Interview and Giveaway with MJ Rose, author of Seduction

The winner of the copy of Seduction is Kristin Gleeson. Congratulations. To enter the giveaway of an advanced reader copy of Seduction, simply leave a comment below by June 30th.

About MJ Rose
M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of eleven novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio.  Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors – Authorbuzz.com.  The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype.  She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.

For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Interview

Judith: Seduction blends the lives of Victor Hugo with the modern heroine Jac L’Etoile from your previous novel The Book of Lost Fragrances. How did you become interested in writing about Victor Hugo?

MJ: A trip to Paris and Victor Hugo’s home there inspired me to read Les Miserables. I became obsessed with Fantine. I kept wondering if someone had inspired Hugo to create her? I started reading more and more about him. I read his poetry. Sought out his watercolors and drawings… But it was coming across a description of his belief in reincarnation and his experimenting with séances that made me decide to write about him… and the woman who might have inspired him to create Fantine.

Judith: Victor Hugo, during the period you portray in your novel, had grown to scorn the Church as an oppressor of the people and was famous for his rationalist views. How do you think he became so obsessively drawn into séances and spiritualism that he believed he conversed with Lucifer? It’s a fascinating transformation.

MJ: While he opposed the formality of the church and hated how corrupt it had become, Hugo remained a deeply spiritual man his whole life. He was suffering the deep loss of his favorite child when a friend introduced him to the idea of séances. The possibility of finding his daughter’s soul and reconnecting with her, fueled him.

Judith: As you researched the Celtic legends and ruins that form such an important thread in this book, what did you find most startling and surprising?

MJ: The age of the monuments… Jersey is so rich in Celtic ruins. Hundreds of monuments going back to Neolithic times. There are so many mysterious aspects to the dolmens, menhirs, monoliths and grave sites found there. It’s the perfect setting for a ghost story.

Judith: Jac’s “trips” into the past are triggered by scents—which makes sense for her character since she was trained during childhood in formulating perfumes. Did you find accounts of people who had similar olfactory experiences or did your imagination produce this persuasive story telling device?

MJ: Throughout history shamans and mystics have burned hallucinogenic incenses as aides to help them visit other realms and experience past life memories. The blue lotus – which can be found in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings – is just one such essence priests from that time used to enter into traces.

Judith: Victor Hugo is definitely not a faithful husband. He kept a mistress for much of his life. Did you find you had to work at keeping his character likeable because of this reality, which you accurately portray in the novel?

MJ:To each his or her own. Writing about him wasn’t about liking him or judging him – it was about being fascinated by him and trying to understand him. Hugo’s mother and father were unfaithful to each other and that pattern continued to be played out in Hugo’s life. His wife was, in fact, the first in the relationship to be unfaithful. Would he have become unfaithful eventually? Probably. Hugo was a larger than life, brilliant, creative and passionate man. He did in fact have more than one mistress and many many lovers. In reading his poetry and fiction it was clear to me how much he admired, needed and respected the women in his life and for that alone he deserved to be portrayed with prejudice.

Judith: Will we see Jac L’Etoile in another book? What projects are in the works for you?

MJ: Yes, Jac is coming back in 2014, and I’m just finishing up that book now but I never like talking about a book before it’s done – silly superstition I know – sorry☺