Rebecca Rosenberg, a CU Boulder alumna and award-winning author, passed through her home state of Colorado earlier this month to tour for her new book, Silver Echoes: the second installment of her Gold Digger series.

“Baby Doe Tabor, [Silver Dollar’s mother] used to be a big deal in Colorado when I was growing up,” Rosenberg says. “But the more I met people on this tour, they don’t really know the history. They just have a small sketch of an idea of who she was. I realized at the Tabor Opera House—we had close to 100 people [at her tour event]—when I said, “So, how many of you know about Baby Doe?”, and not even half of them really knew her.”

Silver Echoes is inspired and based on real-life actress Rosemary “Silver Dollar” Tabor, a woman of immense talent—author, playwright, poet, and performer—in the Roaring Twenties. She seemed destined for stardom, but her dazzling facade concealed a life of devastating losses: the loss of her family’s fortune during the Panic of 1893; the death of her father, Horace Tabor, who was a former US Senator; and removal from the privileged life she knew after her mother moved them to Leadville, leading an impoverished life in the tool shed of the Matchless Mine. This, all culminating in a horrific sexual assault by a family lawyer, was a compounding story of traumas that triggered a fractured identity that haunted her life.

Silver Echoes unearths this hidden torment, exploring the complex life of a woman torn between victimhood and resilience.

“I lived here through my college years,” Rosenberg explains. “And in school, learning about history, I wondered, ‘Why don’t we hear more stories like this?’ Of course, in Colorado, there’s Molly Brown–I was aware of her. Then I read Gone With the Wind, and she wasn’t a real person, but it brought a woman to the forefront of history.”

“I realized that there weren’t women who were identified as part of history. That it’s all about war, all about politics, all about economics, and all about men. That’s where I got excited to write about these extraordinary women who existed, whose real-life stories people don’t know.”

Rosenberg, as a historical fiction author, has dedicated herself as an advocate to convey the in-depth nuances of the Tabor women’s lives, which extend beyond just the tragedies.

“I love to write about women who’ve done extraordinary things or who were misunderstood,” Rosenberg said. “That’s how I feel about Baby Doe and Silver Dollar. They were misunderstood, and they had more complex challenges than anyone ever knew.

After taking a class at Stanford University on how to write a novel and finishing her first book, she came back to Baby Doe. Now, she’s telling Silver Dollar’s story.

“I went to History Colorado and read all of Baby Doe’s diaries,” Rosenberg says. “They let you read the diaries—the actual writing, her actual writing—and make copies of it and everything. I really got her point of view of what she was doing, what happened to her later in life, and that’s where I discovered that [Baby Doe] was sick to death with worry about [her daughter], Silver Dollar, who had moved to Chicago.”

Silver Dollar, Rosenberg speculates, may have experienced dissociative identity disorder (DID). She was found scalded to death at age 35 under suspicious circumstances, though Baby Doe suspected the young woman found was not actually her daughter.

“I knew that there was a major problem going on with Silver Dollar,” Rosenberg says. “She was involved with vaudeville and burlesque and the speakeasies. She was also a silent movie actress. She was so beautiful, so talented. All that seemed to be too much, though, so I really dove into that history and started reading about her to get a better understanding of her as a person, not just the scandal we know.”

Ultimately, Rosenberg will keep writing about famous, historical women whose stories continue to influence us and the times we live in—in ways we can’t totally comprehend yet.

“I find that women, given the chance, are very tenacious,” Rosenberg says. “And inventive and really determined to do things in life, and that really inspires me. And not just me. All of us. The next generation, and the next generation, and the next generation. Women are already doing way more than they were ever allowed to, and that’s inspiring.”

Rebecca Rosenberg is the author of seven best-selling and award-winning historical novels, including her Champagne Widows and Gold Diggers series. Silver Echoes (Lion Heart Publishing) is available now. 

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The post Spotlight: Rebecca Rosenberg – The Tenacious Tabor Women and the Novelist Who Continues to Tell Their Stories appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

He’s the every-man actor who has risen to the top of the B-movie landscape. From his legendary portrayal of Ash Williams in the Evil Dead series to his roles on myriad television shows like The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Jack of all Trades and, most recently, Ash vs. Evil Dead on Starz!, Bruce Campbell has proven he can lead a cast and take on just about anything thrown at him (including copious gallons of fake blood.)

He’s also an accomplished author, as witnessed by his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, and his second book Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. Now, you can get his latest book titled Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor, which picks up right where the first autobiography left off. I recently caught up with Campbell, who is touring the country promoting his book and the upcoming third season of Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Deb Flomberg: Hail to the Chin is your second book — but I understand it’s planned as a trilogy? Can you tell us more about that?
Bruce Campbell: Well, I’ll tell you more in 15 years when I do the final confession. In about 15 years from now, I’ll be in my mid-70s, it will be rocking chair time, I can look back. That’s the plan.

DF: I read an interview where you said the term “B Movie” isn’t a bad thing — it’s a genre. Can you give me your definition of what it means to be a B Movie Actor?
BC: It’s a budget level. It’s even silly now. If you make a movie called Batman – that’s a B-movie. Spiderman. That’s a B-movie. It’s all the things that don’t happen on the 6 o’clock news. Things that are sci-fi based. Things that are fantasy based. Things that are horror based. Things that are a little more extreme or over the top. They come from comic books, ‘ya know?

DF: Looking back over your very accomplished career, what stands out to you as the most personally rewarding?
BC: Bookseller. Because as an actor, you’re not always considered smart. As a bookseller I get more credibility. Plus, there aren’t as many chefs involved when you’re writing a book. But if you make a movie and you spend, say, 200 million dollars, guess what? There are going to be a lot of people with opinions — very strong opinions of what stays and what goes. They’re going to market it and check to make sure people like the movie. It really has become a big deal, so the creative side of movies can often become snoresville, and good or bad you know, you go, “well, that’s kind of what I wanted.”

DF: What do you think most people don’t understand about fame?
BC: Well they assume that you’re instantly rich. And money just comes with it, it’s like a club – if you get in the same club, it’s like there you go; here’s your million dollars a year. I had a disgruntled fan out on the streets of Philadelphia once. I had done an event and I was there for hours. And there are always the guys who won’t wait in the line and think, “I’m gonna wait outside and get him when he goes home.” And when the event is over, he starts accosting me and I’m like “Dude, I’m done. I’m done. I did that. I made myself available.” He goes “You bleepity-bleepity bleep,” and he points to me, “you make millions of dollars a year!” like I owed him. So I think that’s the biggest mistake — that we owe anybody anything. I act. You buy or rent. That’s it.

DF: I’ve got a big personal connection to Evil Dead the Musical, as I’ve directed it twice. How do you think Ash’s saga translates to stage?
BC: Make sure you utilize the splatter zone – that blood needs to fly 15 – 20 feet. That’s my only requirement. Find the guy that’s the biggest idiot in the audience or anyone who is heckling and you let them have it. You cover them in blood. The stage crafting is probably the biggest challenge of that whole play. How do you chop limbs off live? You know what’s great about that play? You can’t lose. If you do it off Broadway – I saw it off Broadway – it was really slick, with these very polished actors and it was funny and it was a good time. Then I saw it in Bend, Oregon, and it was the opposite. They had no money to do anything. The guy was 15 feet away from me and I couldn’t hear his singing voice, it was like Ash Blonde. You know what I mean? I had to hold my hand over my mouth. Like before someone got their hand chopped off, backstage you’d hear “wrrrrrrrrr (machine noises)” and there was a 10-second delay between the axe hitting them and the blood spurting, and I basically never laughed harder in my life, you really can’t lose with that play.

DF: What about some of your other films? I’d love to see Bubba Ho-Tep the musical.
BC: You could do that one, that would have to be almost operatic because of Elvis. That’s a good one actually, because you’d have to have a guy who could basically do very credible singing on top of everything else. That’s a good one. I’ll give you 5% of it.

DF: Why do you think Evil Dead still resonates with fans, 40 years after the release?
BC: It’s just the little movie that could. A little teeny movie made in Michigan — where you don’t really make movies. But we got the endorsement of Stephen King, the great horror author of all time, and we beat The Shining on video. It was in England in 1983 and Evil Dead was the #1 video of the year — so we beat them. It’s the little movie that could with the lead guy who’s just an average guy. He’s not a navy seal, he’s not from another planet and he doesn’t have any special skills so maybe the average viewer can go, “oh that’s just like me.” But who knows? I don’t know.

DF: Looking back at some of your other performances — when you’re doing an impression of a historical figure how do you balance between parody and accuracy?
BC: You have to gauge the tone of the piece, if it’s Fargo and you’re playing Ronald Reagan, it’s a very serious approach. You don’t do the Saturday Night Live version of Ronald Reagan, you don’t treat it like a character. That’s a big challenge there. The trick is to make him a real person, so that’s it. So if Fargo had a different tone, then you’d do it broader. Every actor’s job is to find the tone of the material and match it. Don’t act in your own movie. I’ve seen a lot of movies where the two lead actors are in completely different movies. Watch the move The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio — he’ll come sliding into the jungle like it’s the hardest trail ever. Then the French actress who stars in it with him, she comes in after him and she’s like walking in the park with her dog. And so, as a Director, I’d say “Leo, it’s not that hard, and for you ma’am it’s much harder,” that way we’re watching the same movie.

YS: We’re very excited to see season three of Ash Vs. Evil Dead too. What can we expect this season?
BC: Big stuff. Jaw dropper. It’s a jaw-dropper season. We’ve sort of cracked the mythology open. Ash is not just a doofus, he’s actually foretold in an ancient book, so why him, the average guy? Why has evil, if you will, risen again to test the mettle of the average man? Will he save humanity? It’s epic stuff. And episode 9 and 10 are my favorites we’ve ever done.

YS: Please tell me we get to see Ashy Slashy again?
BC: Well never say never, but he doesn’t have a big role this season, there were too many things to do. But the puppet is out. You can buy the puppet.

The post SPOTLIGHT on Bruce Campbell appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Denver-based author Jayne Dixon.

Local marketer, wife and mother Jayne Dixon released her first novel — about a stripper waking up soaked in blood, with amnesia — earlier this year, published by Wooden Stake Press. She’ll be at a signing event at Bookbar in Denver (4280 Tennyson St.) on Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Here, she talks about her passion for writing… and other things.

YS: It’s been said that writers write the stories they “have to.” Why did you “have” to write this one?

JD: Writing this story was a very deliberate decision. I wanted to get in the head of a character who is a stripper ultimately by choice, not by force or as a result of poor self-esteem. I wanted to see if a woman could love that life, embrace it, and be happy with it. I wanted to see if I could bring the reader to respect her and her choice. Of course, once I started writing, that wasn’t enough; once I threw her into that life, I wanted to see what challenges she could face and how she might handle them.

I wanted to see how a woman might respond to an impossible situation where she can’t be with the guy she loves, and see if I could realistically mold her response in a way that does not require her to back down, compromise her personal values, or give herself up to please the man she has fallen for. Could she stand on her own two feet without losing him? I suppose, however, that I do have a distinct need to explore what some may see as the “underbelly” of society. I want to know what that world is like and I want to discover how different the people who live that life are from what outsiders would judge them to be. And then I want people to see how the rest of us have that darker side in us, too. If I were to identify an overall reason for my need to write, that would be it.

YS: How much of Ellie is really you? And if not you, where did she come from?

JD: There’s definitely a lot of me in Ellie. She is the epitome of the dark, sarcastic, cynical side of me that often exists almost exclusively in my head. Though her experiences throughout the book have little literal relation to my own life, she does do things I’ve fantasized about, and her life follows a parallel path to mine in that she has dived into this world completely unlike that of her past. She has deliberately entered this culture with new rules — even no rules in many cases — and she’s working out not only how to navigate and embrace it, but how to reframe her past in light of it. She’s learning how to be her own foundation and how not to be a victim to the inevitable jackasses who will invade her sense of security. This is very much a metaphor for the journey my own life has taken over the past seven or eight years.

YS: Okay, here’s a two-parter: A) Describe the kind of person you think this novel would resonate with the most, and B) What are the most important things you hope this person gets out of this novel?

JD: I think this novel will resonate most with people who are open-minded and curious about the reality of a more provocative, very vulnerable lifestyle. People who have had to face the worst parts of themselves head-on — or have an interest in exploring how other people might deal with that will probably be drawn to this book. I honestly thought going in that it would only find an audience among females, but I’m very surprised at how many men have identified with it and enjoyed it. It’s probably a good book for anyone who wants to be reminded that they’re not as crazy as they think they are.

And as for B), I don’t think Ellie is an anomaly. Who knows what choices we might make when the worst circumstances are thrown at us? Life, decisions, feelings, and sexuality are all very fluid, they happen on a case-by-case basis, not necessarily according to any universal law or value. And maybe people who make the most awful, most heinous decisions can sometimes be understood. I guess that’s what I want people to understand: 1) that career and lifestyle choices are not necessarily indicative of the quality or value of a person and 2), that when we dig underneath the layers of people who do things we simply cannot understand, we find ourselves.

YS: When’s book two due out?

JD: Well, I’m hoping to publish the second book, appropriately titled “Stripped: Bloody Heels,” as a birthday gift to myself. So the goal is March of 2017. However, I have another novel — a much lighter romantic comedy — which should be ready to publish this December. The tentative title is “Players.” To keep abreast of upcoming publications, readers can join my email list or to read my other short stories and poetry on my website at writersoftherain.com

The post 4 Questions With Jayne Dixon, author of Stripped: Muddy Heels appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.