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10 Creepy Facts About this Real World City of the Dead

All photos in this post were taken by Stephanie Carroll unless otherwise specified.




Colma, California is a city of more people dead than alive. It is where most of San Francisco buries their dead, and it’s the setting of my short story “Forget Me Not” (read an excerpt) originally published in Legacy:An Anthology. So how did the city come to be? Just in time for Halloween, here’s 10 Creepy Facts About this Real World City of the Dead plus a ton of pictures from my visit:



1. The History:

According to the Colma Historical Association, on March 26, 1900, the city and county of San Francisco passed an ordinance prohibiting any further burials in the city. By the 1880's San Francisco already had 26 cemeteries all of which were filling up fast. There was a fear that they would run out of room because the 1849 gold rush brought thousands out west along with disease and a high death rate.

Then on January 14, 1914, San Francisco sent out eviction notices to everyone with deceased relatives buried in city limits. Many of the these graves were relocated to Colma, which is just south of San Francisco. Colma was a popular choice because it had easy access by rail, road and street car. For those who could not afford the $10 reburial fee, their relatives were reburied in mass unmarked graves.


  



2. Colma was founded as a Necropolis in 1924 for fear of future evictions of the deceased.

3. Colma has at least 17 cemeteries.

4. According to a New York Times article, as of 2016, Colma had about 1,600 living residents and about 1.5 million dead ones.

5. Funereal Processions cause the worst traffic jams in Colma, so town residents receive phone blast messages to warn them when to expect delays due to the number of expected mourners.

6. Famous inhabitants include but are not limited to:
William Randolph Hearst - his family's Greek-inspired mausoleum is surrounded by 16 ionic columns but is oddly unmarked.Wyatt Earp - often has American flags surrounding his tombstone.Levi Strauss - you know like Levi Jeans. Possibly William Randolph Hurst's???Joe DiMaggio - visitors often leave bats leaned up against the headstone.Abigail Folger - you know like the coffee, oh, and the Manson victim.Phineas Gage - a man who in 1848 had a tamping iron blow through his skull and brain after an explosion and lived to tell the tale. His body is in Colma, but his head, along with the tamping iron, are at Harvard Medical School, according to the Smithsonian website. Tina Turner's DOG - wrapped in her fur coat. This brings me too ... 7. Yes. There is a pet cemetery. According to another New York Times article "Colma, California, a Town of 2.2 Square Miles, Most of it 6 Feet Deep," plots at the Pets Rest Cemetery and Crematory are in high demand, ranging from $550 to $850. Those on a budget opt for cremation, starting at $130.

Not the pet cemetery.




8. The city is often called "The City of the Silent" or "The City of Souls."

9. Residents, although few, have embraced their "death heritage" and have a lighthearted approach to death. Most businesses in the town are funeral related. Wedding pictures and even ceremonies sometimes take place at some of the cemetery lawns or within their chapels. 
10. This lightheartedness is ever present in their town motto: "It's Great to Be Alive in Colma!"

Bonus:
11. Colma has multiple cemeteries that are for specific religions and nationalities including Chinese, Jewish and Italian.



SUPER BONUS: 

12. The Angel of Grief:

The Angel of Grief is a common funerary statue replicated from the original carved by the American sculptor William Wetmore Story, which serves as his and his wife's headstone in a Protestant Church in Rome. The statue in Colma's Cypress Lawn Memorial Park is for Jennie Roosevelt Pool, Theodore Roosevelt's cousin.

I absolutely adore this statue and really wanted to see it, but the cemetery was so big (with a major street running through it) that it took my husband and I over an hour to find it. Really, it just took us over an hour to realize that the cemetery continued on other side of the like 6 or 8-laned street.

The statue is gorgeous but sadly missing several of its fingers and surprisingly quaint in comparison to the giant statues, pyramids, mausoleums, columned sculptures and headstones throughout.

You can see her fingers are broken off the dangling hand.




Me checking out the monument while holding the
Legacy: An Anthology book which has my story set in Colma, California.





I expected to be able to see her from afar but truth be told, she is one of the smaller monuments in this particular necropolis.Any interesting facts about Colma you can add to the list?

The Ghosts of Lady Leonora Tankerville & Chillingham Castle - WIP

Chillingham Castle via Flickr ccI’m pretty darn excited about what I’m working on now that the Binding of Saint Barbara is done (although there's still the production phase). I’ve had a story in my head for a while now about a Victorian/Gilded Age American heiress being married off to a seemingly boring English aristocrat and then being wooed by someone else via letter – a mystery man; a phantom! It's Downton Abbey meets Phantom of the Opera. All I needed was some history suitable for this - and yes this is a new tactic for me, coming up with the story and matching it to a history discovered later.
Now before I tell you about this history, a little backstory: If you’ve been following my blog/ newsletter for a while, you might recall a Halloween or two back, I tried to write a Gothic novella in a month. I succeeded, but the story was so rushed, I kind of put it to the side until I could figure out what to do with it. Well I was thinking of taking the parts of it that I like and meshing them with this new story. As you may remember, the main character in that novella was named Lorena.

Okay, back to the story of finding the history for my story.

Lady Leonora Tankerville, formerly
Leonora Sophie Van MarterSo I was looking through this awesome nonfiction book called  To Marry an English Lord , which contains an appendix just listing American heiresses who married English nobility during the Gilded Age (it was kind of a trend in the nouveau riche circles). I was searching for someone who married around my desired time frame and someone who married an Earl and there she was: Leonora Sophie Van Marter. 
Her name is Leonora and my main character's name was Lorena! That seemed like a sign, so I looked up her history and whoa! It just so happens she lived in what is considered to be one of the most haunted castles in England!!!
Leonora Van Marter married Lord Ossultan who later became the Earl of Tankerville. His seat was Chillingham Castle in Northumberland. It wasn’t the man but the castle that really interested me. This place is dreary! 
Chillingham Castle is also in the middle of moorland and heath, which was something I had really wanted in the Gothic novella. It’s also a legitimately scary place—considered haunted with good reason!

It’s located near the Scotland border and was a strategic fortress during many horrific border feuds during the medieval period. It was a key location during the fighting with the Scottish army and William Wallace (i.e. Brave Hart) in the 1290s, and Wallace murdered the women and children of the aristocratic family (the Greys) seated in the castle at the time by burning them alive. It was also the location of countless horrific torturing and murdering of people for various reasons. Even members of the nobility (the Greys again) seated in this castle were horribly tortured and killed by each other when they split loyalties between the Lancastrians and Yorkists in the 1300s. Sir Ralph Grey (Lancastrian) actually ordered that his own son be draw and quartered alive along with various other family members.
The stories of hauntings and ghosts are numerous and include a blue flashing light that appeared before a spot in the wall, which turned out to have a young boy in blue clothing buried inside. Oh and the amount of times people have found bones buried in floors and walls all around the castle is insane! There’s tales of a woman walking out of the paintings and of another woman appearing inside a locked pantry asking for water (some believe she was poisoned). There are tons and tons of stories surrounding this castle, several of which were experienced by Leonora herself.
But here’s where things get really exciting for me as a novelist considering all of this for a story … I kept reading all of these ghost stories, and it turns out the person who wrote them all down for our modern-day reference was none other than Leonora Van Marter after she had become Lady Leonora Tankerville! 
And if you are a subscriber to my newsletter, you can read her writings yourself so if you haven't already, JOIN MY JOURNEY TODAY!!! (Only 4 Emails a Year!)

A spectacularly interesting history, which of course is going to inspire and amazingly interesting story. =)  

How I Found My Agent & How Twitter Helped

Big News!                                                                                                 I have some exciting news!!!! I’ve received publisher interest for The Binding of Saint Barbara, and I have officially signed with a literary agent, Cate Hart of Corvisiero Literary Agency! Hip, hip, hurray!!!!
A Little about Cate Hart and Corvisiero Literary Agency: Corvisiero Literary is a growing boutique agency, which means they are small enough to give their clients more attention but big enough to still negotiate great deals for their authors.  Cate Hart of Corvisiero Literary Agency
You can follow Corvisiero on Twitter and Facebook.
Cate Hart has experience as an author and editor and uses that knowledge to help her clients grow in their careers for the long term. She loves the Gilded Age and magical realism, making her a perfect fit for my craziness. I'm so excited to be working with her! 
You can find Cate on Twitter, Facebook, or on her website.
How Do You Get an Agent Exactly?Getting here involved getting rejected ... a lot! In fact, I received so many rejections that I can’t even guess at the number. I freely chose not to keep track. So what was the "big break" as they call it? Believe it or not, it actually began on Twitter. 
The Pitch & The Twitter PitchAgent submissions are done via an emailed pitch letter called a query, but there has become a recent trend of holding “pitch events” on Twitter. A variety of agencies, writers, and bloggers hold these events, and they work like this: on such and such day, you can pitch using Twitter's 140 character-format (a challenge not unlike the elevator pitch) and using the event hashtag (#PitMad for example) plus genre hashtags (#HF for historical fiction).

If an agent is interested based on your Twitter pitch, he or she "Hearts" it, which is Twitter's version of a "Like." The agents generally Tweet instructions for how to pitch them if they heart your pitch. More detailed instructions are available at each Twitter Pitch event's homepage but that’s the gist. 
Now, this is something I was doing in addition to the regular agent submission process, but it felt more efficient because you don't have to pitch blind. You only pitch those who have already shown interest. Nevertheless, my finding Cate wasn't that easy. 
When a Publisher Makes an Offer Before an AgentFirst, I received a heart from a small publisher and after sending my official email pitch and the manuscript for review, I was made an offer. I could have just signed with the publisher without an agent, but a big part of an agent's job is negotiating contracts, so they are generally better at getting good terms.

Plus, my interest in an agent is a little more long-term. Many agents also serve as partners in the literary process, from creation to signed deal. That was the kind of person I was looking for because I'm in this for the long-haul, and I was looking for someone who could help me navigate the industry. With a small publisher interested, that gave me an advantage with agents because it shows the manuscript is attractive enough to garner interest. 
So I then contacted the agents I had already submitted to and informed them of this offer. This is common and polite practice in the industry. I also queried a few new agents who I thought might be interested and informed them up front that I already had an offer. Cate Hart of Corvisiero was among this group, and she loved the book! 
After that, Cate contacted me and set up a good time for a phone call to make sure we were compatible. I had to do another round of informing other agents that I had an offer. Again, this isn't just an advantage, but also a polite courtesy, as agents really don't like it if they get interested in a manuscript and call the author only to learn that the author already signed with someone else. We hashed out the final terms, I signed, and now I have representation! 
How Long did it Take to Get an Agent?This is something I remember looking into myself, and I remember finding a lot of posts that made it sound like so and so sent out one query or was looking for only a month before they found an agent, but I have a suspicion that those people may have only been referring to their most recent round of pitches because most people try for a really long time. For example if I just started with the Twitter part and didn't mention all the rest of my efforts, it might seem like it came easy but that's so not the whole story.
So I have multiple answers to the question: How long did it take? From the time I started writing my first book: 9 yearsFrom the time I started writing my second book (the one the agent is interested in): 7 yearsFrom the time I started pitching the second book: 6 months to 1 year.From time of Twitter Pitch: 2-3 months From time I received agent offer: Little over 1 month.  I was surprised by the time it took after I got the agent offer. I really was imagining I'd sign in a week or something but I had no idea how the time adds up when you have to inform the other agents who you've submitted to and meticulously go over the contract with the assistance of a legal professional.

So What Happens Next?
It means we are one step closer to getting The Binding of Saint Barbara in your hands! Hip Hip Hurray!!!! Cate will start by talking with the publisher who showed interest and a few others until we work out some terms and sell the book. Once it’s sold, we will get to work on getting it out to the readers—that’s you!!! Yay!!!! 
In other words, we are one step closer but there is still more work to be done, so … I’ll keep you updated!

What Happens at a Historical Novel Society Conference?

The Historical Novel Society Conference in Portland, Oregon 2017I've been talking about the Historical Novel Society Conference in Portland for over a year now, so I wanted to let you know how it went. 
It was a really exciting event for me because ever since I attended my first writers’ conference in San Francisco in 2012, I’ve wanted to be one of those authors talking on a panel. I’ve done plenty of readings, public speaking, and even teaching, but this was my first time on panels! 
View from the Portland HiltonIt was a really neat experience because I didn’t just get invited to be on a panel, I also proposed a Victorian/Gilded Age panel and invited authors to speak on it with me. Also, the authors I got to speak with were really talented and award-winning. Some of them I knew and some I knew of. It’s always awesome to get to meet and work with a successful author in your area.
Myself (far left), Kate Forsyth (middle) and moderator Anna Limbrick (right)
on the Fairy Tale, Magical Realism, and Paranormal Panel.
I highly recommend all of their books, and if you like my stuff then you will also like theirs: I spoke on a Fairy Tale, Magical Realism and Paranormal panel with Kate Forsyth and Leanna Renee Hieber, and I spoke on a Victorian panel with Nicole Evelina, Amanda McCabe and again Leanna Renee Hieber. It was a real honor to get to speak with all of them. I also want to give a big thank you and shout out to author Susan McDuffie and Anna Limbrick for moderating.
In addition to the panels, I also got to meet and learn from tons of new and experienced authors. These conferences are always so inspiring and just make you feel connected to the industry.
Some highlights: 


The conference opened up to the public on Saturday for a massive book signing event!

I got to visit the famous Powell's Books but I was so tired once we got there that we didn't stay long.
They had a fantastic workshop called Hooch through History, which was a big hit! I hope to get some more info about this topic up on my blog in the future because I just love it!
In the photo you can see the gin martini (center), an empty
Bellini (left) and in the far upper right corner, absinthe.And finally to finish things off, a Masquerade Ball and lessons in the Regency Era card game Whist.
The local Jane Austen Society taught whist and Regency Era dancing on the final night. Regency Dancing
And Regency costumes!
All in all, it was a really fun time and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do it!
Author Nicole Evelina (left) and myself (right).

If you have a question about Writer's Conferences or the Historical Novel Society Conference, feel free to post a comment.

Victorian Houses of the Pacific Northwest

Last I wrote, we had arrived in Washington in our animal-stuffed RV and were in pursuit of employment and we still are. It’s only been two months since our arrival, but it feels like it’s been six or maybe ten. Nevertheless, we have faith that God has a plan for us here and we are just waiting for him to reveal it. 
In the meantime we’ve been taking advantage of the amazing Washington weather and doing free things in nature like visiting parks and whatnot. However, if you’ve been following me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you may have also noticed all the pretty Victorian houses, which I’m also including here with a few more details. I wish I could include a detailed history of all these locations, but I just don't have the time, so instead I'm linking each location to said history in case you wish to explore a little more.

Also please note that every house pictured below may not be considered a Victorian. I also included fun houses and other neat locations. Mostly Victorians though.

Bellingham, Washington












It's like a stairway to a secret garden!
Raja chillin'.


La Conner, Washington

Above and below are a couple pictures of the downtown area which is crazy cute.


This is just a cute coffee shop my husband
and I used for wifi while in La Conner. Super cute but not Victorian.
Another view of the coffee shop.

This house was clearly renovated and not sure about it's date but so cute!

Not sure when this was built but look at the crown molding below!

 Blaine, Washington




Cute!!!

This house might not look super Victorian but it has
 a plaque stating that it dates back to 1902 as pictured below.

Lynden, Washington This house caught my eye because it's purple
and has a bronze painted tower in the back as pictured below.




Admiralty Head Lighthouse at
Fort Casey on Whidbey Island
This misty photo was taken while leaving Fort Casey
but it's definitely Whidbey Island.


They were closed by the time we got there (whoops)
but I got a pic of the spiral staircase through the window, just for you!
Coupeville (a picturesque town on Whidbey Island)
Notice the sign to the right. It's for sale!!!


It's a BNB!


Also a BNB.

Is that another for sale sign? Ooooo!

Hope you enjoyed these Victorians! 

What Early Readers Are Saying About The Binding of Saint Barbara

Before I get to the feedback, I'd like to give you a brief update on the status of The Binding of Saint Barbara. It is finished and ready to begin the publishing process but for various reasons I am attempting to pitch to agents and publishers before going directly to indie publishing again. Unfortunately, the process of pitching agents and editors is can take a lot of time, so I'm still in the waiting phase. I'll keep you updated on social media and via the newsletter so make sure you are subscribed or follow me.

Now for early reader feedback:
Jennifer Kincheloe"Stephanie Carroll spins a mesmerizing tale of love, captivity, the power of death, and the depths of memory. This is a vivid, fascinating, thought-provoking book. I couldn't put it down and can't wait to read it again." —Jennifer Kincheloe, award winning author of The Secret Life of Anna Blanc and The Woman in the Camphor Trunk. 
It’s a book that I would read again and again. It was a page turner. It’s one of those books that when I sit down to read it, I get frustrated when I have to stop and do something else. —Laura Jones   
… right around the 50% mark it picked up like an avalanche and I couldn’t put it down. I finished the whole second half in one night. … I loved the gothic atmosphere and the historical events. I love learning about things I don’t know about. —Nicole Evelina, award winning author of Madame Presidentess and other novels.Nicole Evelina
I really enjoyed the story itself, very unusual to what I normally read. I liked that it filled multiple genres: mystery, fantasy, coming of age. . . . I was swept up into the story half way through the first chapter. –Krystal Andersen Allison Hiltz
I liked that The Binding of Saint Barbara adds dimension to a dark topic, allowing the reader to circle around the moral complexities of the nation’s first electrocution without forcing a particular reaction. —Allison Hiltz, founder of The Book Wheel Blog & The 30 Authors Event and Candidate for Aurora City Council.
Stephanie Carroll's ability to portray Victorian characters never fails to impress, and her portrayal of the historical events leading up to the controversial first death by electrocution was nothing less than gripping all the way up to the final heart-wrenching moments. –Rene Miller Parades, Instructor of History, West Hills College 

[Stephanie] did such a great job with [the villain]. I really fell for it. I thought he was genuine and then WHAM! He’s such a sick bastard and you are so talented for making him so twisted! (Actually, I may be a little afraid of you now.) —Nicole Evelina, award winning author of Madame Presidentess and other novels.

THE BINDING OF SAINT BARBARA  (In Progress)

Inspired by and set amidst one of the most controversial decisions in American history—the first death by electrocution—The Binding of Saint Barbara follows the story of the people who came to know, fear, and love the condemned ax-murderer during the year he awaited his death in Auburn Prison in 1890 New York.
Charlotte Durston hasn’t stepped outside the walls of the castle-like fortress of Auburn Prison since she was a child. Her overprotective father, the warden, makes sure everything she needs is provided, so she has no need to go out nor does she have a need to interact with the inmates until now. At seventeen, she is desperate for a normal life and for people to treat her like an adult. Her parents agree to send her to Bernard College in Manhattan where she can have a proper coming out in society, but first she must prove she is responsible and can manage herself even around the worst sort of people.
Her father tasks her with ministering to the newest inmate, the first man condemned to the electric chair. However, in an effort to impress the man she loves, Guard Daniel McNaughton, Charlotte gets too close to the cell, and the prisoner reaches through the bars and strangles her until she loses consciousness. The trauma should have ended when Daniel pried the prisoner’s fingers from her throat, but from then on, Charlotte is plagued by panic attacks intermingled with flashes of memory—someone leading her through a lightning storm in the middle of the night.
Charlotte is still determined to leave her cloistered life and begs for another chance, but the next inmate she meets not only has information that could determine the outcome of the electrocution appeal and save the man who tried to kill her, he also knows something about Charlotte, a secret about a lightning storm that happened over ten years ago. As the memories become ever more vivid, Charlotte realizes that night is the answer to why she cannot break free from her prison and that it must hold the key to her escape.
Experience one of the most controversial decisions in American history – the world’s first death by electrocution – through the eyes of those who witnessed it and the man who endured it.
Incorporating historical newspaper articles and the battle between Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla—Stephanie Carroll mesmerizes readers by interweaving history and intrigue to create a seamless exploration of the good and evil in us all.
A Little More About the Characters  in The Binding of Saint Barbara

Experience one of the most controversial decisions in American history – the world’s first death by electrocution – through the eyes of those who witnessed it and the man who endured it.
Charlotte Durston is a prisoner in New York’s Auburn Prison – but she isn’t a criminal, she’s the warden’s daughter. Under the thumb of highly moralistic parents, she hasn’t stepped outside the walls of the castle-like fortress since she was a child. It’s for her protection, or so they say, but at 17, Charlotte is desperate for a normal life in the adult world. In order to prove herself, she sets about ministering to the newest inmate, the first man condemned to the electric chair, a good deed she will come to sorely regret.
Guard Daniel McNaughton sees everything from his post outside Kemmler’s cell. Though slowly falling for the one woman he’s forbidden to love, he can’t deny the oddness of Charlotte’s bloody fingers or the ghosts in her eyes, nor can he turn a blind eye to the unsavory advances of one of the inmates toward her. He is also all too aware of the war within the warden’s family and the battle going on in Kemmler’s soul. As he fights to help the condemned man find salvation, Daniel also confronts his own weaknesses, praying to find the strength and steel to protect those he loves. 
William Kemmler is the first man to walk through the prison’s gates who will not leave again. Fighting an addiction to alcohol, a looming death sentence and his own personal demons, he unwittingly sets off a chain of events that not only determines his chances at redemption, but leads Charlotte down a dark path of visions and panic attacks intermingled with flashes of memory that may or may not be real, causing everyone around her to question her sanity.
Warden Charles Durston is posed to make history when as the first warden to oversee an electrocution, but a terrible secret from his past haunts him as he fights for the legality of this so-called “humane” method of execution. 
Inmate Michael Bradley is a survivor. Struck by lightning as a boy, he is more than he seems. This two-bit con man has information that could determine the outcome of the electrocution appeal and knows something about Charlotte, a secret that is key to why she can’t break free from her prison. As the only person that holds the key to her escape, he wields more power than anyone suspects – a position he intends to use to his full advantage.

Gertrude Durston, has spent her life serving the less fortunate within the cold stone walls of Auburn Prison, and she has gained a level of authority she values more than she even realizes, but she is ready to risk it all. She is so determined to save William Kemmler's soul that she is ready to sacrifice anything, including her marriage and public ridicule by breaking a prisoner out of Auburn Prison so he can testify on Kemmler's behalf.
The actions of these individuals will not only change the course of history but the course of each of their lives.
Read about the history of the first death by electrocution!
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Join Me on an RV Adventure through History!

Our lab Raja in the RV.
She loves the captain seat.
This video is the first of many that my husband and I have been making in preparation for our RV adventure, which will involve us visiting a variety of locations that are of significance to Gilded Age & Victorian history up the west coast from Southern California to the Northern part of Washington. We are doing this as a fun part of us moving from Cali to Washington.

However, we don't like to do things in the most easiest or normal ways, so instead we got a used RV and renovated it. This video is a walk-through that shows you the before renovation. If you want to skip ahead, this video is linked to 17 more videos detailing the renovation and moving process. I'm going to share more of these videos in the coming weeks on this blog and my Unhinged Historian blog, but not every single one because I think our adventure in history is going to be of more interest to you.

Still, I want to get you caught up on what's been going on and what we've been doing for the last year because it's why you haven't heard much from me as of late.

Also, here is a little timeline to help you keep track of what's going on:

Picture from a trip to Northern WashingtonApril 2016
My husband decided to leave his job, and we realized it was the first time he wasn't in the military and wasn't tied down to a job, so we could actually go wherever  we  wanted (which we've never done in our entire adult lives). After much discussion of climate, culture and nearby family members, we chose Northern Washington.

From April to August we did a lot to our house to make it ready to put up for sale while my husband finished up his degree in computer software engineering and I finished up my second novel. At this point, my husband didn't try to get another job in the area where we lived because we had his GI Bill while he attended college. Besides, we expected to leave relatively soon, so he didn't feel it was ethical to start a new job when he would have to quit in a few months.
We completely renovated two bathrooms,
put in a new shower and claw-foot tub. 
August 2016
We listed our house expecting to sell it in a month and head up to Washington by October. My husband had also started the process of applying for jobs in Washington.

September 2016
Nothing. No one wanted the house; we weren't even getting walk-through's and no one had offered my husband a job in Washington despite many phone interviews. We lowered the price of the house, and told ourselves it would be okay but for how long? My husband graduated from college that month, which was great but it meant we no longer would receive a chunk of GI Bill cash that was keeping us from depleting our accounts. I decided to get a job and started doing marketing part time for a small car dealership.

October 2016
Still nothing. We started getting worried. We were just hemorrhaging money. Of course my husband was now actively looking for jobs in Washington and had several companies fly him out for interviews. Unfortunately, it turned out he's at this point in his career where he can move up from being a supervisor to a manager, but he doesn't have enough experience for people to be interested in giving him a full moving package. We lowered our price again. We also started to freak out but just a smidge.

November 2016
Okay, by this point we had started to panic a little. We lowered the price again, and we hoped the end of the election season would end the freeze on house-buying. Apparently, house sales go down around elections of new presidents because people fear things will change radically, especially with the political opponents of 2016. We started to get more views but still very little action.

This was my poor husband after he'd done
a full day of repairs underneath the house.December 2016
The holidays. No one was even looking, and we were really unsure as to how to proceed. We started talking about my husband throwing in the towel and getting a job come the new year. Then suddenly one day somebody literally showed up on our doorstep wanting to buy our house out right, no inspections or anything. We thought we were saved, but then it turned out to be a total low-ball and the individual refused to negotiate.

January 2017
Right after the low-ball experience and right after Christmas, we got the miracle from Jesus that we were praying for. Someone put in a serious offer, and we went into escrow after lowering our price like five times over six months. It was a really difficult and stressful process because by this point were were seriously almost out of money but we had to pay for various repairs and issues that came up during the inspection process.

February 2017
Nevertheless, we closed escrow February 24, and headed to Southern California to spend a couple of weeks with some of our family before heading up to Washington. Thankfully we got a little money from the sale, so we are no longer freaking out financially and are just praising God and Jesus for getting us through this.

This is where we are at in the process as I'm writing this post so what's next?
This was from right after we signed the escrow papers.
Our Plans for the next few months:
March 2017 
We are going to visit family and make our final adjustments to the RV. Then we will start a two week journey up the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington hitting up beaches, forests, and historical landmarks of interest for the Victorian Era and Gilded Age in America.

I'm super excited and I hope you are too because I'm taking you on this journey with me!!!!!! So stay tuned!!!

Book Review: The Secret Life of Anna Blanc by Jennifer Kincheloe

Official Book DescriptionIt's 1907 Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels—but must disguise them behind covers of more lady-like books. She could match wits with Sherlock Holmes, but in her world women are not allowed to hunt criminals.
Determined to break free of the era's rigid social roles, Anna buys off the chaperone assigned by her domineering father and, using an alias, takes a job as a police matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. There she discovers a string of brothel murders, which the cops are unwilling to investigate. Seizing her one chance to solve a crime, she takes on the investigation herself.
If the police find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding. Midway into her investigation, the police chief's son, Joe Singer, learns her true identity. And shortly thereafter she learns about blackmail.
Anna must choose—either hunt the villain and risk losing her father, fiancé, and wealth, or abandon her dream and leave the killer on the loose.
My ThoughtsI really, really enjoyed The Secret Life of Anna Blanc. It was a fun and an adorable romp into America’s Gilded Age Los Angeles. Author Jennifer Kincheloekept me constantly guessing, smiling, and laughing out loud – for real not just lol style. 
First thing, as a Gilded Age historical novelist myself, I was blown away by the unique history that went into this book, which is based on a real police matron. Kincheloe did a fantastic job of incorporating interesting historical details from turn of the century LA, to the world of crime, to the inner workings of police matrons, to the world of prostitution, to upper class fashion. It all ties back to setting, and I really enjoyed that as most Gilded Age and Victorian novels take place in New York or England - especially for crime and mystery novels. It's rare to get this kind of look at the West Coast without it being a western. 
Kincheloe is also very talented at characterization. The main character Anna Blanc is like a Scarlett O’hara type but even more lovable. I don’t know how, but Kincheloe managed to make naivety, self-absorption, and stubbornness into hilarious and again lovable traits! Anna Blanc is also caring, tenacious, and especially daring. Building a character like this really shows the skill of the author. Supporting characters were also great fun, especially Joe who makes a perfect side-kick and romance. He’s gritty and just a little bit bad. I loved him!
The overall story is exciting and interesting too, not to mention really good at keeping you guessing. I don’t usually go for mysteries or crime novels as I fear they will be predictable, but that was not the case here. In fact this book is making me completely reevaluate my opinions of these types of books because this was so good! I was sure I knew who the bad guy was, or that I had guessed who it was, at least once in my many attempts, but in the end I was still surprised, not only by who but by how it perfectly rounded out the plot. I was also intrigued in the side-plots, from the criminal rapists (not the main murder mystery) to the question of Anna Blanc’s engagement.
But what really made this story shine for me were the little things. The use of language both historical and just in different character’s voices was awesome. I loved that her side-kick, Joe, had this thing for singing and that Anna shouted things like: “Oh biscuits!” and “worse than a rattlesnake cupcake.” Then there was this ongoing thing that Anna would say about “doing what any sensible woman would do in that situation” which would be followed by something utterly hilarious!

I should also mention that I listened to the audio version and the narrator Moira Quirk was quite talented. She did all kinds of voices and accents that brought the story to life.
All in all, I was really impressed with this book and how much fun it was to read/listen to. Jennifer Kincheloe is a master of comedy, character, plot, Gilded Age history, and especially writing. I cannot wait to read the second installment in her Anna Blanc series!
The Secret Life of Anna Blanc is available on Amazon, Audible, and wherever books are sold. Visit Kincheloe's website and join her email list to receive all kinds of unique historical books and goodies.  
About the Author
Jennifer is a research scientist turned writer of historical fiction. Her novels take place in 1900s Los Angeles among the police matrons of the LAPD and combine, mystery, history, humor, and romance. Her debut novel, THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC was a finalist in the Lefty Awards for Best Historical Mystery, The Colorado Author's League Award for Best Genre Fiction, the Macavity Sue Feder Award for Historical Mystery, and is the WINNER of the Colorado Gold for Best Mystery.
Jennifer grew up in Southern California, but has traveled to such places as Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Papua New Guinea. She's been a block layer, a nurse's aid, a fragrance model, and on the research faculty at UCLA, where she spent 11 years conducting studies to inform health policy. Jennifer currently lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two teenagers, two dogs, and a cat.
Visit Jennifer at www.jenniferkincheloe.com@jenkincheloewww.pinterest.com/jrkincheloewww.facebook.com/TheSecretLifeofAnnaBlanc  

Historical Fiction Inspired by The 1872 First Female Presidential Candidate

Did you know that Hilary Clinton is not the first female presidential candidate??? Author Nicole Evelina did, so she wrote a book about it and she re-enacted it, so I couldn't pass up the chance to interview her just in time for the elections!
Interview with historical novelist Nicole Evelina author of Madame Presidentess
Nicole Evelina is a multi-award-winning historical fiction and romantic comedy writer. Her most recent novel, Madame Presidentess, a historical novel about Victoria Woodhull, America’s first female Presidential candidate, was the first place winner in the Women’s US History category of the 2015 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction. She is also the author of romantic comedy Been Searching for You and award-winning historical fiction Daughter of Destiny, the first book of an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of view.https://nicoleevelina.com
Victoria Woodhull is relatively unknown. What inspired you to write about her? How did you find out about her?
I learned about her by seeing a picture of her with an alluring caption on Pinterest, of all places. The caption said, “Known by her detractors as ‘Mrs. Satan,’ Victoria Claflin Woodhull, born in 1838, married at age fifteen to an alcoholic and womanizer. She became the first woman to establish a brokerage firm on Wall Street and played an active role in the woman's suffrage movement. She became the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872. Her name is largely lost in history. Few recognize her name and accomplishments.” I immediately had to know more and began my research. I mean, any woman called “Mrs. Satan” is someone I have to get to know!
Why did you choose to write about her in particular?Not only is Victoria fascinating, but the fact that she’s been nearly forgotten motivated me. As a historical fiction author, I’m attracted to the stories of people, especially women, who are in danger of being lost to the pages of history. Bringing those stories to light and making sure their heroines are remembered by future generations is my personal mission. I wanted to help get Victoria’s name back in the history books where it belongs. I also wanted to help people envision her as a living, breathing person in a way you can’t typically do in a historical text. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that she called my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, home for a while as well – in fact, it is where she met her second husband.
If Victoria were alive today, what do you think she would think of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?I think she would view Hillary as a political daughter of sorts and get along very well with her. Both women are intelligent, ambitious and tenacious. They have both been through extremely personal attacks in the media (the newspapers of Victoria’s day were as vicious as our news media is today), been caught up in family scandal and underestimated because of their sex. I don’t think Hillary’s email scandal would have bothered Victoria in the least because she was accused of blackmail several times throughout her life. (We can’t know if it was ever true of her, but we do know her mother and her sister Polly were serial offenders.)
Having no political background, but a strong reputation in business and a lot of money, I think Victoria could probably relate to Donald Trump more than you might think on first glance. However, she was not one to suffer a fool, so she would not put up with his anti-female, anti-name-the-group rhetoric. She was a suffragist and a Communist (in the sense of being for worker’s rights) so she would tell him where to step off very quickly. She was also surprisingly learned for a woman without much formal education, so she’d be quick to rebuff his emotional attacks with logic and facts. Plus, she was a great speaker and I have no doubt could hold her own in a debate with him.
Tell us How You Got Involved with a Re-Enactment of the 1872 Election?
Nicole Evelina (left) with a Victoria Woodhull reenactor.
The reeenactment was an out of the blue thing for me. I had a booth back in July at a Women’s Expo where I was selling books and I overheard someone mention President Grant, which isn’t something you hear in everyday conversation. So I politely inserted myself into the conversation by mentioning I just learned a lot about him in researching my book about Victoria. It turns out that the woman who make the remark works at Ulysses S. Grant Park here in St. Louis. That was when she told me they were going to hold a re-enactment of the election of 1872, something I later learned was four years in the planning.
Because that’s the election Victoria ran in, I immediately asked if there was anything I could do to help. While their rules prevented me from selling books in the gift shop or on-site, I was asked if I’d like to “campaign” for Victoria – period costume and all. It was so much fun!  They allowed me to give out post cards and talk about my book. And as it turns out, Rebecca Rou, who is filming a documentary about Victoria, saw my tweet about the event, hopped a plane and came out to the event to capture footage.
Read Nicole's blog post on the reenactment for more.

What is the most unusual thing you learned about Victoria in your research?There are a lot of unusual things about her, from her upbringing to her family’s antics (things you couldn’t make up) and her unconventional attitudes toward sex, marriage and the role of women. But what most fascinated me is that she was a Spiritualist and believed she had clairvoyant and healing powers. Victoria’s mother encouraged her and her sister Tennie in this belief and her father used these gifts to make money even when the girls were very young. Victoria maintained her whole life that she was guided by the spirits, especially that of the Greek orator Demosthenes, whom she identified as her spirit guide. She claims he predicted her success in New York as well as her candidacy. She said she consulted the spirits regularly and was even President of the national Spiritualist’s association at one point.
What’s one interesting thing you learned while researching this novel?That the suffrage movement wasn’t all roses and sisterhood like I expected. That was the picture Hollywood and my high school textbooks painted. But the suffrage movement was actually broken into two competing factions in the mid-1800s, the American Womans Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, that endorsed suffrage state by state and were more conservative, and the more radical National Woman Suffrage Association, led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which advocated for federal women’s suffrage. Victoria was a member of the later for several years. In addition to being split ideologically, the women often disagreed and fought with one another more than you would think, penning unflattering articles and messages about one another and speaking out publically against each other. The rift between the two major groups wasn’t mended until 1890, when they joined as the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
How long did it take you to write Madame Presidentess?I did about six months worth of research before writing. The writing itself took about nine months and I edited for another several months. So in total, about a year and a half.

Victoria Woodhull
How closely does your novel mirror history?It’s as close as I could make it without this being creative non-fiction. I’d say it’s about 70% accurate. I made up some secondary characters and one of Victoria’s affairs is fictional (but it was inspired by a rumored affair). Of course, as with all historical fiction, most of the dialog and details are made up, but all of her speeches, courtroom testimony, articles and even a few lines of dialog are taken from historical evidence. We even have descriptions of her home in Murray Hill and her brokerage office. Thanks to the biographers, we also have records of actual words from Cornelius Vanderbilt, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Catharine Beecher and Susan B. Anthony, all of which were used in the novel where possible. The authors notes at the end of the book go into great detail on what is accurate and what is not and why.
What kind of research did you do to make this book come to life?My main references were newspaper articles from the time and biographies of Victoria, starting with the fanciful one she commissioned from Theodore Tilton during her lifetime and Emanie Sachs’ scathing account published just after Victoria’s death, through more recent works such as Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull by the recently deceased biographer Barbara Goldsmith, Notorious Victoria by Mary Gabriel and The Woman Who Ran for President by Lois Beachey Underhill. I also read quite a few books on women’s lives in mid-to-late-19th century America, as well as the on suffrage movement and electoral politics at the time (voting was very different and not nearly as anonymous then as it is now). For those who are interested in my sources, I have a complete reference list on my website here: https://nicoleevelina.com/the-books/madame-presidentess/research/.
Who was your favorite character after Victoria?I had a ton of fun writing Victoria’s larger-than-life parents, but my favorite has to be Victoria’s sister, Tennie. As Mr. Vanderbilt would say she “has spunk.” She was so authentic and didn’t care what anyone thought. If you told her a woman couldn’t do something (like smoke cigars or curse, both of which Tennie did), she’d go and do it in style a) because she wanted to and b) to prove you wrong – and she’d do it in public. The one thing that irritated me about her was her co-dependence on her parents, especially her mother, and how she could be so incredibly loyal to them after all they put her through. I’m guessing it has to do with how she was raised and probably kind of brainwashed by them. But there’s not a lot of historical evidence about her mindset, so that’s one of the places where I had to make a writer’s leap.

Victoria WoodhullDo you have another project in the works? If so, what is it?Once Madame Presidentess is out and the election is over, I am going to concentrate on writing Mistress of Legend, the third and final book in my Guinevere trilogy. This book will cover the end of Guinevere’s life, including the fall of Camelot and what happens after. In my version, she certainly doesn’t live out her days in a convent! I will also begin research for a WWII-era historical novel about a Catholic nun who helped hide Jews and aided the resistance in France. She was a victim of the concentration camps and should be on the path to sainthood, but few people outside of her native country know her name. As far as I can tell, there is only one book written about her in the world.
What is your focus in historical fiction?To rescue little-known women from being lost in the pages of history.
Pen Name:Nicole Evelina
Why I picked it:Nicole is my real first name and Evelina is a variation of my mom’s name. It’s Celtic name meaning “bright.”
Why a pen name:My real last name is impossible to spell, remember or pronounce.
Favorite books:I’m a firm believer that to be a great writer, you first have to be an avid reader. I estimate that I’ve probably read several thousand books in my 30+ years on this planet. A few of my favorites are:
Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee CarrellJuliet by Anne FortierA Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
More About Nicole

Nicole’s debut novel, Daughter of Destiny, the first book of an Arthurian legend trilogy that tells Guinevere’s life story from her point of view, was named Book of the Year by Chanticleer Reviews, took the Grand Prize in the 2015 Chatelaine Awards for Women’s Fiction/Romance, won a Gold Medal in the fantasy category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and was short-listed for the Chaucer Award for Historical Fiction. Been Searching for You, her contemporary romantic comedy, won the 2015 Romance
Writers of America (RWA) Great Expectations and Golden Rose contests. Nicole’s writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Independent Journal, Curve Magazine and numerous historical publications. She is one of only six authors who completed a week-long writing intensive taught by #1 New York Times bestselling author Deborah Harkness.
Her website/blog is http://nicoleevelina.com and she can be found on Twitter as well as on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram. Her email address is nicole [dot] evelina [at] att [dot] net.

I'm working on a new series!

Typing Content by Search Engine People Blog via Flickr cc.It's October 2016, and it's author update time, so where am I on writing books? After coming to a stopping-point with The Binding of Saint Barbara (I can’t say it’s finished until it’s published and right now I'm waiting to hear back from agents), I took a little writing break because I was really burnt—to a crisp black! When I cooled off, I considered the couple of rough drafts I had hanging around, and I kept finding myself drawn back to the original idea that inspired me to write a novella around this time a year or so ago. You may remember, I wrote a post about it.
The original idea was to write about a Victorian heroine struggling with chronic pain and illness (inspired by my own struggle with chronic pain) on the English moors, incorporating elements of both Gothic and magical realism, but without paranormal themes. Then I saw this photo of a prominent Victorian spine specialist, Dr. Lewis Albert Sayre, observing a half nude woman suspended in his contraption, and well, you know how it goes with me and my images of inspiration.
Dr. Lewis Albert Sayre and his treatment for scoliosis.
Ultimately, the novella I wrote sucked! At the time I was trying to learn to write fast, and also overcome my fear of clichés, so I ended up writing a sloppy tale of Gothic tropes. Boo! But now, having grown past those hang-ups, I have some new plans for this premise.
I can’t divulge everything, but basically I employed a visual plotting system to help me come up with some ideas that I really like. Not only am I planning to turn the novella into a novel, but I’m also considering making it a three or even five-part series. This just goes to show that I don't do short very well - lol!

The series would focus on several stages of life for the heroine, Lorena. Right now I’ve plotted three books, the first focuses on Lorena’s attempts to overcome her chronic illness as a young girl after her father sends her to a sanatorium/asylum, the second book focuses on her debut in upper class Gilded Age society and her marriage to her second choice because invalids aren't easily married off, and the third book would focus on her adoption of an orphaned child because invalids couldn't have children very easily.


I’m not dedicated to the specifics yet because a lot of that will come out in the research stage, which is what I’m working on next. Even though at this point, I am extremely familiar with the Victorian world, I still have to conduct research because I need details from the specific Victorian world I’m interested in. Plus, for me at least, the research stage is where a lot of my story development occurs. While researching one aspect of my story, I’ll learn historical points of interest and those will inspire ideas for scenes and characters.
Keep in mind that last year, I had completely different plans for this story and next year it might look completely different than I’m expecting it to look right now. This is the nature of creation, for me at least, which is actually funny because I am the ultimate planner, but I can’t plan or know where my art is going to go.
So to keep up, check out my Pinterest Board where I’m keeping track of all my research resources.
And read my post on The Agent Waiting Game to find out what's going on with The Binding of Saint Barbara.