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| Sylvia Kurtz ’81 |
Sylvie Kurtz ’81 earned her commercial pilot’s license and associate’s degree in aviation flight technology at Florida Tech, but it just wasn’t enough to hold her interest. So, she gave up her pilot’s wings for a profession that would allow her to go anywhere at anytime and take thousands of passengers with her.
The popular fiction author now travels across the world and through time via her novels, taking her readers on journeys filled with suspense and adventure.
As exciting as it may seem to some, she found flying cross country to be rather mundane. Kurtz decided she’d rather navigate through the world of publishing. “Flying commercial planes and navigating through the world of publishing require some of the same skills. They both require planning, persistence and attention to detail as you make small corrections along the way to stay on course,” she explained.
“I get my dose of adventure without leaving home,” Kurtz said. That is mostly true, but research does take her on adventures to various locales, such as experiencing shooting guns, learning to kayak and hiking in the White Mountains in New Hampshire where she now resides. In her novel, Alyssa Again, “The heroine had to learn how to kayak, so I gave her my beginner’s experience.”
Kurtz has used her experiences in Florida too. The first book she sold involved flying, albeit through time, not place. Broken Wings, published in 1996 by Leisure Books, featured a pilot who traveled through time. “Having been a pilot allowed me to capture the feeling of flying and make it realistic,” she said. Romance Writers of America honored this book by selecting it as a Golden Heart Finalist in 1995.
Her latest book, Detour, involves a heroine who investigates planes that are mysteriously falling out of the sky.
In Pull of the Moon, released in December 2006, the main character hails from Florida and the action takes place in New Hampshire. “It just makes location research easier,” she said.
Kurtz became interested in Florida Tech after reading an ad in a flight magazine. She had her private pilot’s license, but had loftier goals. The Quebec native wanted to join the Canadian Air Force, but it was not accepting women into flight school at that time. So, she decided she’d pursue a commercial pilot’s license. Although she had been flying solo before joining Florida Tech, her trip here was her first flight on a commercial airline.
She also met her husband, Charles Kurtz ’82, at Florida Tech. “My husband has been really supportive. I couldn’t have done it without him.” She offered a vivid example of his support. “One day I got six rejections in the mail. I was so discouraged. When I talked to him about this, he said, ‘You can’t quit now, you’re almost there.’ Sure enough, a few months later, I sold my first book.” So, she continued writing, and 17 more of her books were published, and two are in the works. The journey continues.
Melinda Millsap |
