Books

About the Book

Title: Paris, Adrift (Juliana #3)

Author: Vanda

Publisher: Sans Merci Press

Publication Date: May 9, 2018

Word Count: 71k words

Categories: LGBT, lesbian romance, LGBT historical fiction, Paris romance/intrigue

Genre: Fiction, romance

Series: Juliana

Goodreads

Other Titles in this series:

• Juliana (Book 1)
• Olympus Nights on the Square (Book 2)
• Heaven is to Your Left (Book 4—out in September or October)

Purchase Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Barnes and Noble

Synopsis

Paris-bound, 1955. Alice “Al” Huffman can’t wait to reach the City of Light. As soon as their ship arrives, Juliana’s singing career will get the spotlight it deserves and the two women will finally bring their relationship out of the shadows. Or so Al thinks.

Before the SS United States hits land, a stranger approaches Al with a Broadway contract for Juliana. But the offer comes with a threat that can’t be ignored. And unless Al can find a way out, Juliana’s comeback could come crashing down before it even begins…

As she hides the awful truth from Juliana, Al searches for an answer before another obstacle destroys their last chance for happiness…

Paris, Adrift, 1955 is Book 3 in a breathtaking LGBT historical romance that can read as a standalone. If you like pulse-pounding suspense, characters who tug at your heartstrings, and true-to-life portrayals of 1950s Paris, then you’ll love award-winning writer Vanda’s stunning series of novels.

Interview

I’m thrilled to have Vanda on my blog for an interview today to talk about life, writing, and her latest book. Welcome, and let’s get right to it. How and why did you choose your genre?

I don’t know that I ever chose my genre, which right now happens to be historical fiction; I think a genre chooses you. I would guess that what led me to history in general and to historical fiction specifically was my father. He was a voracious reader of history books and sometimes historical novels. He read them, but never discussed them. Therefore, his influence was not obvious.  Being a working-class family, we didn’t sit around the dinner table talking about history or politics.  I never knew exactly what his thoughts were on most subjects—some I knew and wished I didn’t—but I must’ve been influenced by having the books in the house.  I went on to study psychology, which is also a kind of history.  I have a doctorate in psychology and when working with people I often ask about their personal history.  My kid sister got her bachelor’s degree in history. So, it’s pretty clear that kids can be influenced without the parents saying anything.

When I started teaching at Metropolitan College of New York I was given a social psychology course to teach. I had trained in individual psychology so during the first few semesters that I taught the course I was learning along with the students.  A few of the concepts riveted me.  They had to do with how society changes. I became fascinated by watching how our own society has changed over time from the 1960s to the 2000’s.  Primarily I was interested in the change of ideas, ideas such as diversity and inclusion.  This led me to an interest in how attitudes toward LGBT freedoms have also changed. I actually lived to see the day when there was a musical on Broadway about a lesbian’s life and same-sexed marriages became legal in the U.S.  Things like this have motivated me to write the story of LGBT history as experienced by fictional characters who move from book to book.  The history is completely factual, but, the characters are fictional to make the story accessible to as many readers as possible.

I agree, that aspect of history is fascinating! I admit, I’ve always struggled with reading historical fiction because so much of it seems to focus on the Victorian era. But I, too, am interested in the rapid-fire changes of the 20th century.

Is there a character that you are especially close to?

Of course, Al!

The character I’m especially close to would have to be Alice Huffman who prefers to be called Al.  I think Al is the best part of me, but she is also distinctly herself.  She may get temporarily down and discouraged, but it won’t be long before she’s back up and fighting again.  She’s spunky, filled with creative ideas, loyal to her friends and blindly in love with Juliana, a glamorous nightclub singer, who is not easy to love.

Al comes from the potato fields of Long Island to make it on the Broadway stage with her childhood friends in 1941.  She has plans on marrying, Danny, the boy next door, but when she meets Juliana everything changes, and she finds it harder and harder to balance the life she had with the kids on the block in Long Island and her new NYC life. She is moving away from them

In Book 1, Al is a naïve eighteen-year-old, but in Book 2 she matures into a woman who helps to open a nightclub and begins learning how to manage Juliana’s career.  In Book 3, Al takes Juliana to Paris to revitalize her career.  Al learns that Paris is not the safe haven for their “type” that she had thought it would be.  Throughout all three books and the future books that are coming both Al and Juliana are always afraid the true nature of their relationship will be revealed and hence their careers and lives ruined. (There was no concept of the closet in those days)

I think Al is my favorite character because she is loyal to her friends.  At times, she can be funny, even if the situation is bleak.  And she doesn’t give up.  She just keeps going and going.

That all sounds wonderful, and you’ve made Al seem like someone I would love to meet in real life.

Are there any common themes you see in your work?

Once when I was sitting around with a few playwright friends in a restaurant we started talking about the common themes that kept showing up in our work.  I said I didn’t think I had a common theme.  My friend laughed and said, “Yes, you do.  It’s identity.  Every one of your plays deal with it.”

As soon as he said it, I knew he was right.  I could go right down my list of plays and point to ‘identity’ as being a major character issue.  It seems like I shouldn’t have been so amazed with discovering this because that’s also what my life has been about. Identity also permeates my Juliana Series in all three books published so far.  In the beginning of the series Al has a lot of difficulty facing that she is gay.  Finally, in the middle of Book 2 she accepts it, but it’s not a happy acceptance.  She tries to find information about her difference in the library and there are no books.  What would that tell a young person who is seeking information about themselves? Finally, she finds an abnormal textbook which says if she engages in this behavior too often she will become addicted and this is very bad. She speaks to an older woman who accepts her own gayness (the word lesbian was a derogatory term up until the 1970s).  There is only one book she can suggest which might help Al and this is The Well of Loneliness.  The older woman doesn’t like this book, but she lends it to Al anyway. Al has to read it secretly so others don’t see her because it was banned in England and came close to being banned in the U.S This books tells Al that her natural state will be continuous  misery. Her love for Juliana helps her to adjust, but she will continue to question everything and look for herself as a woman, as a lesbian, as career woman, as a friend, and as a lover throughout the whole series.

Oh, wow. I can certainly relate to the difficulty in learning to accept oneself, as someone who came out much later than most of my peers. It makes me very glad that young people growing up today have more information and resources available to them.

Okay, time for Word Sprints! Plotter or pantser?

A pantser.  I’m too excited to begin to wait work through an outline. For me writing and sex have a lot of common so if you think about it you can see why waiting too long could be painful for me.

What’s the last thing you read?

Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices from the Gay Bars (Story Collectors: Renee Bess and Lee Lynch). I’m reviewing this book, so I read every memoir, short story and poem in the collection. I highly recommend it. There’s something for everyone.

What’s on your playlist?

I use music from the time period I’m writing about to keep me in the proper mood.  I’m now writing about the early to mid 50s.

Some Songs on My Playlist:

Little Richard

• Long Tall Sally
• Tutti Fruiti

Bill Haley & His Comets

• Rock Around the Clock

Chuck Berry

• Maybeline

The Penguins

• Earth Angel

Fats Domino

• Ain’t That A Shame

Platters

• Only You

Elvis Presley

• Hound Dog
• Don’t Be Cruel

Gene Vincent

• Be-Bop-a-Lula

Carl Perkins

• Blue Suede Shoes

That is a great playlist. Reminds me of my dad’s music when I was growing up.

Thanks for stopping by, and let us know when the next book is out!

Excerpt

PARIS, ADRIFT (reading excerpt)

Setting: USS United States, a transatlantic ship heading for Paris

Date: September, 1955

Characters/Situation: Juliana, a glamorous night club star, and Al (Alice) Huffman, her manager and secretly her lover, are headed for Paris to revitalize Juliana’s career

I headed for the lounge.

“Miss Huffman,” Mr. Schuyler called from a corner table, standing. One couple sat at the bar laughing, a few others were scattered about, chatting at ables. A pianist played softly in the background.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Schuyler.”

He helped me into my chair and returned to his seat. “Your drink is a sidecar, I believe?”

“No. No, I never drink that,” I said nervously, wondering how he knew since I’d taken the precaution of not having one single sidecar on the ship. He must have been studying me closely in New York to know my preferred drink. More closely than I would expect someone who merely wanted to learn” from me. I took off my gloves and placed them in my purse. “I don’t think I’ll have any alcohol this afternoon. A ginger ale would be nice.”

“Yes. Good for the stomach. I imagine after last night your stomach is a little raw.” He signaled for the waiter.

“I’m so sorry about that. It’s not something I’m accustomed to doing.”

“I know. I found you entertaining, though. You have a sweet voice.”

“But we’re here to talk business.”

“I’m eager to hear your response to the script, Miss Huffman. The writers are waiting with baited breath to hear that Miss Juliana will sing their songs.”

“Then I’m indeed sad to have to disappoint them.”

“She said no?”

“I’m afraid so. It’s a beautiful script and I know you’ll find someone else who’ll—”

“There is no one else, Miss Huffman. Go back and make her.”

I laughed. “Oh, Mr. Schuyler, no one ‘makes’ Juliana do anything she doesn’t want to do.”

The waiter placed our drinks in front of us.

“You can. She simply must do this. There is an investor who insists—”

“What investor?”

“I can’t tell you, but you have to convince her. My career depends on it.”

“There is no bigger fan of Juliana than myself, Mr. Schuyler, but even I know that there must be someone else who can—”

“There isn’t. You have to change her mind.”

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”

“It was written for her.”

“Why would you commission a script before you knew if she would be interested?”

“I didn’t commission it. The gentleman who paid the writers did. Our major investor is in love with her. He will accept no one else. I told him I could get her for him. There must be something you and I can—”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t have said that before you asked Juliana. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Mr. Schuyler.”

I started to rise from my seat when he said “No!” and placed a firm hand around my wrist.

“Mr. Schuyler, please, let go of me.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, still holding on. “Sit down, Miss Huffman. I’m not finished with you.”

“Excuse me? Do I need to call for help?”

He leaned close to me and whispered, “I know.”

“You know what?”

“You know what I know.”

“You’re sounding needlessly mysterious, Mr. Schuyler. Thank you for the ginger ale.” I tried to pull my wrist from his firm grasp but couldn’t.

“I know what you two are.”

“What are you talking about?” My heart banged against my chest. I stood straighter, attempting to appear composed.

“Sit and I’ll tell you what I know.”

I sat down and he released my wrist.

“I told you I’ve studied you. I don’t need to say out loud what I know about you two, do I?”

“What is this about, Mr. Schuyler?”

“I had hoped never to have to say this to you, but it’s simple. I have an opportunity to revive my career, my reputation, if I put up this musical with Juliana. I have a secret investor who will only support this project with her in it. If she doesn’t sign these papers . . .” He reached into his inside pocket and took out a fat envelope and pushed it across the table toward me. “I will publicly declare what I know about you two, and I have a witness who’ll back me up.”

“A witness? A witness to what?”

“Well, perhaps we should call this person a colleague. Could we go so far as to term this person a friend? It’s hard to say. Inevitable, I suppose, in your line of work—a maker of careers—to alienate someone without knowing it. I mean, they wouldn’t tell you and risk losing your goodwill. Would they? A terrible thought, though, to think there could be someone in your circle who has betrayed you. A colleague, a friend, someone who has put me wise to the ugly truth of you two. It would make such a scandal, don’t you think? And think of the headlines. The newspapers would love it.”

“You’re talking blackmail, Mr. Schuyler.”

“Well, I suppose you could go to the authorities and report me, but if you do, nothing will keep your secret out of the papers, Miss Huffman. And you know what that will mean to both of your careers. Not to mention the worldwide humiliation Juliana would be subjected to. He leaned toward me. “If you’re thinking Juliana can ride this out, wait till it blows over, recall what the public did to Ingrid Bergman when she tried to come back into our country.”

“But she was pregnant with that Italian director’s baby, while she had an American husband at home. Juliana has never done anything remotely similar.”

“No. She’s done something much worse.” He chuckled. “Remember that Senator Johnson from Texas yelling from the Senate floor that Bergman was an ‘influence for evil,’ ‘a terrible role model for women.’ I wonder what he’d say about Juliana?”

“Please. You can’t do this.” I knew I sounded as weak as I felt and that was not good with a guy like this.

He sat back in his chair once more. “Look, I hate putting you under this strain. I do. I like you. I wish this could’ve remained simply a friendly business arrangement, but I see it can’t be that way. My numbers are on those papers. Call me in Paris when they’re signed. Don’t take too long.” He stood. “Enjoy your ginger ale, Miss Huffman. I shall settle the bill with the waiter. I am no cad.”

About the Author

Vanda is working on a series of novels in which the same characters live out LGBT history in New York City through the decades beginning in 1941. Book 1 in the series, JULIANA, was long listed for the MsLexia Novel Award and shorted listed for the Goethe Book Award. It also was a finalist in the North Street Writers Contest and was selected as an Indie Approved Reader. Book 2 in the series, Olympus Nights on the Square, and Book 3 were released this year, and she hopes to have Book 4 out very soon. Her mission is to honor LGBT history: to let people, gay and straight, know that the LGBT community shares a rich cultural history that is as important and as valid as any other minority group’s. Using fictional characters makes this history more accessible.

As a playwright Vanda has received numerous honors, among them an Edward Albee Fellowship. Her play, Vile Affections, published by Original Works, was a finalist for a National Lambda Award.

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