Susanne Dunlap's Blog, page 3

Publication Day for THE PARIS AFFAIR!

Yes, it’s finally the day! The book is available everywhere books are sold. This is the third in my Theresa Schurman historical mystery series. That makes it an actual series (a first for me).

Here’s what it’s about:

Apparently, false rumors are all the fashion in Paris in 1783.

Marie Antoinette is facing hostility from the populace, inflamed by rumors circulated in pamphlets throughout Paris. The rumors claim that she has dozens of lovers, drinks the blood of poor people, holds satanic masses a...

Two weeks until the launch of THE Paris Affair!

The Paris Affair
It always seems so far away, and then suddenly, it's here. I wish there could be wild parties and warm and friendly get-togethers, but alas, that's not possible. I'll do my best with an online presentation on September 29 at 7pm. Send me a message to get the Zoom info.

Also, I'll be going on a blog tour organized by the marvelous Amy Philips Bruno! The tour starts on September 30 and goes until October 23. More information here.

Don't forget to sign up for the Goodreads Giveaway too!

And here's a little something for you: The first line of the book:

No one was more surprised than I was to find myself in Paris at the end of October, 1783, working as a bookkeeper for queen Marie Antoinette’s milliner, and living in a whorehouse.

So far, the advance reviews are looking good :). More information coming soon!

On Re-Discovering A Room of One’s Own

There it was. A lovely, brand new edition, lying on the shelf of the first bookshop I’d been able to browse since the beginning of the pandemic. I’d just ambled up from an outdoor brunch, iPad in tow to do a little writing, reveling in the glorious early fall day and thankful that I could get out and about. I bought it, of course. My old, dog-eared copy had been long lost in a move to New York from London thirty-four years ago. I’d probably read it online since then. But right at that moment, on...

One month to release of THE PARIS AFFAIR

These days, I’m so busy it hardly seems possible that I’ll be able to launch The Paris Affair on September 29th. I was thinking I would reflect today on what it means to launch a book in this strange time of COVID-19. For, even though I was already working from home, everything has felt different for months. It’s hard to explain why, but I imagine many of you reading this know what I mean.

Planning has been both harder and easier. All the in-person events I’d counted on—especially my local bookstore launch appearance—are out the window. I was also really hoping to be able to visit schools this time to introduce high schoolers to the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. He has definitely been one of the most fascinating historical characters who has ever appeared in my novels. But of course, schools will be lucky just to figure out how do do the regular learning this fall.

Yet many of the efforts I would normally be undertaking are still possible. That’s largely because so much book promotion already takes place online. Only the major publishers could afford to send their writers on actual book tours, for instance. Still, planned appearances at readings in venues such as the gorgeous studio at Writers In Progress, won’t be possible.

But I’ve done my best, and so far, this is what it looks like:

My stay-at-home book launch plan

The Paris Affair is available for Netgalley reviews, now through September

It’s always good to have advance reviews of one’s book. Netgalley lets people who sign up (it’s free) request e-books to read and review—free.

Virtual launch party on Zoom, September 29

I was disappointed not to be able to see local readers and writer friends at my lovely local bookshop on September 30, Broadside Bookshop. Broadside hosted the launch of my very first historical novel, Émilie’s Voice, and has sold many copies of The Mozart Conspiracy.

I decided that, rather than have an awkward virtual get-together where people ask me questions about the book, I’d turn it into a visual presentation about the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. I can even share some of his music over Zoom, I think! I’ll test it out beforehand. If you want to come, it’s at 7pm EDT on September 29. Email me to RSVP and get the Zoom details.

Blog tour, starting September 30
I’ll be “visiting” more than a dozen book blogs who will review, interview me, or put up a guest post. To follow along, make sure you’re following me on Facebook, Twitter, or here to order from your chosen e-book provider.

I hope to see many of you at my virtual launch party, and interact with you online often. You have no idea how much I appreciate my readers and writer friends. Writing books is a lonely business. Knowing you’re all out there makes me feel it’s all worthwhile.

One Month to the Launch of THE PARIS AFFAIR

These days, I’m so busy it hardly seems possible that I’ll be able to launch The Paris Affair on September 29th. I was thinking I would reflect today on what it means to launch a book in this strange time of COVID-19. For, even though I was already working from home, everything has felt different for months. It’s hard to explain why, but I imagine many of you reading this know what I mean.

Planning has been both harder and easier. All the in-person events I’d counted on—especially my local books...

Writing life in the time of Covid—and the weirdest summer ever

I admit, it's been a challenging five months.

First, I want to just say I'm so grateful that my family is healthy during this time, and I hope you are all similarly fortunate. I know many people who have been affected by both illness and tragic loss. This virus is not to be taken lightly.

Now, on to the book-related stuff.

Looking back...

For me, the enforced isolation has been both a frustration and a gift. It's been a frustration because so many of the things I'd planned to do as I launched my business as a book coach (in February) and prepared for a book launch (September 29) went out the window.

The conference I was going to attend was canceled. I had great plans to hand out business cards and talk about book coaching—as well as to get to know other writers face to face and learn their strategies for writing and promoting books. Now, I have a full box of business cards I'd had printed that are basically obsolete.

I had also planned to be really smart about preparing to launch the third in my historical mystery series, The Paris Affair. In addition to the usual efforts (blog tour, Netgalley, giveaways, guest posts, social media shares), I was going to contact all the local schools about coming to give a presentation.

A presentation? Why?

Here's the thing about my YA historical fiction: I always try to shed some light on societal issues and wrongs in it, to create adventures and engaging characters that also teach something important about the history they're set in. Of course, as a music historian, I lace in plenty of information about my violinist Theresa's activities in the time of Haydn and Mozart. But I also try to go beyond that.

In The Musician's Daughter, it was the persecution of the Romany people in Vienna and Hungary in the 18th century. In The Mozart Conspiracy, it was the restrictions on Jews in Vienna, and the role of the Masonic movement in perpetuating the preeminence of affluent white Christian men.

My topic in The Paris Affair is simply to show that not only were there Black people in Paris in the 18th century, but also that one of them—the violinist and swordsman Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges—had an illustrious career and was connected to the highest echelons of society.

In fact, it's become a bit of an obsession of mine to dig up everything I can about this extraordinary individual, known as "The Black Mozart" by many. But that is just the tip of an iceberg.



The research—it's why I do it, basically.

Discovering the chevalier led me to researching more about Black people in France and Europe during the 18th century. Our European history, it happens, is quite white washed. Those of you who follow me on my Facebook author page, on Twitter, or on Instagram have probably seen my posts about the regulations that governed people of color in France from the 17th through the 18th centuries. Caribbean landowners brought their slave servants with them when they visited or returned to France to the point that one document asserts that Black slaves were overrunning Paris. No doubt an exaggeration, but given how few Blacks are represented in the art and documents of the era, still surprising.

In the U.S. at least, we don't think of France as a country that had so much to do with slavery, unless we're studying the rebellion in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) and Toussaint L'Ouverture. But France was the third largest slave-trading country (behind Britain and Portugal) in the 18th century, supplying its lucrative possessions in the Caribbean with slaves to meet the demands of the comparatively wealthy Europeans for sugar, coffee, indigo, and more.

Joseph Bologne was an exception, not the rule

I won't go into detail here about all the restrictions placed on imported slaves, or dispel the myth that France abolished slavery in the 17th century. In fact, Louis XV bought a slave for his mistress, Madame du Barry, and there is evidence that even though it was prohibited there, slaves were bought and sold in France itself.

But the chevalier did not come to France as a slave. He was the son of a prosperous landowner and a fifteen-year-old Senegalese slave who had been his wife's maid. There's little to no information about how the wife felt about this, but the elder Bologne gave his only son every advantage of education, bringing both Joseph and his mother to France when Joseph was 10. He had the best schooling, and lived in luxury. Joseph had a stipend from his father of eight-thousand Livres a year as an adult—a very handsome sum.

Needless to say, I could go on and on. You'll find more information about the chevalier in the Author's Note at the end of The Paris Affair. But I was really, really looking forward to introducing him to high school students in the area. Of course, our teachers are simply trying to figure out how to serve the students in this time of remote learning so that no one is left behind. I applaud them, and value them.



Looking forward...

The limitations of enforced isolation have necessitated finding more creative ways to connect with readers and writers—my tribe. That was the gift.

Like the rest of the world, I embraced Zoom as the platform where I could continue to teach my writing workshops through Writers In Progress. I was also fortunate that my book coaching business was already a work-from-home proposition, with Zoom coaching calls to work with clients all over the country and the world.

But I missed the opportunity to just talk to other writers, to sit one-on-one with them and exchange thoughts and ideas. So I took the leap into podcasting, discovering that there were no podcasts dedicated to historical fiction. I confess, it's been a blast. And it has achieved my goal. I now have much more meaningful connections with everyone I've interviewed for this podcast. I hope that—if you're interested—you'll subscribe to It's Just Historical on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts. It's also my way of helping other historical novelists raise their profiles just a little.


Which brings me to the subject of my upcoming book launch.

My original plan was to have a fun event with refreshments and wine and music at Broadside Bookshop in Northampton, MA—my local bookstore. Obviously, that's not going to happen.

Instead, I will have a Zoom event on Tuesday evening, September 29th, at 7pm.

Sigh. More Zoom, you say. But I'm hoping to both feed my need to educate and liven things up a little by giving a brief presentation about the very Joseph Bologne I've introduced above. If I can figure out a way to play recorded music over Zoom, I'll treat you to some of his compositions. If not, there will be links...

The benefit of this arrangement is, of course, that you don't have to travel to Northampton to come! All you have to do is respond to this email by clicking the link above (don't worry, I'll send a reminder closer to the day) and I'll send you out the necessary Zoom information to join me that evening.

And in lieu of book signing, I'll also send signed book plates to anyone who gives me their mailing address.

All right, I've gone on long enough. Thank you, if you've managed to wade through this far! I promise my next email will be devoted just to information about the book launch.

In the meantime, I hope you and yours continue in good health and sanity. I hope to "see" you on September 29th!

Podcasting is fun. Who knew?

I’ve been thinking about podcasting for many months. I haven’t done anything about it until recently because I’ve been so busy with other things, and I wasn’t up for another learning curve.

That all changed when I attended Jenny Blake’s 3-hour webinar, The (HE)art of Podcasting. She demonstrated everything, from equipment to software to the life of an episode. What really clinched it for me, however, was the Descript software. There are a few oddities about it, but it’s basically very easy. It t...

Interview with Michelle Cameron, author of BEYOND THE GHETTO GATES

Michelle Cameron and I have been comrades in historical-fiction arms since she published her first book The Fruit of Her Hands. I went to a few of her book events in New York and we cheered each other on as we struggled to break out. We’ve both found our different ways back to publishing and managed to bring out books that are near and dear to our hearts.

Michelle talked to me about her new book, Beyond the Ghetto Gates that explores a fascinating, little-appreciated period in Napoleonic history...

Interview with Donna Russo Morin, author of GILDED DREAMS

So many wonderful books have come out during this time of pandemic. There have been heroic efforts to salvage book tours and help get the word out, most notably by Caroline Leavitt and Jenna Blum’s A Mighty Blaze. I’m doing my own small effort to lift up some of my historical novelist friends whose books have recently come out—in particular those who don’t have massive publishing might behind them because they’re either with a small press or indie published.

The first one I have for you is the l...

Thoughts on writing about an 18th-century black violinist

These days are tough, no question about it. It’s a time to raise the voices of people of color, hear their stories and listen to their pain. I fervently believe that #blacklivesmatter. But as much as I empathize with those who face personal and systemic racism every day, I’ll never be able to understand what it truly feels like, deep in my soul.

I’m a privileged white woman. Why did I write a black violinist into my book?

I have an answer to that question, but let me step back a moment. A major ...