I’d like to welcome Rachel Dacus to the blog today. She’s the author of Renaissance Club, out now from Fiery Seas Publishing, LLC. Thank you for joining us, Rachel!
Name: Rachel Dacus
Book Title: Renaissance Club
Book Genre: Romance
Release Date: January 23, 2018
What’s your book about?
Would you give up even the time in which you live to be with the love of your life? When May Gold, a lowly college adjunct and art historian, falls through a fold in time she meets the man of her dreams, the passionate 17th century sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini. But can May really give up everything in hopes of becoming his wildly adored partner?
What sparked the idea for Renaissance Club?
A wonderful art history I took through northern Italy, with a distinguished guide who had a marvelous way of bending the folds of time and making me feel as though I were meeting Bernini, Michelangelo, Giotto, and all the marvelous geniuses who made the kind of art that moves your heart and makes you gasp because of its beauty.
How did you celebrate when you learned Renaissance Club was going to be published?
Several bottles of Prosecco, the Italian equivalent of champagne, shared with close friends who also love Italy.
If you were speaking to someone who hasn’t read your writing before, why should they want to read Renaissance Club ?
Do you love adventure, romance, and journeys of self-discovery? My book is full of adventures in all those dimensions, as well as the beautiful art of the Renaissance, a passionate artist, and a love story across the centuries. How can you make a love across time end happily? You’ll have to read it to find out.
What’s one piece of advice you would offer your younger writer self?
I’d urge my younger self not to give up, to focus on the craft, write more, endure criticism better, and follow the advice of professionals I respect. Above all, to be the insanely persistent writer! Actually, my future self must have bent time (as they do in my novel), and whispered this in my ear. Because I am insanely persistent as a writer, and I hope to never stop learning.
Where can readers find you (website, blog, social media, etc.)?
My website is: http://racheldacus.net. My Facebook author page, which has where I share news and ideas for writers: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=rachel%20dacus%2C%20poet%20%26%20writer
I’m on Twitter too: https://twitter.com/Rachel_Dacus
Thank you, Rachel! Renaissance Club is available now.
May Gold, college adjunct, often dreams about the subject of her master’s thesis – Gianlorenzo Bernini. In her fantasies she’s in his arms, the wildly adored partner of the man who invented the Baroque. But in reality, May has just landed in Rome with her teaching colleagues and older boyfriend who is paying her way. She yearns to unleash her passion and creative spirit, and when the floor under the gilded dome of St Peter’s basilica rocks under her feet, she gets her chance. Walking through the veil that appears, she finds herself in the year 1624, staring straight into Bernini’s eyes. Their immediate and powerful attraction grows throughout May’s tour of Italy. And as she continues to meet her ethereal partner, even for brief snatches of time, her creativity and confidence blossom. All the doorways to happiness seem blocked for May-all except the shimmering doorway to Bernini’s world. May has to choose: stay in her safe but stagnant existence, or take a risk. Will May’s adventure in time ruin her life or lead to a magical new one?
AUTHOR BIO
Rachel Dacus is a poet and novelist in the San Francisco Bay Area. The daughter of a bipolar rocket engineer who blew up a number of missiles during the race-to-space 1950’s, she came to northern California to study at UC Berkeley and remained there. The Renaissance Club is her debut novel, released in January 2018 by Fiery Seas Publishing. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and Authors18. Her most recent poetry collection is Gods of Water and Air, which combines poems, essays, and a short play about the afterlife of dogs. Other collections are Earth Lessons and Femme au Chapeau. Her newest poetry book, Arabesque, is forthcoming from FutureCycle Press.