Overjoyed was I when the Swedish literary artist, Lisa Marie Jarlborn, invited me to add a prose dimension to her Aladdin’s cave of an art magazine, entitled LoveLove. The theme was evident so I adapted an extract from my novel into a short story, naming it Seventh Heaven.
I chose a very romantic part set during the hippy era in San Francisco, with a sprinkling of eroticism to entertain the audience at the ceremonious launch at the Café de Paris in on the eve of Valentine’s Day 2020. The listeners had been nicely warmed up with music and poems when I took to the stage and Wow! The energy was tangible!
I was a bit anxious that the French audience would not understand the text, but when I looked down I witnessed they were all hooked on every word. What a magic moment!
Lisa Marie, whose mother was a huge fan of Elvis orchestrated the whole event and herself made a four-foot tall version of the book. Antonia Alexandra Klimenko surprised me by her dreamy, mystical drawings on the cover. Gene Ruda oiled the wheels with great sound and light preparation while Glenn Aveni added subtle impromptu sound effects.
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