Help Me Sail to Antarctica: to research my next book series

>>Great News Update 8/27: an anonymous donor just matched every donation up to $5,000! Your donation = doubled!<<

My stories of romance, war, and geopolitics champion the human spirit and are deeply rooted in personal experience and research. My next big series will concern the future of our radically compromised planet. Where better to explore human resilience than in the extreme and unforgiving environment of Antarctica that demands we push the boundaries of innovation and collaboration?

Places and experiences are the foundations of my stories. My fantasy world and wildland firefighter romances grew from an eighteen-month solo ’round-the-world bicycle trip. The Miranda Chase air-crash investigation thriller series and my bestselling military romantic suspense series about Night Stalker helicopter pilots are both rooted in my early pursuit of an airline pilot career in addition to research, interviews, and hands-on experience. I’ve turned birding cruises into murderous foodie thrillers. Even my penchant for writing characters who seek new experiences and adventures traces back to my rebuilding an old fifty-foot wooden sailboat and learning to single-hand it. (Find all these and more at my website .)

I've written over 75 novels and 200 short stories set all over the world. My constant goal? To bring authentic voices and places into my storytelling.

I have always been drawn to Antarctica. In my late teens I missed an opportunity to be a geology intern on “The Ice” (as it’s called by those who travel there). A decade later a chance to serve on a southbound NOAA ship slipped away. For years the goal seemed too big and at other times irrelevant as I pursued my career and found family. Now it’s time to visit Antarctica and expand my writing horizons. Thank you for helping me finally fulfill that dream. (Check out below some of the cool "Thank You"s I've put together. The more expenses that are covered by your generosity, the more of my own funds can be dedicated to my planned outreach to education and library programs.)

Why Antarctica? Why Now?

Wait, haven't you already set books and short stories there? I have—which only makes me want to go even more. I feel that I've done but limited justice so far to this incredible continent.

For the past eight years, I've been deep in writing about an autistic air-crash investigator whose 16-book thriller series explored geopolitical tension points around the world. But now that series is complete, and I'm ready for a new challenge.

After years of writing about current issues, I intend for my next big series of novels and stories to explore the near future of our environment, our planet, our very survival. The canary of our planet’s future may well be written in the massive climate shifts and melt-out occurring at the polar ice caps. The place where cutting-edge climate science meets human endurance, and international cooperation faces the ultimate tests, lands squarely on our southernmost continent—Antarctica.

EXCEPT, I've only ever imagined it. To write what I have in mind—with authenticity and power—I want to visit, see, smell, feel, and truly understand even a sliver of this remarkable place.

The Journey: Three Weeks Aboard the Bark Europa

I'll be sailing to Antarctica aboard the Bark Europa, a traditional tall ship that offers an authentic maritime experience. Three weeks of:

Working the sails

Crossing the dreaded Drake Passage (twice!)

And multiple landings on the Antarctic Peninsula will create a basis that I believe will greatly enhance bringing this frozen continent, along with humanity’s and perhaps our planet’s possible future to life in my fiction.

What Your Support Buys

Every contribution brings this dream closer to reality, for example:

Complete Budget Breakdown:

Total Goal: $17,700

“Thank You”s for Supporting My Journey

Join me on this journey to Antarctica. Together, we'll bring the world's most remote continent to life in fiction. More about me at my website (mlbuchman.com).

All photos are from the Bark Europa website.