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Before Black Swan there was Anna Pavlova

June 11, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

When I recently checked out the DVD for “Black Swan,” it brought to mind another dancer.

Anna Pavolva.

What would it have been like to see her dance?

I decided to go straight to the source: Lady Eve Marlowe, the heroine of my Spice novel, Cleopatra’s Perfume. After all, who would know more about Berlin in the 1920s than someone who was there?

When I asked Eve to take over the blog, she was quick to point out she didn’t come to Berlin until 1928.

I reminded her that she had inhaled the sights, smells and sounds of the city–an elixir of the finest perfume that was Weimar Berlin. Hadn’t she often whispered in my ear about the decadent goings-on in the cabarets, the entertainers, artists, literati? I said. And partaken of the delights that hypnotize with the telling?

That’s when Eve smiled and I saw that sexy gleam in her eye, knowing what she was thinking, how much fun it would be to once again live through those wild times and indulge in the poetry and fantasy that was Weimar Berlin.

And so I give you Lady Eve Marlowe, who will guide you through Hot Weimar Berlin.

********

Thank you, Jina, for giving me this glorious opportunity to write this post.

Sitting at a café, I write the words: Berlin 1921 and it unleashes a completely different world, people racing through a time when they struggled to find their life rhythm in those trying times.

You mentioned several readers were interested to know more about Pavlova’s impromptu dance that night in the cellar club. Oh, how I wished I could have been there, but I was fortunate enough to hear about it from another dancer who knew someone who was there that night.

According to her account, Anna Pavlova was out for a night with friends, sitting in the corner and not drawing attention to herself. Someone recognized her and the buzz began–everyone started looking in her direction.

This was in 1921–she would have been around forty then (she died in 1931). I can see her in my mind, this sophisticated woman with the long, elegant neck and willowy body, knowing she possessed a beautiful gift that belonged not to her but to the world.

Pavlova embraced the wonderment and homage the customers showed her and rewarded them the best way she knew how.

Her dance.

According to this eyewitness, she was wearing a suit and shawl–she removed her jacket and whispered something to the violinist, who no doubt never dreamed his music would accompany the famed ballerina.

Then she began to dance…

Her body floated across the tiny nightclub floor with elegance and grace, her spirit ethereal and dreamlike, her steps as light as the gossamer notes of The Dying Swan played by the violinist, her art of dance shaped by a lifetime of diligence to her craft…but it was her passion that all who were there would never forget.

A beautiful swan who lives on…

–signed

Lady Eve Marlowe
Berlin 1958

“Cleopatra’s Perfume”

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Romance Writers of America 2006 Conference in Atlanta with Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2010 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Yes, you read the title correctly. That’s the RWA Conference in Atlanta back in 2006.

Where did the time go? Several SPICE books, blogs, videos, Tweets and Facebook friends later, I’ve been thinking about all the wonderful things RWA and OCC/RWA offer its members.

Especially the annual conference. It’s always an exciting time. Here’s the official information about this year’s conference:

“RWA is proud to host its 30th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, July 28 – 31, 2010.

“Be sure to join us to enhance your writing and knowledge of the ins and outs of publishing at more than 100 workshops; get the inside track at panels and round-tables featuring publishing professionals; schedule a one-on-one pitch meeting with an acquiring editor or literary agent; attend parties and network with the stars of romance fiction; and be a part of RWA’s massive, 500-author strong “Readers for Life” charity book signing. And let’s not forget the 2010 RITA and Golden Heart Awards.” For more information go to the RWA website.

To everyone who is going, have a great time!

I’ll never forget my first RWA conference. (What girl ever forgets her first?)

So here is a video I made taking you back to July 2006 and the Romance Writers of America Conference in Atlanta.

From the Literacy Signing to the Spice Books workshop to the Harlequin party and the RITA Awards, re-live the conference in this fun video podcast.

As you can see in the photo above, I signed copies of The Blonde Geisha that year at the RWA Conference in Atlanta.

Hard to believe that since then, The Blonde Geisha has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and two weeks ago it came out in the Czech Republic as “The Geisha with the Emerald Eyes.”

So sit back and relax and come with me as we go back to the RWA Conference in Atlanta in 2006!

Best,
Jina

The Blonde Samurai: “She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.”

Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha ,Cleopatra’s Perfume, Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighsvisit my website: http://www.jinabacarr.com/

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Blogging in Victorian England by Jina Bacarr

January 11, 2010 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , ,

Imagine if Queen Victoria twittered (“We are not amused today…”) or Dickens posted a Facebook Profile (Relationship Status: married with ten children, Employer: law clerk turned freelance writer) or Jack the Ripper updated his status on his MySpace page (Mood: agitated. Headed over to Whitechapel).

What if you wanted to blog about Victorian England as your character? What challenges would you face? It was a different lifestyle back then with a different manner of speech, decorum and way of life. A world without Blackberrys and YouTube, yet a very civilized and fascinating world.

And more of a challenge than I realized when I set out to write a blog in the voice of my heroine in my February 2010 Spice novel, “The Blonde Samurai,” the story of an Irish-American heiress who weds a British lord then falls in love with a handsome samurai in 1873 Japan.

I was determined to offer readers an amusing and witty look at the world of Victorian England and Japan in the late nineteenth century. A Naughty Victorian Lady tells all…” launched at the eHarlequin.com website with A Naughty Victorian Lady’s Christmas Stocking.

Everything was going well until–

I wanted to blog about the video I made in the voice of my heroine, Lady Carlton, showcasing “The Blonde Samurai.” Not plausible, since the first celluloid film (a few seconds long) wasn’t shot until the late 1880s, years after my novel takes place.

Fortunately, the idea of “moving pictures” wasn’t as outlandish to Victorians as one might believe. Several patents were applied for during this time, including a British patent for “…moving images optically combined with a reflected ‘background’ ” and another for “Improvement in the Method and Apparatus for Photographing Objects in Motion.”

Interesting, but not the amusing and romantic tone I wanted for my blog.

What was a writer to do? Go with what I know best: romance. I combined Victorian England and Japan in a romantic setting to describe my video about “The Blonde Samurai.”

Here is an excerpt:

Believe that I have fastened together silk paintings and that I shall make them “move” by flipping through them; or that I have painted scenes on the ribs of a folding fan, then I shall open it slowly to make the scenes change from one to the next.

Imagine, if you will.

So I request that you transcend the world of London with its insufferable saffron-colored fog and the bone-chilling weather this time of year that makes you don flannel petticoats to keep the cold from darting up your backside–

And come with me back to the warm Spring of 1873 as I tell you the story of The Blonde Samurai in a most unique and charming manner…

February 2010: meet The Blonde Samurai

“She embraced the way of the warrior. Two swords. Two loves.”

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Book Trailer: Does it matter if it’s Black and White?

July 11, 2009 by in category Archives tagged as , , ,

by Jina Bacarr

Last month I posted the book trailer for my latest Spice release, Cleopatra’s Perfume, about a woman’s insatiable appetite for sex and adventure in 1939 Cairo (also Berlin and London) when the world was teetering on the brink of war.

I put together the one-minute book trailer in color and a second trailer in color and black and white (similar to when Dorothy visits Oz in the 1939 film and the screen goes technicolor). The interesting thing is that the black and white/color trailer has gotten more hits than the color trailer.

So when fellow OCC member, Bobbie Cimo suggested I try ALL black and white, I thought, that’s a cool idea. (Thankz, Bobbie!) So I put it together and uploaded it to several sites. What’s really amazing is that on one site I received a thousand hits in one day–and on others, just a handful. So you never know…

You be the judge: Here’s the black and white book trailer for Cleopatra’s Perfume!!

Best,

Jina

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jinabacarr

Jina Bacarr is also the author of The Blonde Geisha , Naughty Paris, Tokyo Rendezvous, a Spice Brief, and Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs, featuring an Indiana Jones in high heels.

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