A friend asked why I chose this era (the 1920’s) and this city (Victoria BC Canada) for this year’s Christmas novella.
I didn’t have a fast answer because the idea evolved slowly. It started when I was invited to participate in a pirate anthology in late 2019. I suspected that most of the stories would be about European pirates of the Atlantic/Caribbean area.
All too often my mind seeks a different response to challenges. Usually a more difficult one. So of course I decided I’d write around the rum-runners and smugglers of the Pacific Northwest. Very quickly it became apparent that I couldn’t manage that AND get The Lighthouses of Devmaer series off the ground so the pirates went on the back burner.
Earlier in 2020 I was invited to participate in a Christmas historical anthology. Once again I thought great! I immediately decided my historical period had to be Victoria in the 1920’s, because that ties in with one of the busier periods in the rum-running and smuggling world here. I bailed from that anthology when I was told the story had to be vanilla. No erotica. No kink.
I have written and been published in mainstream fiction twice before I landed here in this gauzy world of secret desires and I always felt like I was lying a bit about who I am.
So I combined some of what I learned about Victoria’s underworld with a period of history that intrigues me because of the rampant social change after WWI. Voilà – Papa Pierre’s Christmas Gift.
If readers like it enough it may develop into a full series.
It will be released soon. You can get your free copy by subscribing to my newsletter here: http://libbycampbell.com/subscribe-to-my-newsletter
Hope you love it.
