24 October 2012

Crossroads Tour: Janet Fox

The first three books in your Faithful series are set throughout history, all at different times. Was it at all challenging to write stories set in the past? Could you talk to us a bit about your research and what it is about these different time periods that draws you to them?

My first three books happened each one at a time, as a kind of serendipity. FAITHFUL was really written in response to my own mother’s passing, and I happened to set it in 1904 because when I decided upon Yellowstone, and 1904 was the year the Old Faithful Inn was built, and it seemed like a really cool time to research. FORGIVEN was written because I fell in love with Kula, and because I wanted to take her out of Yellowstone and thought – wow! San Francisco earthquake of 1906! Awesome! And SIRENS I wrote because my publisher asked me to write something set in the 1920s and I said – wow! How cool is that? The Roaring Twenties!

Seriously though, I love historical research. For me developing the characters is all about articulating basic human emotions, but trying to layer on the experiences of the historical time? That’s the challenge and I love it. I try to capture the day-to-day – the music, the food, the clothing, the laundry (!) – even if those details never make it into the book. I try to “live” that time while I’m writing in the period.

So, yes, it’s a challenge, but I like that particular challenge.

If you could travel back in time, for a day or even a week, where would you like to visit and why?

That is such a fascinating question. I could so be a time traveler. If it were possible, I’d sign up right now.

But what special time would I visit? Prehistory? Scary. Ancient Rome was too barbaric. The Middle Ages were too harsh, unless you were the queen. Early America? Maybe. But I think maybe I’d like Italy during the Renaissance. Great art, great music, enlightened thinking, and pretty decent weather. One week, and then I’d be happy to be home.

Could you share with us a favorite line or two from the first three books – Faithful, Forgiven & Sirens?

From FAITHFUL: “The window of my tower was open, and my unchained soul flew out and away, high over the vast pine forests and broad meadows, high over the precipitous yellow cliffs and billowing plumes of steaming water, high over the narrow ribbons of rushing rivers; fearless, and far, far from the sea.”

From FORGIVEN: “A new century lay open before us, where all things could be made clean and shiny, even a man’s soul. Why, I’d heard that men could get up in the air in flying machines, men flying like birds. If that were true, why then, anything was possible.”

From SIRENS: “She didn’t know it yet, but she was all mixed up with something that would require a neat trick, like levitating or disappearing. She stood there, star-struck, talking about ghosts and staring up at the awning like it held a secret message that she couldn’t make out. I knew it right off, that our destinies were intertwined. Sweet kiddo Jo and jealous moll Lou. We were mirrors, reflections, like in a Coney Island funhouse. One of us would levitate, and one of us would disappear, if you get my drift, and the twist was which of us would do what.”

And lastly, how about a fun question? Being that it’s the scariest time of the year – Halloween – what’s your favorite?

Scary Book: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. Boy, that lady knew how to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. I read the annotated but original version one night when I was alone in the house, sitting in a high-back chair, and I couldn’t get out of the chair!

Scary Movie: I don’t watch them, most of the time. I’m totally visual and I think...no, I know...I’m gonna die on the spot. I avoid anything remotely scary. But...okay. The scariest movie moment for me was the original Alien, when that thing pops out of the poor guy’s chest. Oh, I’d better fess up that I also watched Psycho when I was a teen and I nearly died right there, and that I had to leave the movie theatre during Jaws.

Halloween Candy: candy corn

Costume from Halloween’s Past: When I was little, my parents went to Hawaii and brought back these gorgeous silk kimonos for me and my little sister. We wore them at Halloween dressed as geishas. I loved it. I wish I still had that sweet red kimono, even though it was made for a 6-year-old.

Title: Sirens (Faithful, #3)
Author: Janet Fox
Publisher: Speak, 384 Pages (November 8th, 2012)
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis: When Jo Winter’s parents send her off to live with her rich cousin on the glittering island of Manhattan, it’s to find a husband and forget about her brother Teddy’s death. But all that glitters is not gold,. Caught up in the swirl of her cousin’s bobbed-hair set—and the men that court them—Jo soon realizes that the talk of marriage never stops, and behind the seemingly boundless gains are illicit business endeavors, gangsters, and their molls. Jo would much rather spend time the handsome but quiet Charles, a waiter at the Algonquin Hotel, than drape herself over a bootlegger. But when she befriends a moll to one of the most powerful men in town, Jo begins to uncover secrets—secrets that threaten an empire and could secure Jo’s freedom from her family. Can her newfound power buy her love? Or will it to ruin Jo, and everyone around her?

GIVEAWAY!

How the Crossroads Tour Giveaway works

All the authors got together and decided, instead of each blog getting one or two titles to giveaway - they'd have a single grand prize - a real doozie. With that in mind each blogger is asked to encourage readers to answer the daily trivia/research question on the tour main page. (http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/crossroads-2011/) At the end of the tour all answers have to be emailed to judithgraves@ymail.com by midnight on the 29th.

So, it's your job, to head over to the mail tour page I've linked above, read the question and go find the answer in the posts for that day. Make sure you get your answers in by the deadline - October 29th at Midnight!

Entries will be put in a drawing and a winner chosen randomly.

And I bet you're wondering what the heck this amazing prize is? How about a FREE KINDLE PRELOADED with an eBOOK from each of the Crossroads authors???

The more questions you answer, the better, so be sure to check back each day!

Any questions? Please send them my way!