inside of him—from a scientist’s perspective.

I hope you enjoy my first novel. I had fun writing it and thought I would share it.

Let me know if you do. If you don’t, don’t let me know and I’m sorry I wasted your time. I’m in the middle of a second novel called Raising Expedition. If you’d like to read a draft and provide your opinion, I’ll buy you dinner.