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Woman's book mistaken for sexy novel

PARKLAND, Fla., May 13 (UPI) -- A Florida woman says her new book based on her work as a dropout-prevention teacher is regularly mistaken for a racy bestseller.

Susanne Jacoby Hale's recently released her first literary work, "Shades of Gray," the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Friday.

Unfortunately, her book's title is very similar to "Fifty Shades of Grey," a sexy novel with a sadomasochistic storyline by E.L. James.

Both books were published and released online at the end of last year. James' book was picked up by a publishing house and hit the bestsellers list in March, which is when the confusion began.

Since then, Hale said her book has received positive reviews and "sales are going fairly well," but admitted she it is hard to assess whether people are buying her book for what it is or because they think it's James'.

"Shades of Gray," Hale's work, is based on her years as a teacher at a riot-ridden, inner-city New York school and deals with teen pregnancy, interracial adoption, infertility, but it does not have the explicit sex scenes "Fifty Shades of Grey."

"You get looks like, 'Whoever would have thought that was going on in the Hale house?'" Hale said. "It's a weird thing because people seem to think I am something I'm not."

Hale said she has received "E-mail, Facebook messages and people calling me," thinking she is the person who wrote "Fifty Shades of Grey."

"It's frustrating, but I have to laugh about it," she said.

"I'll ride on [James'] coattails as long as I can if it's going to get it out there," said Hale, who is working on a second book. "At the same time, I don't want my reputation to be scarred forever."

Canadian woman: No memory of hitting moose

NORRIS ARM, Newfoundland, May 13 (UPI) -- A Canadian woman says she has no memory of driving 25 miles down the highway after hitting a moose.

The windshield of Michelle Higgins' car was smashed and the roof was ripped open by the collision, which occurred while she was on her way to work in Gander Monday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

"I can remember pulling into the driveway and my co-workers came out and asked me if I was OK and I said 'Why?' and they said 'Well Michelle you're bleeding and look at your car. I looked at my car and I was devastated," Michelle Higgins told the CBC Friday.

"The roof was like a sardine can. I thought, 'this is impossible.'

"I know my head did take a good impact and my forehead has a scuff mark that we are thinking may have been caused by the moose's hoof."

She said Sunday not only doesn't she remember the episode, she's surprised no one reported seeing her severely damaged car as she tooled along the Trans-Canada highway. She wonders if she was driving "like some sort of lunatic."

The Norris Arm, central Newfoundland, resident was badly bruised and fractured two neck bones.

The moose died.

Bronze Age boat replica sinks

DOVER, England, May 13 (UPI) -- A replica of a Bronze Age boat created by British craftsmen and archaeologists failed to float when it was launched, officials said.

Crowds gathered in Dover Saturday to watch the launching of the replica boat, Kent Online reported.

The team that built the boat worked on it for several months using the same tools and methods employed during the Bronze Age 3,500 years ago.

However, before a team of rowers boarded the vessel, it began to sink. The boat started listing minutes after it was lowered into the Dover Marina and had to be hoisted back out.

Archaeologist Peter Clark, who has led the project, said the team will continue its efforts to come up with a usable boat.

"We are hopeful that we can think again and make the boat good," he said. "We have come an awfully long way in the past three and a half months and we think we are nearly there."

U.S. surfer's record big wave certified

LONDON, May 12 (UPI) -- The 78-foot wave American surfer Garrett McNamara rode off the Portugal coast last year put him in the record books, Guinness World Records says.

The London-based record-keeping organization said in a release on its Web site this week it had confirmed the wave the 44-year-old Hawaiian successfully negotiated in November at Nazare, Portugal, was the biggest ever surfed.

McNamara, a professional big-wave surfer, bested the record Mike Parsons had held since 2008 by more than a foot. Parsons' big wave had reared up at Cortes Bank in Southern California.

"It's the most challenging, dangerous wave I've ever surfed -- it's the only place in the world in which a giant canyon reaches all the way to the beach," Guinness quoted McNamara as saying of his epic ride.

McNamara needed a pull from a personal watercraft to get into his big wave. The record for largest wave surfed unassisted by a tow is held by Shane Dorian, who successfully paddled out to his ride on a wave measured at 57 feet at a break known as "Jaws" off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, in March 2011.