Saturday, September 2, 2017



September? Really?

It doesn’t seem quite fair that, the older I get, the faster time seems to fly. I remember sitting in schoolrooms when I was a kid, watching that stupid clock on the wall, and wishing I could push the minute hand faster so I could get the heck out of there and go home and play with my dog. Now I kinda wish time would slow down a trifle. Oh, well. If wishes were horses…

SPIRITS UNITED, Daisy Gumm Majesty’s eleventh adventure (well, it’s actually her twelfth, but until I get the rights back to SPIRITS REVIVED, her actual seventh adventure, the numbers don’t reflect the entire series). I appreciate everyone who bought a copy, and I’d appreciate even more if you’d buy copies for all of your friends and relations. Heck, even total strangers! I wouldn’t mind being a best-selling author once. Or even twice. But I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to beg.

During the first week in August of this year, I visited California. This was primarily to attend my best friend’s memorial service, but I also had a chance to revisit several places I recall from my youth back in the early middle ages. Some friends and I went to Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, where my best friend has finally joined her late husband. I also wandered around the place, said hello to my late aunt and several cousins, and I think I found about where Billy Majesty might have been planted back in 1922. Here it is:

Daisy’s next adventure, SPIRITS UNEARTHED, begins at Billy Majesty’s grave at the Mountain View Cemetery, so you might want to keep the area in mind for future reference. By the way, one of my spectacular beta readers, Lynne Welch, mentioned that lots of town in the Midwest, East, and South have little cemeteries sprinkled all over the place. If you live in Altadena or Pasadena, you either end up at Mountain View or in an urn on somebody’s mantel. My younger daughter told me I could reside in a box on her mantel in between two of her husband’s late dachshunds. Can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be for all eternity!

I also tootled past Daisy’s house. Whatta mess! If my second ex-husband, Old Weird Robert, still lives there, he’s sure not taking care of the place. I object. On the other hand, the house no longer belongs to me, so I guess there’s not much I can do about it.


The lovely and talented Denice Stradling, voice actor and audiobook narrator, is closing in on the final chapters of SPIRITS REVIVED, which will be published soon and will be available on Audible.com. I don’t have the cover art for the book yet, but I do have a picture of the room in which the ghost of Eddie Hastings shows up, much to Daisy’s distress, during a séance she held at Mrs. Bissel’s house in the book. The room doesn’t look awfully large in this photograph, but my aunt, her children, her two boarders (Burke and Jack, who used to own a gas station at Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive), and my own family of four (Mom, Dad, sister and me) used to dine there every evening. Everyone included, that was maybe ten or twelve people, and nobody was crowded. Of course, my aunt’s table was larger than the one depicted below. This was my Aunt Wrennie’s “breakfast room” back in the olden days. She had a dining room, too, which was much larger. I can’t even imagine what a table the size of hers would cost these days. That thing was huge:

 If SPIRITS REVIVED is available by the end of September, I’ll be giving away audio copies of that book. If it’s not, you may pick your own book of those I’ve written (providing I have copies of same). I’ll be in touch with the winners of August’s contest to find out which book of mine they’d like to have either e-delivered or delivered by post, and I’ll attempt to get the books mailed in a timely manner.

Oh, and before I forget again, many people have asked me what “bishop sleeves” are. Daisy’s always making suits and dresses with “bishop sleeves.” So, for your continuing education, below is a picture of a couture gown from 1924 featuring bishop sleeves! Courtesy Jean Lanvin, in fact. Mind you, these are a little puffier at the wrists than lots of bishop sleeves, but that’s because they have slashes at the wrist and inserts of cloth of another color:

A word about my monthly contests. I love giving my work to people; however, I found out quite by accident a few months ago that sending books to Great Britain, Australia, and other countries outside the United States is beyond my monetary capability. If a resident of a nation other than the United States has an e-reader, I’ll happily supply that person with an e-book. If a person doesn’t have an e-reader and still likes to read book-books, he or she is on his or her own. I’m sorry, but what I laughingly call my writing career hasn’t made me wealthy yet. And it probably won’t, but let’s not get in to that because it always depresses me. So. That’s that.

If you’d like to enter the contest, just send me an email (alice@aliceduncan.net) and give me your name and home address. If you’d like to be added to my mailing list, you may do so on my web site (http://aliceduncan.net/) or email me (you won’t be smothered in e-mails, because I only write one blog a month, and that’s an effort). If you’d like to be friends on Facebook, visit my page at https://www.facebook.com/alice.duncan.925.

Thank you!

 

11 comments:

Susan Oleksiw said...

I've never heard of bishops' sleeves, but now I know. Good luck with your series, and getting there rights back to the missing book.

Jon said...

Didn't know your blog existed until just now with your post about it. So my two questions are 1 what happened on the rights to Spirits Revived and 2 the Balkan group you once belonged to. It wasn't Kitka by any chance was it?
Your remark about slowing time down a bit reminded me of one of my most favorite Joni Mitchell songs titled The Circle Game. I have copied and pasted the lyrics below. I am definitely in the drag my feet group as referenced in the song. My other favorite line about aging is in a song by an obscure early 1970's Australian rock and roller named Tony Cole. The line is "Ain't it a shame that the young never know what it means to be old." I even thought it was profound when I first heard it when I was in my 20's. Now in my 60's I still do.
Cheers
Jon Ludwig

The Circle Game
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you're older must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game *

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Alice Duncan said...

Thanks, Susan. Daisy's always making clothes for herself, and lots of them have bishop sleeves. People have asked me about them, and I finally remembered to show them!

The group I sang with was Zhena, Jon. We sang (and I even danced with) Avaz, which was founded by Tony Shay, the guy who founded the group Aman. Aman's singing group was Nevenka. And yeah, Joni Mitchell know what she was talking about when she wrote that song! Thanks for reminding me. I'm going to be 72 on my next birthday, so people in their 60s seem like kids to me. Doesn't seem fair somehow, you know? :-)

Anne Louise Bannon said...

Shoot. That cemetery is around the corner from me. Next time you're checking it out, let me know. I'll walk down and say hi.

Alice Duncan said...

Really??? Where do you live? Oh, South Pasadena, right? I love South Pasadena. And it's the Mountain View Cemetery, dang it. Sorry about that.

Jacqueline Seewald said...

Love all of your novels, Alice. Writing hasn't made me rich either, but at least you know you have devoted fans. As to sending out books, they can be read on any computer as a pdf file is you so choose.

Alice Duncan said...

Thanks, Jacquie! Y'know, I prefer listening to audiobooks. I think that's mainly because I sit and stare into a computer all day, pretty much every day, and I live in a state of constant eyestrain. Sigh. But wait! That's something else I can whine about, huh? That makes me feel better :-)

Jon said...

Alice, found your answer on the Balkan music group. Very similar to Kitka including the traditional garb. Kitka is based in Oakland. Zhena must be the So. Cal version I guess. And yes, drag those feet. You've got me by 4 but I'm already trying to slow the circle down. Unfortunately it seems the only thing slowing down is me.
Take care.
Jon

Alice Duncan said...

You're probably right about Zhena being the So. CA version of Kitka, Jon (or vice-versa). It was a whole lot of fun. So was Balkan dancing. Unfortunately, all that stamping wasn't good for the old toe joints, and I managed to ruin my feet. Well, dancing and doing high-impact aerobics back in the days before they decided low-impact aerobics were better for a person. I had NO idea I was ruining my body when I was having all that fun. I think it was worth it. Maybe. Aw, heck. Yes, it was worth it, although I'm sure paying for it now.

Unknown said...

Hi Alice! Just bought the e-book of Spirits United. It's moved right to the top of my reading list. I love Daisy and her exploits but also the delightful Angel series--any more of those in the works?

Bodies are weird aren't they. I was a clogger and buck dancer for 15 years and at 68 have no foot issues at all. In fact, I hiked 11 miles in 2 days at Yosemite National Park last week. This might imply that I'm fit--which is not the case--just lucky I guess.

Wishing you good health and a best seller!

Marie

Alice Duncan said...

Thank you, Marie! I loved clogging back when I could dance. Sniffle. Never buck danced, though. I'm envious of your ability to get around. I'm only three years older than you are, and sometimes I even have to use a cane to make sure I don't tilt and fall over. Ain't fair. The only parts of my body that don't hurt are my knees, which I think is funny, since most of the other dancers I know have lousy knees. Go figure.

But thank you VERY much for enjoying Daisy and her adventures. Mercy will have to sit for if I want to keep her series in order, and I do. There's a big hole in the Daisy series because I don't own the e-book and paper rights to her sixth story, SPIRITS REVIVED. However, SPIRITS REVIVED will be released as an audiobook by the end of this month (I hope), and it will see the light of audio as #6 1/2 in the series. Eventually, I'll get the rights back, and it will slide into the series where it belongs right after ANCIENT SPIRITS (although, since the cover has already been created, it will probably remain #6 1/2).