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Monday, August 1, 2011

Interview with debut author C.J. Chase

Cj Chase
CJ Chase






Interview by Carrie Fancett Pagels


C.J. Chase is the author of Redeeming the Rogue

Published by: Love Inspired Historicals

Date: August, 2011

This is C.J.’s debut novel! Congrats, C.J., who lives here in Virginia and belongs to Colonial American Christian Writers and to our local Tidewater Christian Fiction Writers group.  Welcome to the Colonial Quills blog, C.J.!

C.J., what got you interested in this time period?

Well, this book is actually a little past the colonial period—and it’s set in England. But the plot revolves around the Treaty of Ghent, the treaty which ended the War of 1812. I love America and American history, and in fact, I have a novel set in Virginia’s early colonial period in my stash of as-yet unsold manuscripts.  Maybe someday …

I was a kid in the Midwest during the Bicentennial celebrations. (Yes, I know, I’m dating myself now.) It was all nice and fun, but it seemed rather abstract—until we traveled east on vacation that year. My father took me to an old, old cemetery on my uncle’s farm and showed me the gravesite of a Revolutionary War ancestor. Suddenly, the Bicentennial became personal.


What inspired your book?
The popularity of the Regency period among American readers has always seemed a little strange to me because we were at war with the British during that time. I decided to write what I call the “anti-Regency”—a book set in Regency England, but written from an American’s perspective. My heroine is from Washington, DC, and was there when the British burned the city. She travels to London to inquire after the fate of her brother, a sailor who was impressed into the British Navy. To say she’s not particularly fond of all things British would be to understate the matter. But her questions draw her into a web of lies, conspiracy and danger, and she must decide if she can trust the British official who might be working with her … or against her.

An e-book version is available on both Amazon’s and Mills and Boon’s UK sites, so it will be interesting to see if I sell any books in Britain—and what the readers’ reactions are!

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?
Jamestown, the place that started the whole thing. Those early colonists were thousands of miles away from everything familiar—and they were totally on their own. They had no army, no police force, no one to call if things went wrong. And things often went wrong in those first few years. How could they not? They had no idea what to expect or how to prepare. Every time I visit Jamestown, I’m amazed at the courage of those people.

Here is a link to CJ's trailer.

C.J., do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy?  Would you care to share it with CQ readers?  Readers, you can find C.J.’s recipe for homemade noodles this coming Sunday on CQ.

Where do you live and what colonial places you have in your state?
I live in Southeastern Virginia, so finding colonial sites is almost as easy as stepping out my back door.

Giveaway:  CQ is giving away a copy of Redeeming the Rogue. Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win! It is available for purchase at Amazon and CBD in paperback and Kindle versions.

45 comments:

  1. Yay, CJ!!!! I'm so excited and can't wait to read the book. Love the cover.

    -Another "Chase"

    kvchase(at)gmail(dot)com

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  2. So excited to find your blog! Have joined and look forward to spending some quality time here. Off to set up an historical exhibit at our library in celebration of our town's 150th anniversary - so history is a love - and our Lord - and all things good and beauty! Visit me at The Writer's Reverie - www.thewritersreverie.blogspot.com!
    Joy!
    Miss Kathy

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  3. Victoria, thank you for the kind words. I agree that it's a great cover. A writer friend warned me last fall that the best time investments a writer makes are the hours spent getting information to the art department for the cover. All those hours I spent looking a screencaps from period movies -- it was such a hardship!

    One of my husband's co-workers identified the time period by the gun in Kit's hand. Hahaha. Leave it to a guy to check out the gun.

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  4. Welcome, Miss Kathy. I love libraries. All those books! Some days I just want to start at the first shelf and see how far I can get.

    And congratulations to your town on its anniversary.

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  5. Interesting interview, Carrie and C.J. Congrats on your debut novel! This must be a very exciting time for you! I agree with the others; the cover is fabulous!

    Beth Wiseman recently put her Amish recipe of homemade noodles on her blog, and after cooking for 38 years, I said no thanks, and proceeded to the grocery store and picked up a bag of noodles. I'm such a lazy woman! LOL! However, I must say that I am going to make a homemade potpie for dinner tonight, but only b/c it's a simple recipe. It's not so much the cooking, but the cleanup! Ugh! I will come back and check out your noodle recipe, though, and again congrats on your new book!

    dianalflowers@aol.com

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  6. Thanks, Diana. The funny story about the cover is that the art department made the heroine's hair considerably lighter than I envisioned. I've had numerous people comment that she looks like me (the me of 20 years ago, anyway). Now everyone's going to think me terribly vain.

    What I like about homemade noodles is that they have 4 ingredients (flour, egg, water, salt), so on those days when I look around the kitchen and realize at 5:00 that I don't have the ingredients for the meal I'd planned, I make noodles. It's not such an issue now as it was a few years back when I had to drive further to the store. (New Walmart just opened a few miles from our house. I'm going to head over there in a couple days and have my husband take my picture next to my book.)

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  7. You do look like the girl on the cover, C.J.! That is too cool! My potpie crust is like that...three ingredients and it's a hit with company. The best kind; only a few ingredients.:-)

    dianalflowers@aol.com

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  8. C. J. (I'm another C. J.), this book sounds fabulous! Really, what a unique twist with your "anti-regency" story. I'm looking forward to reading this exciting tale!

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  9. Diana, sounds like the noodle recipe is pretty much the same as the potpie recipe. When Carrie sent me the request for a colonial recipe, I really had to wrack my brains. I love spoon bread, but I don't make it myself. I think a lot of the foot must have been fairly bland. My mother grew up in the Appalachians during Great Depression (think the Waltons but with twice as many children) and I only recently learned she didn't even eat cheese until she was an adult. (I'd have thought on a farm they might have made their own cheese, but I guess the milk was too valuable.)

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  10. Carla, I got the CJ nickname after my cousins got a dog they called CJ and someone figured out I had those initials too. (Did you ever see the scene in Indiana Jones where his dad says, "We named the dog Indiana"? Yeah, that's my story.)

    Hope you enjoy the book. Leave it to those Americans to take a Regency setting a make it revolve around themselves. Ha!

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  11. LOL! Well, I'm Carla Joyce, but the nickname is really Carly.

    Yes, it's a great twist!

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  12. Thanks Carrie and C.J. for the interview. This books sounds like another for my "I JUST HAVE TO READ" list. LOL! AS for the cover picture, if someone thinks it looks like you, just grin and say thank you! You know the Lord moves in mysterious ways! hehehe Can't wait to see your recipe for homemade noodles. YUM!tsmathews61@gmail.com

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  13. Teresa, on the cover picture, my agent just said I should smile and tell everyone I decided to use my author picture on the cover. Of course, I'm usually wearing tee-shirts and jeans, so the similarities only go so far.

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  14. Looks great! The fresh persective is a real hook.

    Please enter me
    crazi.swans at gmail dot com

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  15. Yet another book to add to my TBR pile! Love the cover. The dress is about three inches too short, but I can forgive that because it has both of them on the cover. I hate it when the hero gets left out.

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  16. Thanks, Faye. I thought it was an interesting premise for a book. I guess I'm American-centric, huh?

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  17. Rachel, I laughed when I saw the hemline and the boots because they look Western to me. LIH has more Western settings than anything else, so I figured the artist painted what he knew. (The pictures I sent had longer skirts, so I didn't even think to specify what the shoes would look like. Live and learn.) Hmm. A Western/Regency mashup. On a ship.

    My husband works on a military base. The guys there checked out the ship and the gun, of course. (One guy could even tell the time period by the gun, so I guess I sent the right picture in for that!)

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  18. I like the book trailer, CJ, and I posted it in the interview above and will put it on FB, too. Very nice!

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  19. I shared the video on FB too. I loved it and we were all pleasantly surprised over at Inkwell Inspirations when Barbara Early shared it with us. A woman of many talents.

    Well, I just finished Redeeming the Rogue and I loved it. I'm a bit of a plot-nut and CJ has twists and turns and keeps the tension ratcheted up throughout the book. And lots of surprises. My kind of story. Mattie and Kit's story is sure to please.

    What a great month for new books, eh?

    Thanks Carrie, Diana and CJ!

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  20. Knowing CJ, I am not surprised at all, and I got started on my computer copy and am SO looking forward to reading it on my Kindle back at home! Still in Philly and I am looking out at the lights and boats on the Delaware river. Got a beautiful view of the harbor! This is a GREAT month for new releases and for our darling C.J. and her debut!!!

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  21. Thanks, Carrie. Barb Early worked with me on the trailer. The words were mine, but she put it all together. My family is laughing at me because I keep watching it over and over.

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  22. Deb, you should have seen me at the restaurant the night I was plotting the climax. I had a pen and paper and was trying to sketch out the scene for the guys. Then we tried to figure where everyone was standing and what they were doing. I guess no one overheard us because no one called the FBI on us.

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  23. C. J. I just had to come back and say how excited I am for you on your debut novel! I am looking forward to seeing more great books like this from you in the future. What a great start! Congratulations!

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  24. I love the setting for Redeeming the Rogue and the issues of trust in loving. Please include me in the drawing. Thank you!
    worthy2bpraised at gmail dot com

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  25. Congratulations on your debut novel. How exciting!

    Blessings,
    Jodie Wolfe
    digging4pearls(at)comcast(dot)net

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  26. Hi CJ,
    So good to meet you and learn more about you here. Your lovely cover caught my eye some time ago and I really like the blurb:) Please don't enter me in the drawing as I'm going to buy my own copy. Just wanted to say happy release day to you!

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  27. Carla, thank you. Of course, if I don't get off the Internet (promotion is a big time eater, I'm finding), there won't be any more books.

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  28. Hi C.J.
    I would LOVE to read this book, and as I'm interested in your "American-centric" take during the regency period. Today that might be referred to as "protectionism" :) Thanks for the twist! Blessings....

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  29. Thanks, Merry. I had fun exploring the period and trying to incorporate a few of the lesser known aspects.

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  30. Pearls/Jodie. It has been exciting. (And exhausting.) Thank you for stopping by.

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  31. Music to my ears, Laura. You really know how to make a writer smile :)

    Kudos to LIH's art department for such a nice job.

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  32. An anti-Regency. That sounds like fun! Not that I don't enjoy Regencies, but this will be a new-to-me perspective on the genre. Congratulations CJ!

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  33. Thanks, Pat. What got me started was finding American characters in Britain during the time period who seemed totally obvious to the fact that they were in an "enemy" country. Of course, I lived in the DC area for a couple of decades and I'm a history buff, so that probably makes me more aware of the issue.

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  34. Thanks, Lori. If this works, I may just have to try more anti-Regencies. Hmm (mind starts thinking of totally wild mash ups of Jane Austen and American spies, and such).

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  35. By the way, I was born in and grew up in the DC area, but as mistiming would have it, I didn't become engrossed in 18th century history until AFTER I moved clear across the country to the left coast! Oh, how I have bemoaned all the missed opportunities to visit such easily accessible 18C historical sites that to reach now feels like running a gauntlet!

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  36. C.J., I want to see your Jamestown story out there in print, too!

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  37. WOW! Fantastic Interview! Love it!
    I Love to make homemade noodles. :) Would like to see your recipe.
    Would love to win "Redeeming the Rogue".
    Thank you for the chance.
    Wendy
    wdesirees[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  38. Carrie, I know mother's aren't supposed to play favorites,... but I love that book. However, I've been told it's too gritty for LIH. We're holding onto it until I'm famous.

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  39. Thank you, Wendy. Carrie designed the interview questions. I just filled it some answers and tried to make myself sound more exciting than I really am.

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  40. Congrats, C.J. on your release! It looks absolutely fantastic!! Ships, beautiful women, a gorgeous rogue...*sigh*
    And, as for a mash-up of Jane Austen and American spies, oh yeah! Sounds like it could be super interesting :)

    Good luck to you ~

    amanda38401 at gmail dot com
    Amanda

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  41. I love Historical books and this one has both UK and USA setting so is really special. Thanks for the great interview CJ and can't wait to read your book. Congratulations on its release.

    misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

    For some reason can't comment on this type comment form so using Anon.

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  42. Thank you, Amanda. A friend once told me you should always give the art department a cool prop to draw, so one of my suggestions was the ship.

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  43. Anon, sorry you're having posting problems. At least you got through, even if the software ate your name.

    This one doesn't really have an US setting -- Mattie is from the US, but the book begins when she gets to London. She's making inquiries about her brother, not realizing that as soon as her brother's name is mentioned, she is stirring up a hornet's nest. Her brother discovered something he shouldn't have. And then Mattie shows up in London ...

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  44. Congrats to you C.J. on your debut novel! I really enjoyed your interview with Carrie. I would love to win a copy of, Redeeming The Rogue. Sounds like a fantastic read!

    Blessings!
    judyjohn2004[at]yahoo[dot]com

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  45. Tori Chase is the winner of Redeeming the Rogue per random.org! Congrats Tori! Yes, another Chase!!!
    And thanks CJ for sharing with us! Look for an upcoming book review of RtR in a couple of weeks for another chance to win a copy of CJ's debut book!

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