BLAST, BLITZ, PROMOS, REVEALS, & TOURS . . . : Jennifer S. Alderson Publishing

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Sunday, September 9, 2018

SPOTLIGHT Audio - MYSTERY - Rituals of the Dead (The Adventures of Zelda Richardson, #3) by Jennifer S. Alderson Narrator: Carol Purdom

Rituals of the Dead

The Adventures of Zelda Richardson, #3

by Jennifer S. Alderson
Narrator: Carol Purdom
Released: June 25th 2018
Publisher: Jennifer S. Alderson
Length: 8 hours 23 minutes
Genre: Mystery

Stolen artifacts, a missing anthropologist, and a pesky amateur sleuth. Art-history student Zelda Richardson is working at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam on an exhibition of bis poles from the Asmat region of Papua - the same area where a famous American anthropologist disappeared in 1962. When his journal is found inside one of the bis poles, Zelda is tasked with finding out more about the man's last days and his connection to these ritual objects. Zelda is pulled into a world of shady anthropologists, headhunters, missionaries, art collectors, and smugglers - where the only certainty is that sins of the past are never fully erased. Join Zelda as she grapples with the anthropologist's mysterious disappearance 50 years earlier and a present-day murderer who will do anything to prevent her from discovering the truth.

Character Name: Zelda Richardson
Role in your story: main protagonist
Age: 28
Short description: An independent young woman on a long journey of self-discovery.
Occupation: Burned out computer programmer. Currently studying art history at the University of Amsterdam.
Location: I was born and raised in in Seattle, Washington; I’m currently in the Netherlands.
Goal in life: To find true happiness – I know it’s possible!
Motto: Never give up!
Best friend: Here in the Netherlands it would have to be Friedrich Lutz, a psychology student at the University of Amsterdam.
Pet Peeve: People who dismiss me.
Favorite Hobby: Exploring the plethora of monuments, parks and museums in Amsterdam, my new hometown.
Dream job: Working in a museum as an exhibition designer.
Pessimist, Optimist, or Realist: Naïve optimist
Beverage of choice: Koffee verkeerd – the Dutch equivalent of a latte.
Any love interests? I just met Jacob, a wonderful PhD student, while working at the Tropenmuseum. We’ve only been out on a few dates, but it feels like true love. After the spectacular breakup with my last boyfriend though, I am trying to take this one slowly!
Biggest Fear: Failure.
Guilty Pleasure: Eating cookies in the shape of windmills.
Most embarrassing moment: When I sent an email (in Dutch) to a museum director asking for his permission to drill two ‘assholes’ in the wall, when I meant to say ‘holes’.
Greatest Strength: Stubborn determination.
Greatest Weakness: My stubborn determination.
Are you keeping any secrets? I’m such an open book, it’s impossible for me to keep any secrets!
Where do you see yourself in ten years? Working as a curator for the Van Gogh Museum here in Amsterdam.
Advice for the reader as they follow you through your journey? I might not always know what I’m doing, but my intentions are always noble!

Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, raised in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. Her love of travel, art, and culture inspires her ongoing mystery series, the Adventures of Zelda Richardson. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels. When not writing, Jennifer can be found in a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip. There are currently four books in the stand-alone series following the adventures of traveler and culture lover Zelda Richardson. In Down and Out in Kathmandu, Zelda gets entangled with a gang of smugglers whose Thai leader believes she’s stolen his diamonds. The Lover’s Portrait is a suspenseful “whodunit?” about Nazi-looted artwork that transports readers to wartime and present-day Amsterdam. Art, religion, and anthropology collide in Rituals of the Dead, a thrilling artifact mystery set in Dutch New Guinea (Papua) and the Netherlands. Her short story set in Panama and Costa Rica, Holiday Gone Wrong, will help fans better understand this unintentional amateur sleuth’s decision to study art history and give new readers a taste of her tantalizing misadventures. The Lover's Portrait was Chill With A Book’s January 2018 Book of the Month and won the Silver Cup in Rosie's Book Review Team 2017 Awards, Mystery category. TripFiction recently named it one of their 10 Favorite Books set in Amsterdam. It also won a Chill With A Book Readers’ Award, Readers’ Favorite 5 star medal, was one of The Displaced Nation magazine’s Top 36 Expat Fiction Picks of 2016, and came in at 14 in BookLife’s 2016 Prize for Fiction in the Mystery category. The Lover's Portrait was also one of Women Writers, Women’s Books magazine's Recommended Reads for April 2017. Her travelogue, Notes of a Naive Traveler, is a must read for those interested in learning more about—or wishing to—travel to Nepal and Thailand. It was also awarded a Readers’ Favorite 5 star medal.

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Carol Purdomis a retired System Analyst. She has many years of experience performing in community and dinner theater and currently writes for and directs her church Drama Ministry team. She received training in commercial and audio book recording from ADDY award-winning voice actor Leonard Dozier (SAG-AFTRA, AEA, ASCAP, Actor, Singer, Songwriter). She has recorded 8 audiobooks.

From Author Jennifer S. Alderson

My latest art-related mystery, Rituals of the Dead, is set in Papua and the Netherlands – two nations on opposite sides of the globe yet connected by a colonial past.

Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea – as the Papua Province of Indonesia was known until 1963 – was considered to be one of the last truly wild frontiers. The seemingly impenetrable interior and extreme weather, combined with rumors of headhunting and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, enticed many explorers wishing to prove themselves as intrepid adventurers, and anthropologists hoping to document these ‘primitive folk’. It also attracted Western missionaries who wanted to drag the locals ‘out of the Stone Age’. Hollandia (now Jayapura) was the capitol and main port of entry into the colony. Asmat is the name of a large province within Papua as well as an ethnic group that resides there. Agats was – and still is – the largest and most developed village in the Asmat Regency. It is the same town Western explorers would have flown or sailed into, and from there arranged transport further into the region. In Rituals of the Dead, my anthropologist Nick Mayfield follows a similar journey, flying from Hollandia to Agats where he pays locals to row him up the St. Lorentz River. Boats were the only realistic means of transport back then because very few roads existed, and none connected the Northern part of the island with the Southern side. The St. Lorentz River – a short boat ride away from Agats – was the main transportation route for Dutch colonial officers, administrators and missionaries. As such, the villages along its banks are well-described in these explorers’ journals.

The Asmat: headhunters and world-renowned carvers The landscape the Asmat inhabit is an extensive lowland swamp, dotted with tufts of rainforest, mangroves, and a maze of winding waterways. The tidal variations are extreme – three to five feet difference between ebb and flow is the norm – which is one of the reasons why their houses are built on stilts! I have also read that they are built high up like this to protect from predatory animals and – according to some – restless spirits that lurk close to the ground at night. The Asmat carve exquisite bis poles, shields and paddles that were – and still are – greatly desired by Western museums and collectors. These ancestor objects were carved during a bis ceremony, a six-week long party honoring the recently dead which culminated in a headhunting raid. In Rituals of the Dead, Dutch priest Kees Terpstra’s work as a missionary in the St. Lorentz River region is modelled after a real priest, Gerard Zegwaard. Zegwaard was the first Western missionary to really connect with the Asmat, win their trust, and eventually convert them to Catholicism. Though Western missionaries only gained a foothold in the region in the early 1950s, their impact on the Asmat’s spiritual lives and artistic expression were profound. By the time the Dutch ceded their control of the region to the United Nations in late 1962, in many areas headhunting rituals had already been replaced with Christian church services. The carvings’ scarcity only helped to drive up the prices and attract more and more anthropologists to the region, interested in buying everything they could find. These collectors inspired my character Albert Schenk, an anthropologist who documents the Asmat as well as barters for artifacts on Dutch museums’ behalf. Roughly half of my latest novel is set in the Asmat region in 1962, months before the Dutch let their colony go. In these chapters, my characters live in a village called Kopi. It is located on the St. Lorentz River about five hours from Agats. This fictitious village is based on a conglomeration of actual villages and settlements built along the river’s banks, as described by westerners working in the region in the 1940s through 1962. I relied heavily on their written accounts when describing the layout of Kopi, division of tasks, and typical daily life. Though I have never been to Papua, I did live in Darwin, Australia for almost two years while studying cultural anthropology and aboriginal art at the (now defunct) Northern Territory University. My former home was directly across the Arafura Bay from Papua, the location I would set this novel in – twenty years later! (Trust me, if I’d known I’d one day write about Papua, I would have made a point of visiting. Though at the time, extremely violent clashes between the Indonesian government and indigenous groups in East Timor and West New Guinea may have made that impossible.) I also spent a month exploring Fiji, another island in the Melanesian group that shares a similar flora, fauna, and climate to Papua. These experiences allowed me to better imagine the smells, sights and sounds my characters would have experienced, so well documented by early and contemporary explorers in their written accounts and documentaries.

Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam This is my second novel set in the Netherlands – and in particular Amsterdam. In both, my main protagonist Zelda Richardson is studying art history while interning at different Dutch museums. The beauty about living in one of the settings is I can hop on my bike and research potential locations! The Lover’s Portrait revolves around artwork looted during World War Two, making the Amsterdam (Historical) Museum, Jewish Historical Museum, and City Archives natural choices as settings. Because Rituals of the Dead involves anthropological artifacts, I chose two fascinating museums as the main Dutch settings – Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum (Museum of the Tropics) and Steyl’s Mission Museum. In my latest novel, Zelda Richardson is interning at the Tropenmuseum and one of her projects is conducting collection research for an exhibition of Asmat art. This was not a random choice. In 2008, I worked as a collection researcher for an exhibition of Asmat artifacts – Bis Poles: Sculptures from the Rain Forest. It showcased all of the bis poles owned by Dutch museums and described their collection history and spiritual significance. It was held in the Tropenmuseum, which is famous for their impressive Papua and New Guinea collection. They also have a fascinating exhibition about the Netherlands’ colonial history and life in Dutch New Guinea. This museum’s history, as well as the wild stories I discovered while researching the Asmat collection, directly inspired Rituals of the Dead.

Mission Museum in Steyl I first visited Steyl’s Mission Museum in 2006, as part of a museum studies class. This relatively small – yet extraordinary – museum displays artifacts and relics collected by missionaries stationed around the globe. Their exhibitions left a deep impression on me. When I decided to write a mystery about ethnographic artifacts, the Mission Museum sprung immediately to mind as a potential setting. Steyl is a small monastery village in the southernmost tip of the Netherlands. It was founded in 1875 by Father Arnold Janssen as the home for his newly established Steyl Mission Congregation (S.M.C.). The Mission Museum was created in 1889 to provide parishioners a glimpse into mission life and the countries (often colonies) their missionaries were actively working in. The classification system hasn’t been updated since 1931, though pieces are still added to the collection. One small room is filled with an incredibly selection of butterflies, praying mantis, grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects. A second, much larger room is divided into two sections. On the right-hand side are stuffed animals – birds, primates, and large mammals – displayed as if they were still alive. The ethnography collection fills the left-hand side. The objects are divided by region: Japan, Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia), Papua New Guinea, and Africa. The displays are a fascinating jumble of utensils, weapons, shields, handcrafts, carved sculptures, human remains, body decorations, and ancestor objects. A shield and the human skulls displayed here even have a starring role in my novel!

THE LOVER'S PORTRAIT

Sep. 2nd: Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews The Book Junkie Reads . . .

Sep. 3rd: Turning Another Page In Pattis Imagination

Sep. 4th: T's Stuff

Sep. 5th: AudioSpy

Sep. 6th: History from a Woman’s Perspective What Is That Book About

Sep. 7th: Jazzy Book Reviews

Sep. 8th: The Book Addict's Reviews

RITUALS OF THE DEAD

Sep. 9th: History from a Woman’s Perspective The Book Junkie Reads . . .

Sep. 10th: Turning Another Page Hall Ways Blog In Pattis Imagination

Sep. 11th: Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews

Sep. 12th: T's Stuff

Sep. 13th: AudioSpy

Sep. 14th: Jazzy Book Reviews

Sep. 15th: The Book Addict's Reviews

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Sunday, September 2, 2018

SPOTLIGHT Audio w/INTERVIEW - MYSTERY - The Lover's Portrait (The Adventures of Zelda Richardson, #2) by Jennifer S. Alderson Narrator: Carol Purdom

The Lover's Portrait

The Adventures of Zelda Richardson, #2

by Jennifer S. Alderson

Narrator: Carol Purdom

Released: Oct. 2, 2017

Publisher: Jennifer S. Alderson

Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

Genre: Mystery

Missing masterpieces, Nazi blackmailers, and a pesky amateur sleuth. When a Dutch art dealer hides the stock from his gallery - rather than turn it over to his Nazi blackmailer - he pays with his life, leaving a treasure trove of modern masterpieces buried somewhere in Amsterdam, presumably lost forever. That is, until American art history student Zelda Richardson sticks her nose in. After studying for a year in the Netherlands, Zelda scores an internship at the prestigious Amsterdam Museum, where she works on an exhibition of paintings and sculptures once stolen by the Nazis, lying unclaimed in Dutch museum depots almost seventy years later. When two women claim the same portrait of a young girl entitled Irises, Zelda is tasked with investigating the painting's history and soon finds evidence that one of the two women must be lying about her past. Before she can figure out which one it is and why, Zelda learns about the Dutch art dealer's concealed collection. And that Irises is the key to finding it all. Her discoveries make her a target of someone willing to steal - and even kill - to find the missing paintings. As the list of suspects grows, Zelda realizes she has to track down the lost collection and unmask a killer if she wants to survive. Chill with a Book's January 2018 Book of the Month One of TripFiction’s 10 Favorite Books set in Amsterdam One of The Displaced Nation's Top 36 Expat Fiction Picks of 2016 Number 14 in the BookLife Prize for Fiction 2016, Mystery category Silver Cup Winner of Rosie's Book Review Team Awards 2017 in the Mystery category The Lover’s Portrait is the perfect novel for those who love art, history, and mystery. The Adventures of Zelda Richardson series are stand-alone novels and can be listened to in any order.

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Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
- I don’t know about better, but I do believe mysteries work well as audiobooks. Listening to my own reminded me of old radio shows, when every episode ended as a cliffhanger meant to keep readers and listeners engaged so they keep reading or listening to my story.

How did you select your narrator?
- Two of my novels have been recorded as audiobooks. Carol Purdom was one of several narrators who auditioned for The Lover’s Portrait. I believe her calm, soothing voice is the perfect choice for this dual timeline mystery about Nazi looted artwork. Rituals of the Dead is a faster-paced adventure thriller and demanded a different kind of reading. I had received a few auditions but they didn’t seem right. I found Chelsea Stephens through ACX and asked her to audition. Her narration had the energy I was looking for and she did a great job of keeping the story moving forward at a high tempo, as the printed book does.

How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process?
- I worked closely with Carol Purdom during the entire production process of The Lover’s Portrait. She would send me raw files every week so I could check the many foreign words, as well as make any suggestions regarding her accents. I would comment on the files and – if needed – she would make any changes before moving forward. Once she was finished, they were edited and uploaded to ACX. That was the first time I listened to the entire book in one go.
- Chelsea Stephens recorded all of the words on our ‘difficult to pronounce’ list and sent them to me for approval before starting to narrate Rituals of the Dead. I did not hear any of the chapters until the entire audiobook was recorded and edited. To be honest, whenever Chelsea would send over a progress report, it was extremely difficult not to ask her to send a chapter over! Those may have been a nerve-wracking few weeks, but her performance was so good, my nervousness dissipated as soon as I started listening to the final product.
Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
- Both narrators asked for detailed character sketches and pronunciation tips. Considering the large amount of foreign words, character and place names mentioned in both books, that’s not surprising! I also recorded videos of myself pronouncing the Dutch words and sent them to both narrators. That was tremendously useful for all of us.

Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- All of my books are directly inspired by past travels, my background in journalism and ICT, as well as my strong interest in culture and art. After a short career as journalist and computer geek in Seattle, Washington, I spent several years exploring countries in Oceania, Central America and Asia. After living in Darwin, Australia for almost two years while studying cultural anthropology and aboriginal art, I moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands to study European art history. During my studies and journeys, I have come across so many incredible and intriguing stories that I could write a hundred art-related travel mysteries and not have to repeat myself.
- The Lover’s Portrait is a suspenseful “whodunit?” about Nazi-looted artwork that transports readers to wartime and present-day Amsterdam. To write it, I used my own experiences as a collection researcher and exhibition assistant at several Dutch museums as a starting point.
- The Lover’s Portrait came to be because I was curious about Nazi-looted artwork and wondered what would happen if two people claimed the same painting. During many lectures at the University of Amsterdam, we spent a lot of time discussing restitution cases involving looted-art, especially paintings stolen by the Nazis during World War Two. I often wondered what would happen if two people claimed the same painting. This question became the central plot of my art mystery, The Lover’s Portrait. The rest of the stories and characters were inspired by archival research I’d conducted into this dark period of Dutch history.
- My latest thriller, an adventure mystery set in Dutch New Guinea (Papua) and the Netherlands, was directly inspired by my work as a collection researcher for a fascinating exhibition of Asmat artwork, Bis Poles: Sculptures from the Rain Forest, held in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. During the course of my work, I came across so many stories about head hunting raids, crazy anthropologists, hapless colonial administrators, and insanely brave missionaries that I knew I had the basis for a fascinating mystery about artifact smuggling in my hands!
- All of the characters in the historical chapters of this novel are based on real explorers and their first-hand accounts of their experiences – the most famous of which was Michael Rockefeller. His movements are so well-documented it was easy to use Rockefeller’s general experiences as a starting point for Nick Mayfield, though my character is definitely not Rockefeller. Information I found about Reverend Zegwaard and several renowned Dutch explorers, such as Carel Groenevelt, also helped to shape the story and motivations of the characters.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- In parts of both The Lover’s Portrait and Rituals of the Dead, the suspense seems to be more intense in the audio version than the print version. When listening to The Lover’s Portrait for the first time, I was happily surprised to hear how well my descriptions of Amsterdam work when read aloud. I had the same burst of joy when hearing how my descriptions of Dutch New Guinea (now Papua) sounded in Rituals of the Dead.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- If listening to an audiobook allows someone to ‘read’ a book they otherwise would not be able to (because of time, a medical condition, etc.) how can that be seen as inferior?Since the release of my first audiobook, I have had listeners thank me for recording an audio version because they suffer from migraines or other physical ailments that prevent them from reading, are commuters who have no other free time to read so listen to books in their cars or on public transportation, and others who are too busy to sit and read for an hour so combine audiobooks with household chores. These are all readers who would not have discovered my work had I not created an audiobook of it. So no, I do not agree that listening to a book is cheating. If anything, making two of my novels available as audiobooks helps me reach a new target audience.
How did you celebrate after finishing this novel?
- An extended happy dance then a delicious meal and fine wine. The day after is reserved for something fun I have been putting off because of writing – going on a long bike ride, a day at the spa, an extended lunch with a friend, visiting a museum exhibition, that kind of thing. After that, it’s business as usual. My son still needs to be brought to school, marketing plans need to be created, and my other books still need promoting.
In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of writing a stand-alone novel vs. writing a series?
- Technically the books in my Adventures of Zelda Richardson series can be read in any order as stand-alone novels. They are a series only because they follow my protagonist, Zelda Richardson, on her travels around the globe. As an author, I enjoy having at least one reoccurring character to start my story with, because it gives me a sense of familiarity. I know Zelda well, and what she would and would not do. Readers also get to know her better and watch her grow as the novels progress. Luckily those who have read the series like her and enjoyed seeing the direction she heads. Yet, having Zelda surrounded by a shifting cast of characters enables me to explore new personalities and keeps the story fresh. I am afraid I would get bored if the cast stayed the same in every book. That is also why I try and set each novel in a different location. It allows me to indulge my wanderlust by researching a new setting and ensures I do not rehash old descriptions of the same places in each story.
Have any of your characters ever appeared in your dreams?
- My characters do not appear in my dreams, but they do invade my thoughts. It does happen that a character I’ve created will complain about a word choice or protest an action as ‘out of character’. Which frankly, always feels strangle because it really does seem as if someone is talking to you – from inside your head.Honestly, I am thankful they come alive and chat with me and each other! It helps make for a more believable story and dialogue. I swear there are moments when I only have to pull out a pen and write down the conversation going on in my head.
What's your favorite:
1. Food: Indian samosa’s and Thai fish cookies are tied as my favorite. Both are a delicious medley of flavors I savor as often as possible!
2. Book: There are so many books that I treasure. The first novel that popped into my head was The Ghost by Robert Harris. It is a thriller that keeps you guessing right down to the last word. I am in awe of his writing, pacing, storyline, characters, and subject matter. It truly is a brilliant book!
3. Television show: Right now, that would be Homeland. I love the lead character Carrie as much as the entire cast. The intricate plots keeps you guessing and the pacing is tight. Highly recommended, though it is best to start with Season One.
4. Movie: Until the End of the World by Wim Wender is one of my favorites, probably because I would love to have the same journey as the lead character, Claire Tourneur (played by Solveig Dommartin). It is truly the ultimate road journey, taking her from Europe to Russia, Japan, Australia, and finally outer space. Claire stands open for any and every new experience that crosses her path, and ultimately has the adventure of a lifetime. I am quite envious of her trip!
5. Band: There are too many to choose just one! According to my iPod, Warpaint is currently the most frequently played band, so I’ll go with them.
6. City: Amsterdam, the Netherlands! Since 2004, my home town.
Are any of those things referenced in appearance in your work?
- Amsterdam features heavily in both The Lover’s Portrait and Rituals of the Dead. My life here inspired the plots and several characters in both novels. It is truly a joy to use my adopted home town as a setting for my novels. I don’t know if I would have been able to describe my birthplace, Seattle, Washington, in the same way I describe Amsterdam. Here, I still see everything with a tourist’s eyes, because – despite having lived in the country for more than 15 years – I still feel like I just moved here!
What’s next for you?
- I am currently outlining the chapters of mystery number four in the Adventures of Zelda Richardson series – another art-related tale about thefts and forgeries. The spectacular theft of two Vincent van Gogh paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam – and their equally remarkable return – inspired the plot. Researching the novel, knowing it could still go in any direction, is always an exciting place to be in the writing process. It will most likely be set in the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, and possibly Croatia. I am looking forward to researching the locations first-hand!