Seven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel
by JoAnn Spears
Publication Date: October 31, 2015
eBook & Paperback; 528 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction/Humor/Satire
If you thought “Six of One: A Tudor Riff” was the most fun you could have with your nightdress on, wait until you see what “Seven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel” has in store. Get ready for one ‘ruff’ night! Tudorphile Dolly thought that the night she spent on an astral plane with Henry VIII’s six wives, learning their heretofore unknown secrets, was a one-time thing. Not so! In “Seven Will Out”, Dolly finds herself back in the ether with the women of later Tudor times: Elizabeth I, ‘Bloody’ Mary, Bess of Hardwick, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Anne Hathaway Shakespeare, to name a few. They too have secrets that will turn history on its head, and comic sass that will keep you laughing. You’ve read all of the traditional, serious and romantic takes on the legendary Tudors. Why not try your Tudors with a new and different twist?
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Guest Post: How Tudorphile Dolly Ended Up In Tudor England by JoAnn Spears
My fictional Tudor history professor, Dolly, travelled from my admittedly vivid imagination, and to another-worldly astral Tudor plane, via a circuitous route. I’ll try to break down the trip as best I can.
The Reason:Dolly gets to meet the Tudor women (Elizabeth I and her contemporaries in ‘Seven Will Out’, the six wives of Henry VIII and their contemporaries in ‘Six of One’) simply because I have always wanted to meet them. I have read about them all of my life, and their fascination never palls. I’ve wanted to talk to them, to ask them why they did the things they did, and to learn how they felt about what happened to them. I wanted to hear it from the horses’ mouths, so to speak (no ‘Flanders Mare’ pun intended, my dear Ann of Cleves), and not through the filter of a history book or novel. Lots of authors have given us just the facts, or dialogue between the Tudors themselves in fiction, and they have done an awesome job. I just wanted talk to the Tudors directly, and in my imagination, I did. Then I documented what I came up with in my novels. I approached it wanting to bring a humorous spin to the Tudor women, and once I started speaking to them in my head, they obliged me quite charmingly in that regard–writing my books has been a lot fun.
Why an astral plane/alternative universe?
I wanted to converse with the Tudors in easy, contemporary language. Therefore, I put them in another-world castle turret, to which they had been exiled by a higher power. I devised that in this celestial way-station, they had been entertaining ‘guests’ over the centuries prior to Dolly’s advent. This meant the Tudor folk would have been exposed to history, language, and parlance from after their own era, down to the present, and could speak with Dolly in more or less modern parlance.
The starting point:
I love the Wizard of Oz, and the idea of an alternative universe, and a heroine who goes there, learns, and comes back wiser, fit in perfectly with my plans for my novels. The Wizard of Oz was the first ‘real’ book I read as a child, and all through my adulthood, I turn to it again and again for inspiration. The book contains a lot of wisdom about life, even for adults.
The launching pad:
The idea that I really could take a Tudorphile heroine on a Yellow-Brick-Road journey, and actually write novels about it, went from dream to reality in a hot tub in Vermont. I was chatting with a friend who was working on a novel, and she knew I liked to write. She challenged me to start a novel of my own. I told her about my Tudor-Yellow Brick Road idea, and she liked it. Dolly was on her way to meet the Tudors!
Her name:
The naming process, like a lot of the writing process, is a blur as I look back, and ask myself how I came up with the name Dolly. Like Dolly, I am known to my nearest and dearest by a nickname (Cookie, a name given to me by my affectionate Italian grandmother). I guess it was inevitable that my heroine would have a nickname, too. Also, I moved, while writing the novel, to Upper East Tennessee, and Dollywood is not far away. I’ve always thought Dolly Parton pretty cool, and if the name was good enough for her, it was for my heroine. Also, by strange coincidence, my first pet dog was called Dolly. And finally, I worked a lot of wordplay and rhyming into my first Dolly novel, ‘Six of One’, and the name ‘Dolly’ worked really well with that.
About by JoAnn Spears
JoAnn Spears couldn’t decide whether to major in English or History in college. Life stepped in, and she wound up with a Master’s Degree in Nursing instead. A twenty-five year nursing career didn’t extinguish that early interest in books and history. It did however stoke a decidedly gallows sense of humor.
The story of the six wives of Henry VIII was JoAnn’s favorite piece of history. Over the years, she read just about every spin on the story that there was. It occurred to her that the one spin that hadn’t been brought to a full length novel about the Tudors was a gallows sense of humor. The Tudors certainly qualified for it, and JoAnn had plenty to spare.
The first ‘real’ book JoAnn ever read was “The Wizard of Oz”. She returned to the Yellow Brick Road for inspiration for a new kind of Tudor novel, and “Six of One” was born.
“Six of One” was begun in JoAnn’s native New Jersey. It was wrapped up in her new Smoky Mountain home in northeast Tennessee, where she is pursuing a second career as a writer. She has, however, obtained a Tennessee nursing license because a) you never stop being a nurse and b) her son Bill thinks she should be sensible and not quit her day job.
While “Six of One” is a different kind of historical novel, JoAnn is a downright stereotypical lady author. She admits to the usual cats, flower beds, needlework, and frightfully complete collections of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott.
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Giveaway of Seven Will Out by JoAnn Spears
This giveaway is for one paperback and is open to Canada and the U.S. only. This giveaway ends on March 11, 2016 at 12 pm pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
Tour Schedule for Seven Will Out by JoAnn Spears
Monday, February 15
Spotlight & Giveaway at Unshelfish
Tuesday, February 16
Review at Turning The Pages
Wednesday, February 17
Review at Book Nerd
Thursday, February 18
Spotlight & Giveaway at CelticLady’s Reviews
Friday, February 19
Interview at Historical Fiction Addicts
Giveaway at Passages to the Past
Monday, February 22
Review at A Holland Reads
Guest Post at Boom Baby Reviews
Tuesday, February 23
Review & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Obsession
Wednesday, February 24
Review at Rambling Reviews
Thursday, February 25
Review at With Her Nose Stuck In A Book
Friday, February 26
Guest Post at Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More
Sunday, February 28
Review at The Tudor Enthusiast
Monday, February 29
Review at Svetlana’s Reads and Views
