SERIAL FICTION
A Personal Tribute To All Lives Lost
More about my newest series — Shadows of Mayday — the story of lives which ended when a plane crashed
Early January 2023, I published the last chapter of my series, Thirteen Years. A month later, a new series started.
The story — Shadows of Mayday — is a tribute to all victims of airplane crashes.
I could have written a story in any other genre: drama, thriller, or a reflection of the facts of one of the many airplane crashes which put a black border around aviation history.
However, I chose to write a book in the erotic genre.
This does not mean I have no understanding of how horrendous and sad airplane crashes are and the impact it has.
In fact, this series reflects something of my mind. It reflects my own fears; my fear of being ripped from this life before I have done all the things I still want to do, before I have reached my goals before I have traveled the world to all those places I still want to see.
Sometimes, the thought of not being able to do it all frightens me to the point of pure panic.
My goal with this story is showing people who died in plane crashes were more than just a photo and a couple of words in a newspaper. They had loved ones and friends, different jobs, different backgrounds, and different preferences in the ways they lived.
They had a life.
The inspiration for this book came in the weeks after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed on 17 July 2014 — shot from the air.
That day, 298 people died, and 193 of them were Dutch.
The 298 who perished
Malaysia Airlines’ passenger list shows flight MH17 was carrying 193 Dutch nationals (including one with dual US nationality), 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons (including one with dual South African citizenship).
There were also four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos, one Canadian and one New Zealander on board.
At least six of those killed were delegates on their way to an international conference on AIDS in Melbourne, Australia.
Professor Joep Lange — a prominent scientist and a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS), was among those who died. His colleagues have described him as “a great clinical scientist” and “a wonderful person and a great professional”.
Other stories of passengers and crew emerging include a Malaysia-Dutch family of five, a Dutch couple on their way to Bali, an Australian pathologist and his wife returning from a European holiday, as well as a Malaysian flight steward whose wife — who also works for Malaysia Airlines — had narrowly escaped death when she pulled out of a shift working on missing flight MH370.
Source: BBC — 26 February 2020
The Netherlands played a big role in the recovery of the bodies.
I sat glued to the television to see the ceremonies as the bodies returned.
It moved me to tears when I thought of the people who lost their loved ones in this horrible act of terror. I couldn’t imagine how the crash would change their lives. Suddenly, everything was different. All plans they had made were off the table.
I could almost feel their pain.
My tears were also for the victims, torn from life so abruptly. They had no notion their plans for the next day, the next week, or the next month would ever materialize.
I was proud to see the way my country handled this, the dignity and respect with which they treated each victim of the crash.
They placed every person in a separate coffin and transported the coffins from Eindhoven Airport to Hilversum in separate hearses. This symbolized a way to give back each victim their individuality instead of grouping them under the header ‘victims of flight MH17’.
Just like back in 2001 with the attacks on 11 September, I followed the news closely and searched for articles on the internet. I read everything I could find about the victims of this crash — the grandfather who traveled back home with his grandkids, the young couple who were off on holiday, who wanted to be married, the owners of a well-known restaurant, entire families went — mother, father, and kids.
I still feel a lump in my throat when I think of all those people around the world who have suffered because of this terrible tragedy and other tragic plane crashes.
The idea of writing this story took months to form in my head.
It’s not the story of MH17.
I will leave it to others to write about the facts surrounding that horrendous terrorist act.
This is a story about a plane crash, focusing on the lives of the victims, not their deaths.
This story is my tribute to all victims of all airplane crashes.
Start reading here…
🦋 About Me | 📨 Subscribe | 📚 Stories | 🔄️ Membership | 🦜 Twitter
