Lilliet Berne is a famous opera singer in 1882 Paris when an author approaches her to ask her to star in an opera he has just finished writing. When she reads it, she realizes that the story relates her own secret past. As she tries to discover the person who betrayed her confidence, she remembers her humble beginnings as an orphan from Ohio, her travels in Europe with a circus and her…
Tag: europe
Guest Post
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Writing as a Way of Exploring the World
The following is a guest post by Jan Harden, author of Fear of Staying. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com. Many thanks to Cecile for giving me the opportunity to guest post on her great blog. To begin with, I will ask the obvious question: what’s an aging Australian man living in the southern Netherlands doing writing novels?…
Guest Post
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Frankenstein Reborn
The following is a guest post by Suzanne Burdon, author of Almost Invincible. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com. Halloween – ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. Whatever the early pagan or Christian origins of All Hallows’ Eve, the creatures of the netherworld are now thoroughly celebrated or lampooned, depending on your…
Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow
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Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow’s House
A few months ago, I was on vacation in Portland, Maine, and decided to visit Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow’s childhood home where he lived until he was 14 years old. Built in 1785 by the poet’s grandfather, Peleg Wadsworth, it is a neoclassical-style building and the oldest standing structure on the Portland peninsula. Anne Longfellow Pierce, the poet’s younger sister lived in the house until her death in 1901, and left it…
Guest Post
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The City of the Dead
The following is a guest post by Louis Alan Swartz, author of Constructed of Magic. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com When I was 20 years old, I decided that I had to go see the world. I went on a trip that lasted 10 months to Europe, the Mideast and Africa. This is a story from those…
Guest Post
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Writer’s Block Over the Years
The following is a guest post by Peggy Hanson, author of the Elizabeth Darcy series that includes Deadline Istanbul and Deadline Yemen. If you would like to write a guest post on my blog, please send me an e-mail at contact@cecilesune.com Every writer has it. Those moments of looking at a blank page and seeing nothing. “No brain-to-page network available.” For years after I started writing fiction, I used the same…
Michael Schmicker
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The Witch of Napoli by Michael Schmicker
Tomaso Labella is a young photographer working for a local paper in Naples, Italy, when he takes a picture that makes his career: Alessandra Poverelli levitating a table during a private seance. For almost 20 years, Tomaso follows the medium as she travels around Europe while scientists study her. One man in particular is interested in Alessandra’s unusual abilities: Dr. Camillo Lombardi, a professor in abnormal psychiatry at the University of…
Jeffrey Marshall
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Little Miss Sure Shot by Jeffrey Marshall
Little Miss Sure Shot tells the story of Annie Oakley, a famous American markswoman in the 1880s. It relates her life from her birth in Ohio in 1860 to her rise to fame in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, until her death in 1922. In the process, we learn about the beautiful love story between Annie and her husband, Frank Butler. Frank gave up shooting for her and became…
Lord Byron
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Did you know that Lord Byron…
… had a pet bear when he was studying at Cambridge because he wanted to protest against the university’s policy against keeping dogs. In fact, he loved animals and had quite a few during his lifetime, most notably monkeys, peacocks, a parrot, a fox and a crocodile. Other fun facts about the author: Despite having a lame foot, he had numerous affairs with both men and women. He even had an…