The Southern Tour

(Cover of the Polish edition of THE LINE, coming soon from Feeria Young publishers.)

So as any of you who follow me on FB or Twitter know, I have been kicking around the South for a month now doing research for JILO, the prequel to the Witching Savannah series scheduled to come out early next year. I visited Beaufort, SC, where I had been considering setting part of the book, but--even though Beaufort and its islands are beautiful--I've decided most of the action still needs to center on Savannah. The hard part for me has been stopping seeing Savannah as the city is now, and trying to see her as she was back when Lady Waldorf Astor called her "a beautiful woman with a dirty face."

Jilo alludes to the way things where socially in THE SOURCE when she insists on entering the Taylor's home through the front door.  I've managed to find a few resources shedding light on what it must have been like to be an intelligent and ambitious woman of color in Savannah at that time. JILO is going to show us a different side of Savannah, and a different side of the Taylor family, too.  The Wills and the Taylors do indeed have "real history."

On a couple of different notes, I'm writing this post from the stately Hotel Monteleone, where I'm staying for the "Saints and Sinners" conference. (I'd like to pretend I'm one of the sinners, but as we all know, by 8PM I like being home with a book in my hands and my dog Duke by my feet.) I got some writing done yesterday, not wanting to miss the chance to write in the same building where Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Anne Rice have all written.

Finally--that second note--at the top of this post is the cover for the Polish edition of THE LINE. I am blown away to see Mercy's story being shared in yet another language, along with German, Italian, Turkish, and Russian. A big "Thank You" to everyone who has helped make this possible, most importantly, those of you who have read and enjoyed THE LINE in its original version.