Cool Reading by Andy Scheer

The novel's title caught my attention, captured my imagination, and convinced me to take a look. Not bad for two words: Shivering World.

For several weeks I've been considering what books to take this month as I serve as my father-in-law's co-driver, piloting his 1930 Ford Model A from Colorado to a car show in Michigan.

This past week, when author Kathy Tyers mentioned

her 1991 science fiction novel, something clicked.

Model A's were built long before air-conditioning, and if the states on our route are running true to form, I could use a book that makes me want to put on a parka.

In her recent book, The Dance of Character and Plot, novelist DiAnn Mills encourages writers to incorporate their story's setting as an antagonistic character. Several novels set in a freezing climate came to mind.

In the end, I settled on re-reading Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith — one of his series featuring a Soviet-era criminal investigator, this one set on a trawler in the middle of the Bering Sea. If I can tolerate the stink of fish that permeates the vessel, I'll appreciate how the book's sense of place leaves me chilled to the bone.

Still, I'll plan to check the week's forecast before we go. In case the meteorologists are predicting heavy rain, I'll be ready with a copy of Clive Cussler's Sahara.