Showing results by author "Homer Hickam" in All Categories

On the outer banks of the Carolinas in 1941, fishermen and a few lonely sailors constitute the human population. Dominating the rough yet beautiful landscape is the majestic Killakeet Lighthouse, run for generations by the Thurlow family. But Josh Thurlow, the lighthouse keeper's son, has...

about growing up in a town that’s slowly fading away.

Homer and his close buddies, who call themselves the Rocket Boys, are high school seniors in 1959. Their rocket building experiments amaze the locals, thanks to top-quality moonshine for fuel, “liberated” materials, and Homer’s self-taught understanding of higher math. But no matter how brilliant their experiments are, they can do little to help preserve Coalwood’s way of life.

Big Fish meets The Notebook in this emotionally evocative story about a man, a woman, and an alligator that is a moving tribute to love, from the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning memoir Rocket Boys—the basis of the movie October Sky. Elsie Lavender and Homer Hickam (the...

A sixteen-year-old must battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly lunar terrain and face genetically altered super warriors in his quest to recover an astonishing object that will alter the lives of everyone on the moon . . . and beyond. It’s the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people...

In the summer of '61, Homer "Sonny" Hickam, a year of college behind him, is dreaming of sandy beaches and rocket ships. But before Sonny can reach the seaside fixer-upper where his mother is spending the summer, a telephone call sends him back to the place he thought he had escaped, the gritty coal-mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. There, Sonny's father, the mine's superintendent, has been accused of negligence in a man's death.

Homer Hickam's memoir Rocket Boys and the movie adaptation October Sky have become one of the most popular stories in the world. But what happened to Homer after he was a West Virginia rocket boy? In his latest memoir, Homer recounts how he fought through some of the worst battles in Vietnam, discovered sunken U-boats, befriended Tom Clancy, and more. Although told with humor and wit, Hickam does not shy away from the hardship endured and the mistakes he made during the tumultuous decades since his life in the town he made famous—Coalwood, West Virginia.

Until I began to build and launch rockets, I didn't know my hometown was at war with itself over its children, and that my parents were locked in a kind of bloodless combat over how my brother and I would live our lives....And I didn't know that the enthalpy decrease in a converging passage...

The year is 1943 and World War II in the Pacific rages on, with Americans engaged in desperate battles against a cunning enemy. Coast Guard Captain Josh Thurlow is on hand at the invasion of Tarawa, as the U.S. Navy begins the grand strategy of throwing her marines at island after bloody island...

Since the publication of the #1 bestseller Rocket Boys: A Memoir in 1998 and the premiere of the movie October Sky in 1999, many Homer Hickam listeners and fans have wondered how and why he wrote the book, and how the movie was made. Incidental to that are such questions as "What is Jake Gyllenhaal, Chis Cooper, Laura Dern, etc. really like?" and "What's it like to have a movie made about your life?" and "Why are the book and movie different?" and "Why are both book and movie still so popular after all these years?" The answers to those questions and a lot more are in Homer Hickam's new audiobook From Rocket Boys to October Sky.

Crescent is a crowhopper - a genetically modified mercenary programmed for ruthless warfare. When she’s taken prisoner by Crater Trueblood instead of being killed in battle, she thinks it’s a disaster. Crater is weary of war. He’s a miner, not a soldier. He’d rather be mining Helium-3 than battling the infernal crowhoppers. But after he captures Crescent and brings her to Moontown, he’s surprised how much he enjoys her company. When she’s falsely accused of murder, he becomes an outlaw to help her escape.

Crater Trueblood has to rescue his ex-girlfriend... and the entire human race. Maria Medaris - gorgeous, powerful, and high-maintenance - is the 21-year-old matriarch of the most powerful family on the moon. When she is kidnapped by green-lipped, gene-splicing scientists, Maria's only hope turns out to be the very man she once spurned: Crater Trueblood. Crater and the Lunar Rescue Company must rescue Maria before she joins forces with the lunatics who have taken her hostage and aim to make her queen.

It's fall, 1959, and Homer "Sonny" Hickam and his fellow Rocket Boys are in their senior year at Big Creek High, launching handbuilt rockets that soar thousands of feet into the West Virginia sky. But in a season traditionally marked by celebrations of the spirit, Coalwood finds itself at a...

It's 1943 and the Americans and Japanese are fighting a deadly war in the hot, jungle-covered volcanic islands of the South Pacific. The outcome is in doubt, and now a terrible blow has fallen on American morale. Lieutenant David Armistead, a Marine Corps hero and cousin of the president of the...

Life on the ranchlands of Montana comes with more than its share of trouble. The unique people who live and work on this untamed stretch of today's American West expect it---and some of them even enjoy it. One of them is Mike Wire, a former homicide detective who once worked the decadent hills and valleys of Hollywood.

Las memorias best seller que inspiraron la película Cielo de Octubre, Rocket Boys es una autobiografía poderosa y una historia luminosa de la vida en la década de 1960, del amor de una madre y del temor de un padre, de un grupo de jóvenes que soñaban con lanzar cohetes al espacio… y de...

Homer Hickam recalls his first years as a NASA engineer, while also telling the story of his fluffy black and white cat Paco, who had the magic ability to make people smile and give them hope. But when Paco was struck down by a disease that left him unable to walk, Hickam was faced with a terrible decision, let his beloved cat live in misery or put him to sleep. Before that decision could be made, the space mission Hickam was working on needed to be rescued and there was only one sure way to save it: Paco's magic meow!

Can their love survive the difference in their circumstances? Song Hawkins is a beautiful, tough, but lonely New York City businesswoman who thinks she's met the man of her dreams in Cable Jordan, the superintendent of a West Virginia coal mine. But soon after they impulsively marry, Song...

On the outer banks of the Carolinas in 1941, fishermen and a few lonely sailors constitute the human population. Dominating the rough yet beautiful landscape is the majestic Killakeet Lighthouse, run for generations by the Thurlow family. But Josh Thurlow, the lighthouse keeper's son, has...

Una historia emocionalmente evocadora acerca de un hombre, una mujer y un caimán es un emotivo tributo al amor, del autor best seller del New York Times de las galardonadas memorias Rocket Boys: la base de la película Cielo de Octubre. Elsie Lavender y Homer Hickam (el padre del...

"Ich oder der Alligator!" Keinen Tag länger will Homer Hickam der Ältere sein Badezimmer mit einem bissigen Reptil namens Albert teilen. Als der Bergwerksarbeiter seiner Frau ein Ultimatum stellt, muss Elsie lange überlegen. Schließlich ist ein Leben ohne Alligator doch sinnlos. Wie alles hier in Coalwood, West Virginia. Die ganze trostlose Stadt liegt unter einer schwarzen Staubschicht begraben. Und selbst vor ihrer Ehe hat die Große Depression keinen Halt gemacht.