Two years ago I published my historical novel, Without Warning, about the British passenger ship Athenia, which was sunk on the first day of World War II. In writing a novel, I hoped its emotional impact would bring this long-forgotten event to the attention of a wide audience and honor the sacrifice and heroism of Athenia’s passengers. Sales to date total 391 books. Obviously, I am a long way from realizing my goal. The question is how to reach a wider audience more quickly?

I’m hoping the answer is a documentary film.

Earlier this year my wife, Kay, and I embarked on an effort to produce a documentary about Athenia. We hope to film interviews with as many survivors as we can locate.

We began last January by filming Geoff Etherington at his Florida home. Geoff was ten years old and traveling with his parents, Ruth and Harold, aboard Athenia when the ship was torpedoed. The Etherington family story is one of several dramatic tales from Without Warning that illustrate the strength and courage of the people aboard Athenia who suddenly found themselves thrust into a war they thought they had escaped.

We plan to film several more interviews with survivors or their descendants September 3, when we meet in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II and Athenia’s sinking.

Of course, we are on a steep learning curve with this project. A book is a fairly straight-forward endeavor. Once I researched and wrote the manuscript, I relied on a few key people to help edit, design, and see my novel into print.

By contrast, a film involves many more people. We must find and interview the survivors, descendants, and experts that can help tell Athenia’s story. To do that, we need the skills of cinematographers, sound recordists, actors (to recreate some scenes described by interviewees), a film editor, sound editor, composer (for incidental music), and a director to bring all these elements together in an artistic vision. Once that vision is realized, more people will be involved with the film’s distribution and promotion.

Each of these steps requires people who combine technical expertise with artistic sensitivity. Fortunately, we live in San Diego, which supports a thriving independent film community. Additional help, if needed, lies two hours to the north in Los Angeles, a nexus of the film industry.

Of course, this effort will require a significant budget to see our film through to completion. But if all goes well, we hope to have a compelling documentary film ready to distribute by early next year.

In the next few weeks we will make some changes to this website, adding a new page that will keep you up to date on our progress toward a completed documentary. And so, in those time-honored words we hear so often, I invite you to, “Stay truned.”