Rachel Dacus's Blog, page 15
January 19, 2019
Interview with the main character Bernini – The Renaissance Club
Today I’m interviewing Gianlorenzo Bernini, the other main character in my time travel novel, The Renaissance Club, a story that has been called “enchanting, rich, and romantic”! The 17th century genius artist Gianlorenzo Bernini is the hero of my time travel novel, and the passionate interest of May Gold, a young art historian who specializes […]
The post Interview with the main character Bernini – The Renaissance Club appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
January 14, 2019
Interview with the Main Character – The Renaissance Club
Today I’m interviewing May Gold, the character in my time travel romance novel, The Renaissance Club. Perfect for fans of Susanna Kearsley and Diana Gabaldon, the story has been called “enchanting, rich, and romantic”! May a young art historian whose career ambitions are frustrated and whose love relationship is disintegrating, goes on a tour of […]
The post Interview with the Main Character – The Renaissance Club appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
December 6, 2018
The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story, Part 2
The magenta rosebud I picked off the rose-covered birthday cake given to me by Cousin George is now in full flower. The cake is still in the fridge. I’m afraid to cut a slice and eat it, because when I took this rosebud off and put it into a crystal vase, I found myself thrown back in time to the day before my birthday party. So now I can only watch the rosebud — now fully open — and keep checking the date on my phone like an obsessive maniac.
I’m not a believer in things like time travel or magical cakes. My feet are firmly planted in such realities as spreadsheets, To-Do lists, and my five senses.
But it did happen. I wasn’t daydreaming or hallucinating.
A petal just dropped! And of course I checked my phone. As I was about to read the date on my calendar, a woman peered in my window and then knocked on the front door. I didn’t recognize her at first, because Cousin Maria had lightened her hair color from auburn to a coppery red. Her head seemed to be on silky fire. I hurried to open the door.
“Wow, that’s gorgeous!” I said, gesturing her inside.
She stepped in quickly, bringing with her a gust of today’s stiff breeze. Except that when I last looked out the window, there was no wind, and now there was.
“I had it done last month,” she said.
That was odd, because my birthday party was just a week ago, and Maria definitely had had her normal hair color. Then I did look at my phone’s calendar. It was three weeks later than it had been when I made coffee this morning.
Maria made herself at home, grabbinbg a cup and pouring herself some coffee. That was odd, because when she had come to my birthday party a week ago — or was it now a month ago — she hadn’t even known where the bathroom was. Maria was a distant cousin, though we lived in the same town. But we kept a distance because we shared a secret about our relative, Uncle Harry. We children all knew he was the adult to avoid at family gatherings. Maria and I avoided each other from the day he had taken her by her eight-year-old hand and agreed to show her how to collect eggs from the chicken coop. Girls treat secrets that are too big as if they don’t exist, except in each other’s eyes. Today, Maria’s blue eyes were wide open, like gates to a private beach flung open. I had the feeling we were going to talk about that party.
The Time-Blossoming BIrthday Cake – A Magical Realism StoryWhat is Magical Realism in Fiction?
Click on the subheading to read my definition. Magical realism in fiction is expanding to encompass larger territory in spectulative fiction than it had before. Witches, magic, time travel, ghosts — many elements formerly classed as fantasy are now getting the magical realism treatment. The difference between contemporary fantasy and magical realism can be like two sides of one piece of thin paper with bold writing. Turn it over and the writing turns backward, but can still be seen. The difference is more in the frame than the content. In my fiction, I like supernatural elements to exist in a natural way, so that it’s not an immense surprise to find yourself in a time three weeks earliler than where you were a few minutes ago. But different things can happen given such possibiities, and that creates stories that are dreamlike in their intensity.
The post The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story, Part 2 appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
November 27, 2018
Considering Magical Realism in Poetry
This example of magical realism in poetry one is my poem, from the book Femme au Chapeau:
A Pot of Humuhumunukunukuapua’a
In a store I saw a one-cup teapot
shaped like a fish I once met
under the waves at Puako Beach.
Short as a thumb, he had a name longer
than the curving shore. Breaker
blue scales and gold fin-to-fin stripe,
he startled me among the reef knees — that
and his painted eye under surf as frothed
and filled him with leaves and bubbles,
let him ruminate until the tea steeped me
dark enough. As he swam away,
I pressed a silver fin to each eye,
lifted my cup and drank
crackling syllables of sea.
Magical realism in poetry, unlike metaphor, seems to me to be a new strategy. It’s a strategy of imagistic transformation, of one thing becoming another to illumine the nature of each. In the way metaphor and simile bring two disparate things together, but in magical realism poetry the joining is even more surprising and vivid. It alters reality, and yet retains reality. It’s a higher reality, a more meaning form of reality. The teapot becomes the living fish and the fish bestows the power to become one with the sea. The setting of Hawaii and the Hawaiian fish heightens the altered reality, as that landscape and place confer an added magical quality to what might be ordinary perceptions in another place.
The post Considering Magical Realism in Poetry appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
November 21, 2018
Time Traveling Heroines – Strong Women Adventurers
Time traveling heroines are becoming big in fiction, thanks to Claire and Jamie in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Romance in another century is delicious, but I’m most captivated by women who time travel with adventure on their minds. Do you too like stories about women who venture into history to become heroes? 
To possibly fall in love in the distant past, but who choose not to stay in a century cruel to women? Then you’re my kind of time travel reader! Some of my favorite time travel books featuring strong women:
A cell phone toting scientist, Doomsday, Connie Wills
A literary archaeologist, The Jane Austen Project, Kathleen A. Flynn
A neurosurgeon discovering the sources of the medieval Plague, The Scribe of Siena, Melodie Winawer
A time traveling witch who meets Shakespeare and his circle, Shadow of Night, Deborah Harkness
Check out these adventurous women and the people in history they meet, how they maneuver through time paradoxes, and when they happen upon love, though romance isn’t their goal. In novels of the past, women weren’t featured as time travelers. One of my favorite time travel stories, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, has the husband doing the time traveling. But if you’re like me, and you like time traveling heroines, I’ve got some lists for you! Of course, these lists all need to add my novel The Renaissance Club.
Time Travel Novels Featuring Strong Women
You can book up your winter reading from these lists alone! If not every book in these lists has a woman as its main, time traveling character, most feature strong women characters.
BookBub’s 13 Books About Women Who Time Travel
BookBub’s 16 Books to Read If You Love The Time Traveler’s Wife
Book Riot: Women Who Time Travel
Kirkus – 7 Recent Time Travel Novels You Should Know About
Why Modern Women Shouldn’t Time TravelThen there’s the alternate view of time traveling women as anti-heroines, many of whom have little to no sense of self-preservation. I have to say, my book should NOT be on this list, as my heroine May Gold has a healthy sense of the dangers of remaining in the past. But magical realism fiction doesn’t tell stories literally. And stories of romance end in the arbitrary point in time where happy-ever-after is seemingly eternal — as love really is.
However, if you worry about time traveling because of the discomforts and injustices of earlier times, you might enjoy this article:
The Toast: Women Who Have Gone Back in Time
My character has to figure out what to do about the love of her life being in a past century that was a pretty brutal time for women. Staying in the 17th century is out of the question. But what other choice does she have? She gives him up, of course, with a parting gift she hopes might change his timeline and history. But time and history are more creative than linear, and the twist ending surprises them both.
The post Time Traveling Heroines – Strong Women Adventurers appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
Time Traveling Heroines – Lists & Thoughts
Time traveling heroines are too few in literature. Why are so few women who time travel main characters, and why is this genre so weighted toward men doing the traveling? Even one of my favorite time travel stories, Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, has him doing the traveling. But I want to read — and to write — stories about women who part the folds of time and history to become heroes, adventurers, and fall in love with someone in the distant past. I just don’t want them to stay there.
Assisi streetIf you’re like me, and you seek time traveling heroines in fiction, there are some lists. Of course, they all need to add my novel The Renaissance Club to these lists of kickass femmes who travel into the far reaches of the space-time continuum. But perhaps soon I will hit all the best lists — the time travel ones.
Lists of Good Time Travel Novels with Strong Women
You can book up your winter reading from these lists alone! If not every book in these lists has a woman as its main, time traveling character, most feature strong women characters.
BookBub’s 13 Books About Women Who Time Travel
BookBub’s 16 Books to Read If You Love The Time Traveler’s Wife
Book Riot: Women Who Time Travel
Kirkus – 7 Recent Time Travel Novels You Should Know About
Why Modern Women Shouldn’t Time TravelThen there’s the alternate view of time traveling women as anti-heroines, many of whom have little to no sense of self-preservation. I have to say, my book should NOT be on this list, as my heroine May Gold has a healthy sense of the dangers of remaining in the past.
The Toast: Women Who Have Gone Back in Time
My character has to figure out what to do about the love of her life being in a past century that was a pretty brutal time for women. Staying in the 17th century is out of the question. But what other choice does she have? She gives him up, of course, with a parting gift she hopes might change his timeline and history. But if I say more, it might spoil the ending.
The post Time Traveling Heroines – Lists & Thoughts appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
November 18, 2018
The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story
This is my account of the Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake.
It was given to me by a cousin I hadn’t met before. George St. James heard about my 30th birthday party from another cousin, Maria, who called to ask if she could bring our relative because he was visiting her in the city and she thought I’d enjoy meeting him.
George not only came with Maria, he brought me a gift — a small, beautiful cake covered in rosebuds. We already had three other cakes, so Cousin George suggested I save it for later.
The next day I took it out of the fridge and noticed the roses had opened a ittle more. Thinking it would be lovely to see them even more open, I put it back.
Two days later, the roses had opened even more. The label on the cake gave the bakery name. When I called to thank them and ask how long the roses might last, they suggested that I come to talk to the baker. The shop was only two blocks away, so I walked. In a tiny slice of a building I knew well was a bakery hardly wider than a hallway. I’d never noticed it before. The baker, a middle-aged man in a white apron dusted with flour and butter, was the only person there.
“May I help you?” he asked, without a smile.
“I’ve come to ask about the roses on my birthday cake. They’re lasting a long time. Of course, I’ve had it in the fridge for three days. If I take them off the cake and put them in water, will they last?”
He shrugged. “Do you know how long you will last?”
I thought it was a very odd way to treat a customer. Though I wasn’t exactly a customer, but I might become one, living nearby.
“Try taking one bud at a time and putting it in a vase. See what happens that day. In time, you’ll learn a lot about the roses.”
He turned away and began to rearrange the displays in his case. Clearly that was all he had to offer me.
At home I picked off one magenta bud and put it in a small cut crystal vase, placed the flower on my coffee table, and found myself organizing the house the day before my party. There was the flower in its vase, but here I was, four days before the present.
Horrified, feeling I was hallucinating or had somehow fallen asleep sitting up, I took the flower out of the vase, went to the refrigerator, and placed the flower in its place on the cake.
And here I am, sitting on my couch, and the phone in my hand tells me I’m in the right date. I tried to call my cousin, but no George St. James is listed in my contacts anymore.
That was Day One of the Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake. Here’s the cake:
The Time-Blossoming BIrthday Cake – A Magical Realism StoryFor more magical realism fiction, look at my time travel novel, The Renaissance Club.
The post The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
November 17, 2018
Romance Novels Set in Italy
Romance Novels Set in Italy — What Could Be More Romantic?Have you been to Italy? Maybe you have. Maybe you remember the warm climate, the Italian passion for living well, the unbelievably fabulous food, and the romantic Italians themselves! Or maybe you have only armchair-traveled to Italy. But by reading, you were thrilled with the romance and soul-satisfying deliciousness of the Italian culture. So would you love to read a romance novel set in that magical world of Italy’s passion and beauty? Well, I have some ideas for you! First, my book, The Renaissance Club, is a time travel romance perfect for fans of Susanna Kearsley and Diana Gabaldon.
re you looking for romance in contemporary Italy? One of the most enchanting novels set in northern Italy is Elizabeth von Arnim’s magical The Enchanted April. Four women in 1920s England who are dissatisfied with their loveless lives set off for a month’s sojourn in a medieval castle in Portofino. The story, called “a sun-washed fairytale” is about love in many different forms. Not the least is the love that grows between these strangers-turned-companions. Several romances blossom during the enchanted month. And the writing is as magical as the setting. If you don’t happy-cry at the end, then we can’t be friends. The movie is one I own, and recommend buying if you, like me, enjoy a good happy-cry.
Another great romance novel set in Italy takes you back to medieval Siena. Melodie Winawer’s debut travel novel, The Scribe of Siena blends a love story, art and history, and a mystery. It takes a modern-day female neurosurgeon back in time to arrive just before the Black Death devastates Siena. She finds herself in a race to uncover a 700-year-old conspiracy and to save the artist she has fallen in love with. If you love detailed historical and romantic fiction, you’ll love this one.
Other well-known novels set in Italy include Eat, Pray, Love and A Room With a View. Below, I have more links to explore lesser known stories in this favorite place to find romance.
More Places to Explore Romance (Or Romantic) Novels Set in Italy
Explore Italian Culture – Romantic Books
Tale Away – Books Set In Italy
Waterstone – Books Set In Venice
Partway There – Books To Read While In Italy
The post Romance Novels Set in Italy appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
October 23, 2018
The Renaissance Club on Blog Tour + Enter my Givewaway
Stop by book blog Fabulous and Brunette to enter my giveaway, read my author interview, and see an excerpt from The Renaissance Club! This wonderful site bills itself as: “A Lifestyle blog that focuses on all things from fashion to beauty; fitness to weight loss; recipes to coupons; books to movies; travels to entertainment; and everything in between.” From fashion to fiction, recipes to fitness, there’s a lot to enjoy. I’m delighted to make a stop on my month-long blo;g tour at Ally Swanson’s lively and truly fabulous site.
Ally reviews books — today it’s my time travel novel, The Renaissance Club, and she also splashes in a mix of contest and giveaway opportunities, movie reviews, weight loss tips. It’s an eclectic mix that makes me want to return. I love the playful graphics on the site, the variety, and the surprises. Things aren’t always neatly under the categories you’d expect, and that makes it fun to hop around.
Today — October 23, 2018 — Fabulous and Brunette is hosting Goddess Fish Promotions’ 10th anniversary celebration. Goddess Fish is the service sponsoring my blog tour, and doing so for the second time. Their services are great, and the 10th anniversary party includes giveaways.
Authors, if you’re looking for a great blog tour service, I recommend Goddess Fish highly! 
The post The Renaissance Club on Blog Tour + Enter my Givewaway appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
October 12, 2018
Teach a Child to Write by Early Reading — How I Began
Teaching a Child to Write — How I Began As as WriterHow to teach a child to write? — by early reading. I’m living proof. I gained my desire to write from my mother, who read aloud to me and my brother every day. She also often took us to the library. When I was ten, she took me through a magical literary portal — a fantastic and immense bookstore full of used books, Acre of Books in downtown Long Beach, California. I remember holding her hand and walking into a warehouse sized space so thick with dust that I instantly sneezed.
The shelves were taller than she was. We browsed around and Mom picked out a few books. I didn’t dare touch anything, until she encouraged me to select a few myself. I was drawn to books with colorful, clothbound books with the word “Oz” stamped in gold on their spines. The Oz books were written by a man named L. Frank Baum. 
After a reading hop down the length of the Yellow Brick Road, and all the Oz spinoffs, I had run out of Oz books, and I had learned that L. Frank Baum was long dead. He would not be writing any more. Therefore, I reasoned, it was up to me to provide my own fascinating adventures in literature. That was the place where my inspirations seemed to bubble up, along with the aspiration to tell stories. I wanted to write more Oz books because I needed to read.
The Wishing Well of Desperation
That was how I found the desire to write. It was up to me! So I dipped into the well of desperation and my pen picked up the ink to rite some stories. My most successful one was a Halloween story that I was invited to read out to my fourth grade class. I was delighted to discover I had a sense of humor! I could make people laugh. Unfortunately, my next read-aloud story bombed. But the thrill of an audiencewas unforgettable.
Next, I bought and read the colored fairytale books, notably the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The idea of a kingdom under my bed was so appealing that I began to imagine alternate kingdoms everywhere—in my back yard, down the block, in the ravine beyond our backyard, over the hill where the sun went down as we ate dinner on the patio every night.
Children should be encouraged to geek out about writing. Thanks to my father’s intervention with our Seventh Street School’s principal, I was the kid who was allowed to bring a typewriter to fifth grade class, where my teacher Mr. Judge asked me to blend with our curriculum by writing a play for the class to enact on The Westward Expansion. That chapter of history may never be the same — thanks to the frenetic wagonmaster who resembled my manic engineer father — but the thrill of hearing my story enacted was unforgettable. I’m still writing plays.
Mysteries and SuspenseWhen I found Nancy Drew, I learned that there was such a story as a mystery, and that it kept you turning pages to find out what happened. Mysteries! Suspense! After all, everything in my world, and every kingdom I could imagine, was pretty mysterious. At the ages of ten, eleven, and twelve, there’s so much you notice and don’t understand, and that the adults in your life are always telling you they’ll explain when you’re older.
My first novel was called The Prisoner of the Locked Room. I wrote it when I was about twelve. It was 100 whole pages long! My father’s secretary typed it up, and I still have it. I still didn’t understand that a mystery involved a murder. I don’t believe I had yet heard of murders, leading a sheltered suburban childhood. So I wrote all around this mysterious locked room, with its nameless prisoner—why were they imprisoned? By whom? I’d write until I figured it out. I decided to better Nancy Drew, and have twin girl sleuths! Double the fun, double the fancy clothes, double the mystery-solving. Now all I needed was an actual mystery. I never did figure out what was in that room.
Early reading promotes writing–and I’m a perfect example. I didn’t always have a lot of company. I was in fact a lonely child. But my love of books began with daily bedtime reading. Mom also gets huge credit for taking me to the library many days and to the wonderful Acre of Books. I wish for every child in the world to be read to and told stories. Anything, a sacred text, a poem, a comic book, a website for stories. Thanks, Mom, for reading to me and teaching me touch typing—giving me a love of language and an important tool to write!
The post Teach a Child to Write by Early Reading — How I Began appeared first on Rachel Dacus.
