Hello dear readers, today Austenesque Reviews is once again excited to welcome back author Jack Caldwell, who is publishing a new and unique Austenesque series. Jack has thoughtfully prepared a little Q&A to share with you today,which I, myself, very much enjoyed reading! I hope you enjoy learning more about Jack, his writing, and his new novels –Bourbon Street Nights and Elysian Dreams!
I understand that in 2015, you have four books coming out. Not only that, but it’s a project near and dear to your heart. Can you tell our readers something about CRESCENT CITY?
To put it simply, CRESCENT CITY is my 300,000 word argument why New Orleans matters.
This all started in 2006. Some of your readers may know that my wife, Barbara, and I are Hurricane Katrina victims. We lived near New Orleans and were there during the storm. Our house survived, but our jobs did not. Work brought us to Wisconsin, and while there, I heard one too many know-it-all talking head on TV proclaiming that New Orleans should be abandoned after the storm, because it was “under water.”
Now among other things, New Orleans is home to the largest bulk port in the United States. Most of the crops and grains exported by the US to nations around the globe flow through that port. Without this facility, not only would countless farmers in America lose their livelihoods, millions of people world-wide would starve.
This moron either didn’t know that or didn’t care. So, I rolled up my little author’s sleeves and got to work. Eighteen months later, I finished my 1,000-page CRESCENT CITY, an Austenesque novel about modern-day New Orleans, before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.
What makes CRESCENT CITY Austenesque, and what does it have to do with the four books you’re releasing this year?
I write historical fiction with a Jane Austen twist. CRESCENT CITY is historical; I explain not only what happened during Katrina, but why. To make this interesting and enjoyable, I use Austen’s characters and plots. I did the same in The Three Colonels (Waterloo) and Pemberley Ranch (Reconstruction Texas).
With a book as big as CRESCENT CITY, one plot wasn’t enough. So, like The Three Colonels, I used multiple plots. I’m not the King of Crossovers for nothing! In CRESCENT CITY I used Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. But I put a New Orleans spin on these books.
I begin in August of 1998. Chackbay native Elizabeth Boudreaux (Bennet) is a journalism student at Loyola University of New Orleans. Her roommate is Marianne Dashwood, a vocal music major from Jackson, Mississippi. Their friend Emma Weinberg (Woodhouse) studies fine arts at Tulane University.
They will meet the men who love them and the men who will break their hearts. Elizabeth is both attracted to and repelled by overconfident graduate student William Darcy, heir to a vast shipping fortune. Marianne is caught in a triangle between the charming John Waguespack (Willoughby) and the quiet Chris Breaux (Brandon). Emma is so busy running other people’s lives she overlooks her life-long friend, young Dr. George Katz (Knightley).
The original story was posted online. When I took it down years ago, I promised to publish it one day.
My editors and I realized that CRESCENT CITY was too big to be released as one book. So, we re-edited it as a trilogy. The three books are Bourbon Street Nights, Elysian Dreams, and Ruin and Renewal.
Please give us a brief description of each novel.
Bourbon Street Nights is Volume One. It covers the characters time in college during 
the 1998-99 academic year. It is a year that changes all their lives. It will be a year of love and friendship, trials and tribulations, tragedy and murder. Basically, the plot of Emma is wrapped up in Bourbon Street Nights. Most of Sense and Sensibility is covered, as well. Only the Pride and Prejudice plot line is left unresolved. We leave it right after “Hunsford.”
Elysian Dreams picks up the story in 2004, five years later. Emma has married George, but the workaholic surgeon is neglecting his young wife. When she meets the smooth-talking Frank Church (Churchill), her marriage is endangered. Marianne finds love with Chris and begins a singing career, but a figure out of her past is doing everything in his power to crush her dreams. Elizabeth is successful in business but not in love, and her job puts her face-to-face with William for the first time in five years; the man she almost destroyed, and who still owns her heart.
Meanwhile, NOPD captain Richard Fitzwilliam continues his crusade to bring down the one felon that has eluded him: the drug dealing murderer Greg “G-Daddy” Wickham, now more dangerous than ever.
Everyone is reaching for their own Elysian dream, but for those who dare live on the Gulf Coast, there is a price to pay. The life-giving waters can also be the birthplace of monsters.
Ruin and Renewal is the story of Hurricane Katrina and its 
aftermath. The power in Volume Three lies in the reader caring about the characters and the city. I use Volume One and Volume Two to have the reader not just become invested in the lives of Elizabeth and William, Marianne and Chris, and Emma and George, but also to fall in love with the Crescent City itself. Ruin and Renewal will be released in September, in recognition of the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Wow, that is quite the achievement! But what about the fourth book?
I decided early on to release the CRESCENT CITY trilogy in 2015, the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. A little over a year ago, I realized that 2015 is also the bicentennial of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. That got me thinking.
The Battle of New Orleans is the other great battle of the Regency, along with Waterloo. I thought to tie that in with Austen.
I didn’t want the throw out everything I did with The Three Colonels, and I didn’t want to send either Colonel Fitzwilliam or George Wickham to Louisiana. So I decided to go further back—have a distant ancestor of the Darcys immigrate to America right after the Glorious Revolution (William and Mary). That way I can have a Darcy at the battle!
I named the book The Plains of Chalmette:
It is 1814, and America’s second war against Great Britain is going badly. Now the enemy is ready for its knock-out punch. They seek to take New Orleans, and by doing so, control the Mississippi River and North America forever.
Major Matthew Darcy of Baltimore is dispatched to help defend the beleaguered city, and discovers an alien place that does not trust its new countrymen. He also finds forbidden love with a lovely Cajun-Creole lady.
Now, with a devastating invader at the city’s doorstep, Darcy joins General Andrew Jackson’s rag-tag army of backwoodsmen, Creoles, free blacks, and buccaneers in the face of overwhelming odds.
What’s Austenesque about The Plains of Chalmette?
It’s slight, I grant you. There’s a whiff of Persuasion with Matthew Darcy’s romance with Anne-Marie Dansereau. But I also wanted to explore the British side of things during the battle. So I invent a younger brother of Colonel Fitzwilliam, one who has been disowned by the family. Major James Fitzwilliam not only fights in the battle, but plays another important role.
While writing The Plains of Chalmette, it occurred to me that Matthew Darcy of 1815 is the direct ancestor of William Darcy of 1998. At the same time, James Fitzwilliam, who will settle in the US after the war, begins the Fitzwilliam family in America. Eventually, the Darcys and Fitzwilliams will come together in New Orleans.
Yes. So?
What this all leads to is my intention, in the years to come, of writing a series of novels set in this two hundred year period, exploring the history of New Orleans and Louisiana through the Darcy and Fitzwilliam families, as well as some of the other families we meet in CRESCENT CITY. I call this the Crescent City Series.
How many books do you foresee in your Crescent City Series?
At least three more. One about the occupation of New Orleans during the Civil War (that’s when the Darcys and Fitzwilliams get together and start their shipping business). Another at the turn of the century—the time of Storyville, the fight against Yellow Fever, and how WWI brought Louisiana firmly into the US. The third will be set in WWII and tell the little-known story of Cajun men dropped into Occupied France to work with the resistance.
That’s a lot of writing to do! Are you giving up Regency Austenesque novels?
No way! I still have two Regency books in the vault that need to be edited—Persuaded to Sail, my Persuasion sequel, and The Last Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel, my Northanger Abbey/Scarlet Pimpernel crossover. And my long-promised follow-up to The Three Colonels—Rosings Park. There’s also a possible sequel to Pemberley Ranch. I figure I have ten years of writing with these and my Crescent City books.
Thank you, Jack, for this very thorough and informative Q&A!! I am so glad to know more about your new series and I’m very excited about all your future projects!
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Connect with Jack
Website ❧ Twitter ❧ Facebook ❧ Austen Variations
Giveaway Time!!
Jack generously brings with him one paperback copy of each Bourbon Street Nights and Elysian Dreams for me to give away to ONE lucky winner!
To enter this giveaway ask Jack a question in the comment section below about New Orleans or Louisiana.
- This giveaway is open worldwide!! Thank you, Jack!
- This giveaway ends July 29th!
Loved this ‘interview’. Thanks so much for sharing this rich history along with our favorite characters. It sounds amazing and something I look forward to reading with much anticipation! You are going to be one very busy man!
Thank you, Janet.
What an interesting interview. I enjoyed learning about your writing, Louisiana and that there will be a novel set during World War 11 which sounds captivating. Best wishes on your forthcoming novels. What travels have your enjoyed the most?
Answer below.
Wow, that’s a lot of writing to accomplish! I always love it when a variation or sequel uses more than one Austen novel as inspiration, so three is even better! And I love the history in it. I’m not from America, so I don’t know a lot about Louisiana or New Orleans and I love learning new things when reading. Thanks for the giveaway!
Frankly if I were you, I’d start with The Plains of Chalmette. It explains why America bought Louisiana from France (and why they sold it) two hundred years ago. This event literally changed the history of the world.
What a powerhouse writer Mr Caldwell is. I wasn’t interested in reading the New Orleans series, but now I want to very much. I am so excited there is going to be a sequel to ‘Three Colonels.’ I adored ‘Mr Darcy Comes to Dinner,’ and have really enjoyed the other books of his I’ve read. Thanks to Mr Caldwell for the interview and the generous giveaway. However, don’t enter me into the drawing, if you please. I’m going to read them on my e-reader and have them bumped up to the top of my Kindle-Unlimited list now.
I’m glad I changed your mind! I hope you enjoy the books.
What an ambitious project! I always love hearing what others do to adapt the characters to modern American life. Like you, I’m firmly convinced that Wickham has to be a drug dealer!
It’s strange. In my Regency works, I’m kinder to Wickham, seeing him as the useless rascal Jane Austen described. But in my other novels — Western and Moderns — Wickham becomes truly evil. In Pemberley Ranch, he was a sadistic, land-grabbing carpetbagger. In Crescent City, he’s a sociopath. I guess my other books tend to be more serious than my Regency novels.
I loved the interview and how you came writing about New Orleans. I love the way you incorporate the history of things into your novels. I did so enjoy your novel of,”Pemberley Ranch” and how you wove the history of Texas with Jane Austen’s beloved characters. I look forward to reading all of your novels.
Thank you for sharing with us!
Thank you for your kind words about Pemberley Ranch.
NOLA is Roman Catholic, but will you include the establishment of the ANGLICAN/Episcopal Church as this is what would have been significant during the early periods you are writing about? (Jane Austen was a clergyman’s daughter.) I can imagine these religious differences would have played a large part in relationships—or more accurately, did. note the Episcopal Church in the French Quarter.
I reference this a bit in The Plains of Chalmette. While Major Darcy is Catholic, his fellow officer, Major Harville, is not and he attends services with the Episcopalians. It should be noted that the first Episcopal Church had yet to be built in 1814; they held services in public buildings. Why Major Darcy is Catholic is explained in the novel.
True, NOLA is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. However, New Orleans and the American South was rather funny about religion, as compared to other parts of the country. The region was relatively tolerant of other faiths, as long as you were faithful. For example, Jews received very little prejudice, as long as they “attended their own services” and “stayed with their own kind.” In other words, as long as you were perceived as devout and you didn’t try to marry outside your faith (without converting), you were left alone.
NOLA had and still has a strong Jewish community, as I illustrate in Crescent City.
Around Louisiana, I’ve enjoyed visiting the grand plantation houses that line the Mississippi. My favorite street in New Orleans is Royal Street. Outside of Louisiana, I’ve been to Colorado nine times, and the international trip that is the most memorable was one to Central Europe — Poland, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
Interesting interview! I remember reading the story in AHA, I think. I hope to win this so I can read it again.
It was posted at AHA, along with other sites. It now been edited, and is IMHO a better read.
Great! I will try to get it as soon as my budget allows if I don’t win.
Very unique and creative variations! You have definitely been a busy bee 🙂 This sounds like quite the undertaking. I do love when authors take a bunch of Austen characters from different books and put them together in a variation. I have read two of your previous books and loved them so these will definitely be on my TBR list!
I did not know that you lived in the area during Hurricane Katrina. That must have been a terrible experience! I could well imagine being incensed over someone saying that my home city should be abandoned. To disregard people’s homes, life and the strong history of the area is just appalling. You clearly love the area since you have dedicated so much time to writing a book series with New Orleans at the center of it all. Do you ever want to move back?
I was born a Cajun and a Cajun I remain. I have no idea what the future holds. As of today, all my children still live in Louisiana. Should they start families there, I’m sure we will somehow go back. But as for now, the Suncoast of Florida is pretty wonderful.
So much great reading to look forward to. Thank you Meredith & Jack. Great passage!
Thank you, Vee.
Wow! I was so engrossed by that interview and the description of upcoming novels. I’m excited that you’ve combined characters from the different novels. Only a few authors have attempted that which can be a bit confusing depending on how it’s done. I’m super looking forward to the ones related to persuasion and northanger. I’ve read your others. I prefer historical information presented this way. Lol. Just reading history can be kind of dry, so I think this is a perfect way to go about things. We only went to New Orleans one time. 1980 ish. I loved driving thru Louisiana. It was new scenery since we were born and raised in Colorado. I’d like to ask what do you miss most not living there now? Also, food to me is part of a culture. What is your favorite food from the area? Please enter me in your giveaway.
I miss the food, without question. The west coast of Florida has the best food in the state, but I miss going out to grab a REAL po’boy anytime I wanted. Crawfish must be eaten in Louisiana (sorry Texas). I also miss the culture. We lived by a very strict calendar, and the food revolved around that. For example, we ate King Cake till we got sick during the Carnival season, but once Ash Wednesday rolled around, that was it. NO self-respecting Louisianian will touch a King Cake for the rest of the year. We’re proud of that.
Good to know. I worked with a man who would go down to visit his home state tho I’m not sure which one it was now. he would bring crawfish all the way back up here to wa and we’d all have some. Great memory. I’ve never had king cake. I’m gonna have to look that up. Thanks for commenting back. It was lovely and informative. Let’s one see your personality too.
Wonderful interview! But then again, you never fail to entertain! I look forward to more of your stories. Thank you for the generous giveaway! Congratulations.
Thank you, Becky.
I loved your interview, Jack. I didn’t know you were displaced by Hurricane Katrina or that you now live in Wisconsin. I also didn’t know that New Orleans is a main port city for American farmers. Good for you to do something about the absurd comments regarding closing the port. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and humor.
Actually, Robin, we lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota for about seven years — we call it the Great Exile. Barbara and I now live on the west coast of Florida, south of Tampa.
The Great Exile indeed! My husband is from Michigan, and this Southern girl freezes up there, even in summer when it’s 72 degrees. I guess it’s the change in humidity.
That area of Florida is beautiful. I’m sure you enjoy living there.
Wonderful interview Jack and Meredith. I love a good history lesson through fiction. This premise is very interesting and I look forward to reading the trilogy.
I think you’ll enjoy it.
Although I hate “rushing time”, looking forward(somewhat nervously for my favorite characters…hopefully no Downton Abbey type “departures”) to Ruin and Renewal in Sept. I especially love Elizabeth and William’s story….so far. Perhaps bizarrely(who, me?), I think of and dedicated Poco’s 1978 song “Heart of the Night” to them(fun fact….I thought Poco was singing “Poxy Train”, not “Pontchartrain”). Love Marianne/Chris and Jane/Bingley too(my three favorite Austen heroines are Marianne, Jane, and Elizabeth). I see in the comments and questions you addressed the one story element “I’m not too fond of”(great expression Meredith…being full of “Northern Charm”, I might use more blunt language)
When I visited three years, I was amazed and saddened by the damage this many years on. In my GF’s paternal grandfather’s neighborhood of Spring Lake, it seemed that every other house was damaged beyond repair. He’s near 90, fought in the pacific, as did her her maternal grandfather(90+ I think) who is a volunteer at the National WWII Museum. I find it very interesting that you are planning a WWII book about Cajun men in Occupied France.
No need to entry me in the drawing as I won a copy of Bourbon Street Nights from Jack’s blog(thank you!!!) and ordered (and read immediately) Elysian Dreams for my Kindle App.
The song that ran through my mind while writing CRESCENT CITY was Louisiana Le Roux’s “New Orleans Ladies.”
Don’t worry. Sept. 1 will be here before you know it.
Nice song, thanks for sharing! Lol, same year as Heart of the Night. 🙂
Jack, you have the most incredible mind for historical details. I am excited that you have at least ten more years of writing in your head. Cajuns in France – wow! I look forward to seeing how they adjusted to being in France, and whether they blended with the native French enough to avoid German detection.
About Cajuns in France — during WWII, British Intelligence and the American OSS found out that French-speaking Englishmen and Canadians had a Parisian accent. That is, they talked like they were from the city. They stood out like a sore thumb in the countryside of Occupied France. The Gestapo had no trouble picking them out. The US Army was already recruiting French-speaking Cajuns from Louisiana to act as interpreters once we invaded Normandy. The OSS came up with the bright idea of sending selected Cajuns into France to work with the Resistance, because the Cajun accent was more like the French spoken in the countryside. My novel will be based upon this little known part of the war.
YIKES!!! I hope the Parisian-accented spies figured it out quickly. Oh, Jack, how do you find these things??
Wow, you have so many books planned out for the future. I wish you success in writing and publishing them. Thanks for sharing about the Crescent City series and your future plan to continue writing more books.
Can you describe what is special about New Orleans and Louisiana to a person who is not from US like me.
Let me try to explain it this way. New Orleans is a city in the United States, yet it is more European in flavor than New York City or Los Angeles. Please allow me to quote Tom Robbins:
“If New Orleans is not fully in the mainstream of culture, neither is it fully in the mainstream of time. Lacking a well-defined present, it lives somewhere between its past and its future, as if uncertain whether to advance or to retreat. Perhaps it is its perpetual ambivalence that is its secret charm. Somewhere between Preservation Hall and the Superdome, between voodoo and cybernetics, New Orleans listens eagerly to the seductive promises of the future but keeps at least one foot firmly planted in its history, and in the end, conforms, like an artist, not to the world but to its own inner being—ever mindful of its personal style.”
Let that roll around your mind for a bit. Thanks for the question!
I have only been in New Orleans once (1971) and remember all the damage along the coast as we drove to visit my relatives in MS, AL and FL. We did visit four of the establishments in the French Quarter/Bourbon Street area. In learning that this interview was upcoming I went on Amazon and read the Samples and the reviews posted. (Unfortunately the one review mentioned an event which sickens me.)
I have read most of your other books and enjoyed them. Have read neither of these first two releases.
As there is a third book coming out in September I will wait for its release.
This was a very interesting interview. Good work, Meredith and Jack.
Crescent City deals with serious matters, but not in a graphic way. Eventually, justice triumphs.
At first glance, I don’t know that I would have been interested in this series, but after reading the interview, I’m adding it to my to read list. Also reminds me I have yet to read The Three Colonels. Ah! So much great writing. : )
I’m glad I changed your mind, Ginger. You’ll like The Three Colonels, too.
I have been following everyone’s comments on Meredith’s interview, Mr Caldwell, and have loved learning more and more about your writing. I am really hoping that when the next in the series premieres, that Meredith will have you back again. This time (hint hint Meredith) I would love to learn what authors you have read and would consider an inspiration or influence. It’s obvious to us you do extensive research, and I personally love hearing about a favorite writer’s research.
I’m getting more excited to start the series now that I’m finishing up my current read, (Kara Louise.) Again, thank you for your generosity in sharing this time with us.
What a wonderful idea for a follow-up (hint, hint, Meredith)!
So glad you enjoyed the interview! Would definitely be happy to have Jack come visit again! 😉
I love learning more about your writing process and about these stories.
Thank you, Deborah.