Forms of Things Unknown
Recently returned to Chicago after a successful tour of Hamlet, Lillian Nolan is awakened in the dead of night by a strange voice. She is shocked to learn that well known and admired actress, Louise Hawthorne, has fallen to her death from the sixth floor of the Tremont House. Was it an accident? Did she jump or was she pushed? Louise’s former lover, and the main suspect, pleads with Lillian to uncover the truth and clear his name.
In the process of learning to trust her intuitive abilities, Lillian attempts to find balance between relying upon her gift and uncovering the truth in her own way. But the menace of death pursues her and soon her own life is at risk. When she finds herself in a trap from which she cannot escape, her only hope of survival is to call upon the metaphysical world.
Forms of Things Unknown is based on an actual event which occurred in June of 1876 in Chicago. It is the third standalone book in the Backstage Mystery Series.
THE BACKSTAGE MYSTERY SERIES
Life upon the wicked stage can be deadly.
Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, the Backstage Mystery Series stars Lillian Nolan, an unconventional member of Chicago’s upper class who dreams of a career of fortune and fame in the theater. Talented and ambitious, she possesses a hidden skill which she is extremely reluctant to use—the ability to communicate with those who have died and now live in the world of “The Beyond.”
The series chronicles her adventures in which she continually becomes enmeshed in solving mysteries which often require her accessing the realm of the paranormal. Filled with an incredible cast of characters—factual, fictional, and sometimes non-physical—who either help or hinder her quest for the truth, the stories take place during a period considered to be the golden age of both acting and spiritualism in America.
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Author Bio
Elizabeth Ireland discovered her passion for theater early. After receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theater, she accepted a teaching position in a vibrant performing arts department at a college in northern Illinois. For ten years, she taught, directed and ran front-of-house operations. American Theater History—particularly that of the 19th century—has always been of particular interest to her.
She has been a quarter-finalist and a semi-finalist for the Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Two of her screenplays have been optioned, but remain unproduced. Her nonfiction work, Women of Vision: Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives, was published in 2008. Her work has also been published in a collection of paranormal short stories, Paramourtal: Tales of Undying Love and Loving the Undead. She lives in metro Atlanta with her ever-patient husband, and two quirky dachshunds.
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Forms of Things Unknown – Book Three
The Backstage Mystery Series
By Elizabeth Ireland Q&A
.Is it true that anyone can be a writer?
Yes and no. I believe anyone can sit down and write something in a coherent fashion—for instance, journal writing. But does that make them a writer? There is talent and craft involved in the writing process as well as development of that talent and dedication to that craft. Not everyone wants to or can make that kind of commitment. Those that do are writers.
Did any of your books get rejected by publishers?
Of course. Rejection is part of the process. Writing is a creative process and an art form after all and each person who encounters it will have an opinion. But you can’t take that rejection personally—which is, of course, easy to say, hard to do. When you have written something that is very personal—your creative piece of work—and now someone rejects it, it is very difficult. You have to understand that rejection comes from a lot of different reasons. If you can’t let that go and keep going on, then writing is not for you. People are going to have an opinion on your work and you just have to know that a certain percentage of them are not going to like it and move on.
They say books die every time they are turned into a movie; what do you think?
I believe a really well-made film based on a book encourages the audience to read the actual book. It is important to understand there is a significant difference between a book and a movie. The former is meant to be read and the later is meant to be seen. Making a movie is a whole other creative process and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. While a lot of people are involved in creating a book, there is only one writer. In making a movie, it’s a totally collaborative process. The writer is only one of the people involved in the movie. I think there have been a lot of successful movies that have been made from books—the Harry Potter series, for example. While the movies could not encompass everything in the books (which was part of the reason the last book was divided into two movies) they were all true to the books, and really honored the story. Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Hunger Games series are other movies that were true to the book as well.
Is writing book series more challenging?
It is in the sense that it is a long term project. With a single book, you finish it and are done. With a series, it’s a much longer commitment. I enjoy writing the series for the very reason I get to create character arcs over the long term and really tell their story and flesh them out. It is challenging because it is important to keep things fresh and new—and to let each book be a complete story so the reader can pick up any book in the series and feel that they have enjoyed what they read and only read another one if they want to.
How did it feel when your first book got published?
It is a wonderful feeling to have a book you have written in your hands. While electronic books are a wonderful thing—and I have a library of them—there is nothing in the world like having the three dimensional print book in your hand and on your shelf. It makes the whole thing much more real.
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