I'm assuming this is some personal line in the sand, not a draconian mandate. In the 80s bra-less women at bars were considered a selling point.

Here's a link to the editorial reviews I received on eBookFairs during the case study: create.dibbly.com/d/jfndLmhfG1...

I was most intrigued by recasting God on a personal level, however. If the God of your understanding isn't working for you, perhaps the understanding is more at fault. Recasting God, might be a metaphor for checking our assumptions. i.e., "What if God was one of us?" I think it’s a marvelous phrase.

We've recast God over the centuries, from a teacher fed up with the corruption of the Pharisees, to a Platonic figure as reimagined by Augustine, to the standard bearer and justification for Western colonialism. In the Bible Belt, Jesus has recently morphed into gun-toting anti-socialist...

I was actually thinking of recasting in a much less literal way. In my novel, Valhollywood, I blur the lines of celebrity worship and traditional mythology, so the idea of recasting a god is something fun to play with, but I was imagining a more historical or personal turn of that phrase...

I love Frances' work, but was drawn to this thread by the phrase, "If I recast God," which--removed from this specific context--seems like such a fascinating philosophical concept.

The version of Ciro's presented in Valhollywood is the old 1940 decor. The mob was rumored to be behind the club. Mickey Cohen received payouts for 'costumes' in exchange for empty hat boxes. Cohen--and events in the swanky bar at Ciro's during a private party--are key to the action in Valhollywood.

I'm working on the follow up to Valhollywood, my noir urban fantasy set against the backdrop of classic film history. It's a mystery, but it is more hard boiled than cozy. I'm also working on #writing some unrelated stories that I hope to have news on soon!

If you are unaware of Helena Blavatsky and her Theosophical Society's impact on Victorian culture and early fantasy fiction, look her up. Her teachings filtered into H. P. Lovecraft's great old ones, Robert E. Howard's Hyborean age, and J. R. R. Tolkien's first, second and third ages.

Across from Jake's is the Hollywood and Highland Center. When I started the book, this was fairly new, based on D. W. Griffith's Intolerance. Before I finished, this mall was redesigned. In Valhollywood, old landmarks exist and can be visited, but I hadn't expected Chapter 1 to be a nostalgia piece.