About the Book:
Take a trip down the rabbit hole without ever leaving the comfort of your living room…
This is a novel in which history meets science fiction and psychedelics meet spirituality through a seamless blend of fact and fantasy. 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back is one girl’s account of her fantastic and unique experience of the hippie counterculture and how it changed her and those around her for the rest of their lives. From a run-of-the-mill existence in the ultra-conservative town of Fresno, California, formerly naïve teenager and rock devotee Rhiannon Karlson takes the trip of a lifetime after a drug dealer sells her a particularly potent and mysterious substance, sparking her unparalleled journey of soul-searching, consciousness-expansion, and unyielding search for the Truth. The rest, you may say, is history.
What people are saying:
“Trust us, you’re going to want to read this one.”—The Journal NJ
“[Rhiannon] is one of the best developed and created female protagonists that I have ever read and this is one of the best novels I have read so far this year.”—Rabia Tanveer, Readers’ Favorite (Starred Review)
“Sea Gudinski’s new book takes a fantastic journey back to the era that defined a generation.”—Joanne Colella, Colella Communications
“1969 is one of the most well-written, intelligent, and well-researched books that I have ever read. If you lived through the sixties or you just want to know what it was like, you will absolutely love this book.”— Paul Dittmer, Independent Researcher of 1969 Woodstock Festival
“Looking up at the stars, limits simply do not exist for the creative mind of Sea Gudinski.”—Chuck Defilippo, NYS Music Magazine
“Plenty to groove on…”—Kirkus Reviews
“Adventurous, soul-searching, and transcending the borders of time and reality, 1969: A Brief & Beautiful Trip Back is a thought-provoking saga that will keep the reader enraptured from cover to cover. Highly recommended!”—Midwest Book Review
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Excerpt:
“The scenes that passed, clad in their bright summer colors, were singular in their beauty. All the windows were open now, and the scents of pine and forest blew into the van. I peered out the window closest to me and watched the hills roll by and the bright, fluffy, white clouds sink behind the mountains. Fields of tall grass and wildflowers dotted the shoulder and receded into the tree line, untouched by human hands and generally unaffected. To us, it seemed to be a road into the Garden of Eden. And then, all of a sudden, there was this little child running in the fields. She was a fair girl of about eight or ten—or such was our closest approximation as we slowed and passed her. Barefoot, she gamboled about without a care in the world, without a vested interest in anything other than her own bliss, without any idea of how beautiful she looked to us. She was the freest spirit ever to live—liberty incarnate. There seemed to be no object which she pursued, nothing she was running after or looking to find, and the calm of her body, the lightness of her spins and her steps, were enough to confirm that there was nothing she was running from. However, up ahead—in a place she would reach shortly if she continued on her path—grew a beautiful peach tree, its branches heavy with fruit. It was the only one in sight; the only one we had seen our whole way upon this journey. To witness this sight brought tears to my eyes, and those tears were of the best kind—the sort that appear whenever joy and happiness are so great and so abundant that the only way they can be expressed is through the eyes.”
Author Interview:
1: Tell us a little about yourself and what got you in to writing?
From my earliest years, I was always a voracious reader and an avid storyteller. As an only child, imagination games were my favorite form of entertainment, and one of the worlds I created as a kid laid the foundation for my first novel. I believe my desire to write is innate; however, my desire to publish and share my work stems from my wish to inform and enlighten others. I have a very intense desire to communicate to others the principles and truths that I have learned in my own lifetime that have helped me understand more about myself and the people around me. I do so through the medium of first-person storytelling which immerses readers and makes them feel as if they themselves are undergoing the experiences of the character they are reading about.
2: Do you have a favourite time and place where you write?
I am the full-time manager of my family business, so I work seven days a week. In-between jobs and customers, in the winter, I have a seat next to my fireplace in the office where hundreds of thousands of words have been sown, and in the summertime, I like to sit in my gazebo—as I am as I write this now. However, inspiration seems to arrest me at uncanny times and there are many instances when I’ve pulled off to the side of the road, woken up in the middle of the night, or pursued a notebook mid-shower in order to empty my head. The manuscript of the novel that I am currently working on is written almost exclusively on cocktail napkins from my local bar.
3: Where do your ideas come from?
I always say that when I write, the words and stories come through me rather than out of me. In this way, I feel more like a conduit for the inspiration than the originator. Of course, some of the basic tenets of my novels can be easily recognized as influenced by my life and the way I was raised, but I do not presume to take full praise for the development of the story. The idea for 1969 came to me fully formed, and throughout the entire process of writing, I felt as if I was uncovering something that already existed. The first lines of 1969 were written ten years ago on the back of a pack of gum while I was sitting in my car in a parking lot. As for their origin, I cannot presume to know, and I have been the witness of such abundant synchronicity throughout the writing and research process that recounting it would fill a book in and of itself.
Beyond that, most of my inspiration comes from examining the dichotomy and complexity of the human condition. Relating and sharing experiences has always been a fascinating concept to me, and in all of my work, these are the main issues that my characters face.
4: Do you have a plan in your head of where the story is going before you start writing or do you let it carry you along as you go?
The main plotline of all of my novels appears to me fully formed. I never have to sit down and think, “What do I want to write about next?” And, in fact, when I do attempt such an inquiry—it never works in my favor. My best work flows forth solely when I am inspired. I have immense respect for those who can write for a living—meet deadlines and respond to prompts—because that is something that I struggle with. However, when I am inspired, sometimes I can’t stop writing! Generally, the main characters and events of the novel are set in stone, and my job as the author is to fill in the details, which also seem to work themselves out as I go along.
5: What genre are your books and what drew you to that genre?
All my works are primarily historical fiction, although I do dabble in poetry as well. I have always loved history and enjoy learning about the people and events that have come before us and ultimately resulted in the circumstances of our present time. In many instances, when I tell people that I write historical fiction, I am greeted with an interesting reaction: “Boy, that’s a lot of work, why don’t you leave the historical bit to the non-fiction writers and just write pure fiction?” is a response that I receive quite often. I feel bad for these people, because they are simply missing the point. As every history teacher always urges at the beginning of the school year, history is extremely important. And quite frankly, truth absolutely is stranger than fiction—you simply cannot imagine the incredible things that happen in reality. I feel there is so much value inherent in historical fiction because you can immerse yourself in the past and weave your own story around the truth without warping or disturbing it. What results is a fusion that is both educational and entertaining.
6: What dream cast would you like to see playing the characters in your latest book?
I was raised by parents nearly half a century older than me; so growing up I was never up on current events, fads, media, etc. The shows and movies I watch are all in black and white—so as far as a dream cast, anybody suitable that I could name has already hung up their hat or passed away. Every author fantasizes about their books being made into movies one day, and if that day ever came, if I was in any way involved in the process, I would want to feature as many debut actors and actresses as possible. Seeing my work alive on the big screen would be a dream come true for me, so why not make the dreams of other people come true at the same time?
7: Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors?
Because for the past ten years or so I have read primarily for the purpose of research, I generally do not read an author’s entire catalogue. Therefore, my assessment of my favorite authors is limited to between 1-4 works rather than all of them. I have two favorite books—The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe which I read for the first time nine years ago, and Jack London’s John Barleycorn, which I discovered this past January. A great deal of my inspiration for 1969 came after reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I read that book twice before I realized that the author was not recounting events that he had personally experienced and was shocked. His style is so effective that it makes you feel like you are in the book yourself. It is so immersive and captivating that in many ways I sought to replicate it in my own work.
For the last nine years, I unwaveringly declared The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test to be the best book I had ever read; however, as of late, a new dark horse has slipped within my ken and knocked at the door of my previous convictions. As far as Jack London is concerned, my first exposure to him was his most famous work, Call of the Wild, and I HATED it. It is actually one of only two books in my life that I never finished reading. However, earlier this year, I decided to give Mr. London a second chance with his autobiography, John Barleycorn, and I was hooked. There is one paragraph toward the end that I read at least a dozen times before I moved on to the next. His accounts and observations of the role of alcohol in society and the effect it has on the human mind are stunning and shockingly accurate, even a century later.
In addition to those two unparalleled works by Wolfe and London, the author I have read most prolifically is Jack Kerouac—the crème de la crème of the Beat writers. I recommend On the Road and Dharma Bums to almost everyone I meet.
8: What book/s are you reading at present?
I just finished reading Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory for about the 5th time. Woody Guthrie is not a name that most people readily respond to; however, every schoolchild since the 40’s has been intimately acquainted with This Land Is Your Land—a song penned by the nimble hand of Woody Guthrie himself. The man is likely one of the most unsung and under acknowledged Americans of the 20th century—a megaphone for the underprivileged, for the average American, for the working man, for those down on their luck. He spoke from experience—bumming rides on freight trains, busking in bars for $1.50 a night, and taking arduous day jobs just to keep fed in a time when nearly the whole country was used to going hungry. The words he strung together—whether they be songs or books—were a voice for those who felt they had none and his influence in the folk genre and his son Arlo’s influence in the 1960’s counterculture are unmistakable. Bound For Glory didn’t quite make the top spot for my favorite book, but it is definitely a close second.
9: What is your favourite book and why?
I think I pretty much covered this in question 7 🙂
10: What advice would you give for someone thinking about becoming a writer?
Write. Don’t think. Just write. Don’t try to be perfect. Don’t worry too much about grammar and structure—you can always deal with that later. Don’t be intimidated by the process, don’t be overwhelmed by the whole—take it a piece at a time. Write the way we live—moment-by-moment, breath-by-breath. Everybody has a different approach that works for them, so what experts profess in textbooks and DIY manuals really doesn’t mean much. Very, very few famous authors have been ‘classically’ trained or ‘properly’ educated in their art. As long as your words come from your heart and are true, you are a good writer. As long as your words can positively impact and emotionally affect another person, you are successful. Everybody has a story to tell. I firmly believe that, and it is actually one of the major tenants of 1969—that love and understanding go hand in hand. I believe it is best explained in this passage taken from one of the final pages: “We all have a story, and it is a pity that so few of us tell it. We are left to infer from passing glances as to the struggles and hopes, thoughts and dreams, joys and tragedies of another. People themselves, like words over time, become meaningless because we’ve shut them off, we haven’t listened to them—because to us, they are absent from the human story. We may feel like they are only props, part of the everyday scenery that makes up our world—disposable, almost—and many feel that way about you and I. That is where compassion and empathy come in and why they are needed now more desperately than ever. You know that old golden rule—’Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ You may not know another person’s story, they may not speak it loud enough for you to hear, they to you may be only a word, but behind that word is a story, and a story demands respect and attention from all. Words themselves may be meaningless, they may be dross, rot, and insufficient—but within each word is a story, and a story is sacred. Life itself is the untellable story. That is the paradox here tonight, and that is the paradox I give to you.”
11: What are the best Social Media Sites for people to find out about you and your work? I
I haven’t quite figured out Twitter and Instagram yet—so Facebook remains the most accessible site for people to find out about my work. My website is also a great resource for those who are interested in signed copies of my books or additional information about me.
Direct Links:
Website: www.seagudinski.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Sea-Gudinski
Twitter: @seagudinski
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sea_gudinski
About the Author:
Sea Gudinski is a life-long native of the small town of Holmdel, New Jersey. She has written prolifically since the age of ten, producing six novels and one collection of poetry. 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back is her first published work. She is an avid reader and a lover of all things historical. With a wide breadth of knowledge and an unquenchable desire to learn she has delved into several eras in recent history with the hope of shedding some light on the issues faced in today’s world. Her works are a delightful marriage of fact and fiction, peopled with vibrant characters, each with a unique and meaningful story to tell. She writes with depth and passion in the hope that her work will inspire others the way other literary works have inspired her.Sea graduated Holmdel High School with high honors; however, she chose not to go to college and manages her family business instead. When she is not writing, she enjoys listening to old radio programs and live music and playing gin rummy.
Reading Nook 