P is for Paper Son No matter the time in history or place of origin, immigrants in search of a better life will go to almost any lengths to secure it—even if it means circumventing the law. To protect American jobs during a slumping economy, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which meant that only certain groups of Chinese immigrants and their family members could be allowed in or granted U.S. citizenship. Chinese merchants were acceptable because they didn’t replace American ... VIEW POST
Musings on the Depth of Beauty M-N-O
During the course of researching my historical novel The Depth of Beauty, I came across scads of fascinating facts that I've been sharing over time. Here are a few more relating to Chinatown: M is for Mornay Sauce To illustrate the shallow world in which Will Firestone lives, I begin the novel with his wealthy mother’s complaints about her chef’s rendition of a mornay sauce, which is really just a basic cheese sauce. It’s variation of a bechamel, or white sauce, one of the standard ... VIEW POST
Musings on the Depth of Beauty J-K-L
J IS FOR JACK LONDON I inserted the novelist Jack London as a “walk on” character in The Depth of Beauty because he was a San Francisco native and is well known to readers today. His iconic novel, The Call of the Wild (written in 1903) had already made him famous by 1906. The novel is based on London’s experiences in the Klondike Gold Rush, which figures prominently in my first novel, The Art of Love. On the day of the earthquake, London and his second wife, Charmian, were living at their ... VIEW POST
Musings on The Depth of Beauty G-H-I
G is for Guandong In the Depth of Beauty, most of the Chinese immigrants hail from Guandong province, and the novel touches upon the stirrings of revolution in China. Guandong province lies on the coast of the South China Sea in the People’s Republic of China. Its capital, Guanzhou, (known to westerners at one point as “Canton”) was an important trading port for rice, opium and silk, among other goods, which meant that the Chinese people who lived there were more accustomed to westerners than ... VIEW POST
Musings on the Depth of Beauty D-E-F
More interesting facts based on my latest historical novel, The Depth of Beauty... D IS FOR DONALDINA If I were naming a fictional character, I wouldn’t name her “Donaldina.” The name sounds as if a girl’s parents were totally bummed that they didn’t have a boy. Yuck! But Donaldina Cameron was a real person who in fact ran the Presbyterian Mission House in San Francisco from 1899 to 1934. She’s a key player in The Depth of Beauty; her mission, in both the story and in life, was to rescue ... VIEW POST
WHAT I GOT FROM KINDLE SCOUT
First, let me be clear about what I didn’t get: a contract with Kindle Press. Nope, I didn’t get enough votes to have my novel, The Depth of Beauty, promoted by that entity. Was I disappointed about that? Sure. For a while at least. I put a lot of effort (or so I thought) into the thirty-day campaign, and there’s no getting around it: when you set a goal and don’t reach it, that’s a bummer. But here’s what I did get out of the experience: A marketing email that will be sent directly to ... VIEW POST
