Jillian will be awarding a free backlist e-book to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop, and a Grand Prize of a moon charm/crystal necklace (see below) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Commenting on the other stops of the tour will increase your chances of winning!
Geographical Insights on Moon Dance
I based Moon Dance in London, England as I love the United Kingdom and it inspires me in many ways. The bulk of the action takes place in the Southwark area of the city. This part of the city is on the opposite side of the Thames River from the Tower of London. This area has Waterloo tube station as well as a number of interesting pubs and theatres including what is now called The Old Vic and the recreation of the Globe theatre.
I used several real restaurants in the story. I’ve eaten at Weatherspoons, a chain of pubs in the UK. They have good food and a nice atmosphere but sadly, they do have a chain-type restaurant look about them. If you’re looking for an authentic pub experience, you’re better off not going to Weatherspoons. They do have a wicked good curry night, though.
One of the things I threw into the story is a real phenomenon I noticed and made a note of as I came out of the Weatherspoons near Tower Bridge. Right next door to the pub is a police station. Next to that is a municipal court building and on the far side of that is a jail. How cool is that? You can get drunk and rowdy, be arrested, taken to court and jailed all in the same block. Mind you, I’m not recommending that as a plan of action.
Caffe Nero is a chain of coffee shops in the UK and I also used one of those at a pivotal point of the story. The heroine grabs a coffee there just before a catastrophe befalls her.
I had the heroine talk about visiting the Churchill museum on the Southwark side of the Bridge but it got cut in the final version. Sometimes, too much detail can bog down the story and my editor suggested the cut. The story is stronger because it was cut but if you ever get to London, it’s a pretty cool museum to visit.
I have the hero and heroine cross the river to visit the British Museum and its Elgin Marble exhibit. When I travel, I like to make notes of where things are and figure out the transportation to get there so I had them discuss which tube stop to get off at for the museum since there are two in the area.
Green Goblin cider is a really good hard cider that is served in a lot of pubs. The British are cider drinkers and I’ve become a bit of an addict to some of them as well but they are hard to find here which I guess is a good thing for my liver. I have the heroine bring some Green Goblin to the hero’s flat when she’s trying to make up with him over a small spat.
I love to travel and collect maps as well as other items and books to use when I sit down and write. I think it’s very important to get that true flavor of where the characters are at any given moment. The realistic use of food, drinks, setting and geography is very important and I do all I can to make the scene shine in the reader’s eyes.
Have any scenes in books you’ve read made you feel as if you were really there? If so, tell me about them.
Jillian will be awarding a free backlist e-book to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop, and a Grand Prize of a moon charm/crystal necklace to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.
About Moon Dance
Olga Quinn hopes her relocation to London to work on their space shuttle program is the life changing move she needs after the loss of her co-worker in a workplace explosion. She meets Gabriel Swicord, a fireman turned celebrity radio personality and deejay. He lost his sight while rescuing a family in the line of duty and has immersed himself in music and work since then. For a few days, Olga and Gabe burn hot for each other and then things turn cold.
Someone is murdering women who patronize the club where Gabe spins records. It appears that he’s the connection to the dead women and his name and face are plastered all over the news. Things are not looking good for Olga’s peaceful new life and when the killers turn kidnappers, things really begin to heat up.
Excerpt
“Ouch.” Olga Quinn dropped the soldering iron on the marble countertop. It landed with a clatter and rolled off onto the tile floor of the lab. She sucked on her index finger with tears streaming down her face. “After all these years, you’d think I wouldn’t do that anymore, wouldn’t you? I mean, really, I’ve been making prototypes forever.”
“It has been a while since you worked really hands on, though, hasn’t it?” Olga’s co-worker, Gina Boudreau said. She bent down and picked up the soldering iron.
“Yeah, in Houston, I was assigned to the design team. I created ideas and other people made the models to test them. Over here, it seems we do all the jobs. I’m glad they have someone to clean the bathrooms or we might get sucked into that as well.”
“We’re much smaller here at British Aerospace than NASA, but I don’t think they’ll put us scientists to work in the loo.” Gina giggled. “I do wonder why you decided to move here, though. You had a pretty cushy job. I’m a little jealous and why you’d give that up, I’ll never understand.”
Olga made herself smile as she swallowed the lump in her throat that thoughts of Texas always brought. “I wanted a change of pace for a while. I’m here on loan only. I’m sure I’ll head back across the Atlantic someday.”
“Maybe you’ll decide you love the motherland so much that you’ll want to stay forever.”
“Not likely since England isn’t my motherland.” Olga moved over to the stainless steel sink and ran some cold water over her hand that still stung from the burn from the solder.
“I thought all you Yanks were descended in some way from the Anglo Saxons.”
Olga shook her head. “Nope. I’m part Russian and part Inuit.” She dried her hand off, opened a drawer in the closest cabinet and reached for some burn ointment for her finger.
“So that explains the darkness of your soul.” Gina laughed.
“You sound like you’re stereotyping my people.”
“I’d never do that. Unless I was kidding around.” Gina grinned. She pulled off her lab coat. “Quitting time soon. Come out tonight to the club with me and the gals. We’ll have fun. They have a brilliant celebrity deejay there and I want you to hear him. He’s quite good.”
About the Author
Jillian Chantal lives on the gulf coast of Florida. She’s an avid traveler and enjoys using her experiences in other places as the background and inspiration for her stories. Writing Romantic Adventures with an International Flair is her favorite type of story to focus on. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at:
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