Blog

John Shors is the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of BENEATH A MARBLE SKY and UNBOUND, among other works of historical fiction. In an effort to provide readers with an unparalleled travel experience, John launched John Shors Travel in 2014. Through his tour company, he has led small groups of travelers on adventures all over the world to the settings in his novels, including India, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. In this piece, John talks about the origin of these unique literary tours and how wonderful it has been to travel with his readers.

Tasha Alexander is the author of the Lady Emily mystery series. The latest installment, DEATH IN ST. PETERSBURG, was partly inspired by years of ballet training at the hands of Marie Buczkowski, who, in turn, studied in Paris with Olga Preobrajenska. Preobrajenska, a prima ballerina at Imperial Ballet and a character in Alexander's new novel, fled Russia after the revolution. Madame Buczkowski would be pleased that her former pupil focused on Russian ballet and spent a great deal of time in the Mariinsky Theatre watching the masters at work.

Mark de Castrique is the author of a mystery series featuring Asheville, NC, private eyes Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson, an interracial couple and co-owners of the Blackman and Robertson Detective Agency. In this piece, de Castrique explains how a story told to him by a 90-year-old man served as inspiration for BLACKMAN’S COFFIN, the opening novel in the series, and the significance of the William Faulkner quote “The Past is never dead. It’s not even past” in relation to the sixth and latest installment, HIDDEN SCARS, which sees Sam and Nakayla enmeshed in the history of the revolutionary Black Mountain College, which was founded in 1933 and attracted world-renowned educators fleeing Nazi Germany.