Gold Rush Live

Dressing up for Fun and NonProfit

October 9-12 is Gold Rush Live at the Gold Discovery Site in Coloma, California. I was planning on being there with my friends in bonnet and petticoats, but instead my husband and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary that weekend.



Seeing the date on my calendar reminded me of how fun reenacting is. I write historicals (among other genres) because there's nothing like experiencing the way things used to be. It makes it so real!

What hobbies do you have that are satisfying and enriching? Do people think you're a little crazy for indulging in those pastimes? Or do they think it's cool and support you?

Don't Judge a Book by Its Title....

   

                                  



Or should you? I'm looking for a great title for my historical novel with romantic elements about an idealistic young woman who tries to set up a utopian community in mid-1800s England and finds it's not as easy as she expects. Of course, she finds love and learns a few lessons along the way.

Read my previous posts for more background, and send me your ideas via "comments," along with a way for me to contact you (email is best). Winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card, and will be announced on Monday, August 19.

"Experimental Societies" of the 1800s

                                         

Perhaps it's my ADHD that makes it impossible to work on just one project at a time, so I have two new books headed down the pipeline: my western,  and a rather odd book that doesn't quite fit in the romance category (although there is definitely a romance!).

The second story is about an idealistic heiress who attempts to found a Utopian society in mid-1800s England--with mixed results.

I'm fascinated by how many of these experimental societies existed on both sides of the Atlantic during this era, some of them rather shockingly progressive for their time. We often make the mistake of thinking of Victorians as being stodgy or traditional. The truth is that reformers were constantly trying to find new and better ways to do things, and many swept up huge numbers of followers in their path. Once-radical ideas have found acceptance and continue to shape our world.

I hoped at least one of these books would be finished and available for sale by now, but now I'm hoping to have the as-yet unamed utopian novel out by Fall, 2015, and the western out by Christmas, 2015
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Lola Montez - A Feminist before her Time

I was asked to "dust off" an old screenplay and bring it to a CFAA table read last week, so I brought in my biopic of notorious mid-1800s dancer Lola Montez, which I briefly marketed around Hollywood before going on to other things. The readers got a kick out of her story. As well they should!

In her day, Lola Montez was the most notorious woman in the world. She scandalized the stages of Europe with her "spider dance," and was the lover of Franz Liszt and Alexander Dumas among others, before King Ludwig I of Bavaria was forced to abdicate because of his crazy love for her. Then she brought her tempestuous ways to Gold Rush California, where she kept a bear for a pet and taught Lotta Crabtree to dance for the miners.

Along with all this, she was politically involved. Her troubles in Bavaria were not just because of her "bad" reputation, but because she insisted the king provide more freedoms for his people, including freedom of religion, the press, and assembly. You go, Lola!

It's surprising more people don't know about this fascinating character. Do yourself a favor and look her up. Love her or hate her, she was a force to be reckoned with!

The Gardener, Free on Amazon

In celebration of Independence Day, my historical THE GARDENER will be available free on Amazon, July 4 and 5, 2014.

Set in 1800, it's the tale of a young English gardener who unjustly accused of a crime. He flees the gallows by becoming an indentured servant in the newly created United States of America ... where new opportunities and love await--if only he can escape the legacy of the past.

Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ACatherine%20McGreevy

If you enjoy the book, I'd appreciate it very much if you would post a review. Thank you!

A New Genre

I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

Working on a western novel this time. Yes, I am all over the place with genres. Actually, I consider this a historical that happens to be set in the American West after the Civil War.

It's a more complex story than I've written before, about three vastly different characters whose stories interconnect in unexpected ways. And, as usual, it deals with aspects of the American Dream, and the tension between personal freedom and interpersonal relationships.

But most of all, it's a love story.

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Diana Galbadon and Cindy Sample!

Such luck!

Someone in a national writing organization I belong to had an extra VIP ticket to see Diana Galbadon, author of the popular Outlander series. So naturally I jumped at it! Not just to see Galbadon, although that was amazing enough, but to spend some time with the funny and intelligent owner of the VIP tickets: Cindy Sample, bestselling author of the hilarious Dying for a Date series, pictured below.

Such a high, to pick the brains of these wonderfully talented women. Two of my favorite authors in one unforgettable evening! Wow.

I love the way books allow us to experience the past, with its clothes, customs, and historical events, but without the diseases and lack of modern plumbing. Don't  you?

Monuments Men

Have you seen "Monuments Men?" I just watched the documentary (not the recently released George Clooney movie), and as an art lover, I was horrified how much destruction of art occurred during WWII. Some stories were familiar, such as the theft and recovery of the Ghent altar masterpiece, and Michelangelo's statue of the Madonna and Child in Bruges, below. But there was much more art that unfortunately was lost forever.

This part of history influenced my novel, THE JEWELRY CASE, which involves a set of legendary jewelry that disappeared during the Holocaust, only to resurface in modern-day Northern California. I am a firm believer that the past is never entirely behind us. It influences what happens today, whether we're aware of it or not. That is one of the reasons I enjoy reading and writing historical fiction: it is one way to bring the past to life.

http://www.amazon.com/Jewelry-Case-Catherine-McGreevy-ebook/dp/B00GX66SGA/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402888324&sr=1-2