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BOOK TOUR TAKES US TO TOWNS, CITIES, BACK YARDS, BISTROS;

FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR 'LILIAN...'

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JOSH LOGAN'S TIPS

A poster for "Annie Get Your Gun'' helped
inspire the title character in "Lilian's Last Dance."

ON CREATING BELIEVABLE CHARACTERS

STORY BY CHRISTENE MEYERS

CROSSING the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth II, the summer of 1986, famed Broadway producer and director Josh Logan lectured.

He was one of my idols, for I'd grown up with "Annie Get Your Gun," and "South Pacific," both of which he directed. My late husband, Bruce Meyers, accomplished actor and writing professor, encouraged me to approach Logan and express my interest in writing my own musical.
Fun travel tips, hotels, cruising, nature & more, at whereiscookie

Writers Bill Jones and Cookie
were characters in a seafaring
"drama," crossing on the famed
Queen Elizabeth II, where earlier
Christene and Bruce Meyers
met, dined with and interviewed
brilliant Broadway director,
Josh Logan.

Famed Broadway director Josh Logan took time with
Christene Meyers years ago on an Atlantic crossing.

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LOGAN  WAS GRACIOUS -- delighted to visit. Although he was elderly, and used a walker and wheelchair, he was animated when talking about theater. I took notes at his lively lectures and our private conversations..  He died two years later, in 1988, leaving a legacy to the world -- and invaluable advice for me.

The iconic Eiffel Tower
plays a small part in "Lilian...." too.

LOGAN TOLD me that research and "reinvention" are critical to making invented characters come alive. "Know their history, then make them your own," he said. Before "South Pacific" he studied James Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific," which inspired the musical's imaginary people. He visited the islands many times.

The Paris cabaret scene inspired us to envision
what a show might have been like in Paris 100 years ago.

Paris and the Moulin Rouge attracted a return visit to Paris.
The shows and people there inspired Paris detail in the book.

TAKING a cue from that Broadway genius, the creation of "Lilian's Last Dance" took me on many journeys. Bruce Meyers and I, then Bill Jones and I, and later Bruce Keller and I, traveled to Hawaii, England, France, Australia, Peru and many North American states. The work survived the deaths of both husbands Bruce and of Bill (Bill, my "Lilian" collaborator.) Before he passed, in 2005, we filled notebooks with detail and had a draft of the novel. I'd written a half-dozen songs for the musical version.

WE COLLECTED maps, visited museums and read books about silent movies, vintage travel and World War I.  The emerging modern art movement plays a part in "Lilian...." so we located Gertrude Stein's salon in Paris, 27 rue de Fleures, where she, Alice Toklas and brother Leo hung their cutting edge acquisitions. We watched people and studied paintings at the Musee d'Orsay, where several of Steins' purchases now hang.

WE BOOKED shows in the Moulin Rouge, which "Lilian..." characters frequent.  This enriched our writing and made them and their settings believable.

Christene Meyers caps "The Big Read" and  Wednesdays with Willa (Cather)
at Billings Library, with a lively reading and introduction of several songs
for a "some day" musical version of her novel, "Lilian's Last Dance."

IT'S NEARLY OCTOBER and we've done more than two dozen readings of "Lilian's Last Dance" readings and Writer's Voice workshops.
The novel  is selling tidily -- with many readings in California, Arizona and Montana.  From Scottsdale to San Francisco to Miles City, we're enjoying the audiences, questions and dialogue.
We know of  33 book clubs reading "Lilian..." A book club of bell ringers and readers in Billings, Montana, chose it, as did a Rocky Mountain College group of readers. A Scottsdale, Az., club is enjoying the novel. My own Stillwater River Readers, a Montana book club, read it and gave it thumbs up. Why not suggest it for your book club?

Books, birds figure into Montana return 
We're delighted that it is doing well. Friends on both coasts report receiving copies quickly through Barnes and Noble. Some small, smart, independent bookstores and specialty shops are stocking it, and paperback and ebook are available through both B&N and Amazon.  

Christene "Cookie" Meyers reads at Vista La Jolla Townhomes Club House.

BETTE MIDLER MAKES COOKIE'S 'LIFETIME TOP TEN', click here
WE ALSO HAVE a stash of the first edition and are happy to share.  (Book stores and gift shops are selling from $15 to $19.)  We sell inscribed, signed first editions for $22 (including postage and handling charges.) We'll personally deliver in our area, for $20. 

To order, write us at:
lilianslastdance@gmail.com or send a check with your order and inscription information to 8935 Via Andar, San Diego, Calif. 92122. Friends in Providence, R.I., received theirs in six days and a Portland, Oregon, order arrived in five days.
Amazon and B&N list "LLD" at $13.50 to $14.99, sometimes less. Other smaller, independent book stores are selling from $15.99 to $19.99.  If you purchase two, copies are $18 each (add $5 postage and handling per address.)  We are happy to inscribe and sign the books. 
THE PAPERBACK came out just three months after the ebook had a tidy run.
We shopped around and settled on a distinguished Wyoming publishing house, WordsWorth, of Cody, Wyo., for our proud paperback publisher.   
We're back in SoCal for the winter, after doing more than 30 readings in Europe and the Northern Rockies. Now back on the West Coast and Arizona. Have also read for 15 book clubs, Ohio to Oslo. Let us know if we can come read in your town!)

Take a spin on the High Roller wheel in Las Vegas

WE'RE EXCITED about that, and about this "Lilian" website. Look here for "Lilian" press releases, interviews, tours, reviews, signings, and "all things Lilian."

Our popular blog, whereiscookie.com, now entering its third year, will continue to focus twice a week on travel and adventure (our most popular postings are about cruising, theater and hotels), books, concerts and the natural world.  We hope you'll follow "Lilian" here and we'd love to get you the paperback.

CLICK HERE TO BUY ==> LILIAN'S LAST DANCE    

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Alex Trebek has been with '"Jeopardy" many years, but is not its first host.

WWW.LILIANSLAST DANCE.com
FEATURES REGULAR PieceS ON THE BOOK TOURS AND READINGS, WITH OCCASIONAL DEPARTURES. EARLIER THIS SUMMER, ON A BOOK DELIVERY TO LOS ANGELES, WE VISITED THE SET OF 'JEOPARDY' TO ENJOY TIME with host alex trebek and

venerable announcer

johnny gilbert.

(The QUESTION IS:

'CANADIAN BORN, HE HAS HOSTED A POPULAR GAME

SHOW SINCE ITS REVIVAL in 1984.'

THE ANSWER IS:

ALEX TREBEK!)

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