So… I had posted Chapter 21 with an apology for moving the numbering around. A subsequent revision meant that I cut a chapter so we’re back to Chapter 21 again. La!
I know. It’s all very confusing. So here’s what happened.
At the Nebulas I had a chance to sit down with my agent and one of my first readers and talk about the novel. This resulted in some hefty changes to the first five chapters. One of them was one I’d been thinking about for awhile.
The trouble with writing a historical fantasy is the history. In 1907 President Roosevelt spoke at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This is a plot point. The problem is that the Ryman had no dressing rooms, only cloth dividers. I had several scenes which needed to take place in a dressing room and included conversations that wouldn’t plausibly have taken place with cloth walls.
So… I created an alternate history in which the Ryman burned to the ground the month before my novel starts. This made it easy to move all the action to the Vendome which has a better floorplan for my action.
If you’ve been reading along, it’s posted now.
If you haven’t been reading along, you can read the ground rules and join in. Since I did just make some sweeping changes to the first chapters, having fresh eyes would be useful.
I’ll go back and read straight through again either tomorrow or next week depending on time and then I’ll give feedback. Just a head’s up!