Posts Tagged ‘ Love Potion Number 10 ’

My Christmas dinner centerpiece was pretty simple: a parrot figurine pulling a sled with some bonbons on it. Somehow the parrot got separated from the bonbons and started wandering among the place settings. Which reminded me of Mr. Ganguly, Jana’s pet parrot. I wrote dozens of scenes that didn’t make it into the Jana Bibi series. Here’s one (trimmed) about Jana acting as fortune-teller in her parlor. A Scientist comes into the Salon The sign identifying “Jana Bibi’s …Read More

The motto of the class of 1899 at Mt. Holyoke College was: “Leave all resultings: Doe ye nexte thynge.” These lines came from a religious poem of the era; it was widely reprinted in anthologies. “Doe ye nexte thynge” became a cliché, and a “Doe Ye Nexte Thynge” charitable society was formed in New York City. I generally see the poem identified as anonymous, although a Mrs. George A.Paull gets the credit in at least one book. I …Read More

Saturday night, I was honored and delighted to be the visiting author at Elizabeth Berg’s “Writing Matters” series, held at the Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, IL. 150 people came–the museum folks had to scurry around for extra chairs! Photo credit Debby Preiser Elizabeth (below, right) kicked off, and then Caroline Swain (center) gave a lovely statement of why reading was important to her. Caroline’s mom, Rashmi, (right) comes from Mussoorie, which provided the model for my fictional …Read More

I want to take a course in draftsmanship. While writing the Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes books, I made a lot of scribbly drawings, such as this early attempt to picture the Jolly Grant House–Jana’s “Indo-Scottish Nostalgic” style dwelling. I took more pains with the ground floor and the upstairs (i.e. I got out a ruler.) Sally Brady, a writing teacher of mine, used to explain why she needed to write: “How can I know what I think until …Read More

My sister Lee and cousins Nancy and Persis put on a wonderful party for friends and family last month to launch Love Potion Number 10. I was too busy signing books to get my own fortune told, but out on the porch, folks were lined up waiting for Madame Lee to read their cards and to consult the 8-Ball. Here’s Lee exchanging vibes with neighbor Marcus. Now, Lee has not admitted to any previous experience in divination. She …Read More

Someone asked me how I thought of the title for this book. It came from an ear worm–adapted a bit. Abinath, the pharmacist of Abinath’s Apothecary in my Jana Bibi series, is developing an alphabet of vitamins. He figures vitamins A, B, C, and so forth are all very well, but why stop with the ones everyone knows? He’s gotten to L. At the Giant Roller Skating Rink in the town of Hamara Nagar (Our Town), the current …Read More

There’s a new publicity pic on the flap of the back cover of my new book, Love Potion Number 10. As for the title, here’s how that happened: In the book, it’s 1961, and at the Giant Roller Skating Rink in the (fictional) town of Hamara Nagar, they’re always playing the Clovers’ 1959 hit, Love Potion Number 9. Abinath, the local apothecary, just can’t get the tune out of his mind. It seems like the perfect name for …Read More

I’m looking for a picture. Here’s the story. When I was planning and writing Love Potion Number 10, I wanted some helicopter lore. A friend introduced me (by phone) to Captain Rustom Captain, who had served as helicopter pilot to Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. Captain Captain, whose Indian civil helicopter pilot license was number 1, is now retired and lives in Canada. We had several good phone conversations about such things as makes and models of …Read More