Monday, 29 October 2018

Yesterday Uncovered - 1960's with Rituals of the Dead by Jennifer S Alderson




This month on Yesterday Uncovered we slip back to the 1960s


Sitting, in the shade, on a recliner at the side of my pool is Jennifer S Alderson, the author of Rituals of the Dead, so please help yourself to a glass of chilled bubbly, a plate of tapas, then make yourself comfortable and enjoy slipping back to the 1960s.



Tell us a little about yourself

Hi, Pauline! Thanks for the inviting back to your blog! I am an American-born journalist, website developer and art historian currently living in the Netherlands. I write travel mysteries and thrilling adventures set in one of the many countries I have been lucky enough to visit. When I am not writing, you can find me biking around Amsterdam, in one of the city’s many museums, or sipping coffee on a canal while dreaming up my next book idea.


What inspired you to write about the 1960s?

My work as a collection researcher for the Tropenmuseum inspired me to write about the early 1960s. One of my assignments was finding photographs and films we could use in an exhibition of Asmat art. The Asmat live in South Papua, on the Indonesian half of the island Papua New Guinea. Until 1962, Papua was a Dutch colony known as Netherlands New Guinea.



Most of the objects displayed in the Tropenmuseum’s exhibition of Asmat art were collected by Dutch anthropologists, missionaries and explorers between 1952 and 1962. Though two of the poles were collected by American anthropologist Michael Rockefeller in 1961. They were later donated to the National Ethnography Museum in Leiden by his parents, to thank the Dutch government for their help in searching for their missing son. As you may already know, Rockefeller vanished in 1961 and has never been found. His disappearance is one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of our time. This connection between the Netherlands and Papua inspired me to write a dual-timeline mystery about artefact smuggling.



Tell us little about the story and its plot without giving too much away

In my novel, Zelda Richardson is a working at the Tropenmuseum as a collection researcher. When a missing anthropologist’s journal is found inside a crate containing an Asmat artifact, Zelda is tasked with finding out more about the anthropologist’s last days. Unfortunately for her, the man’s killer is willing to do anything to suppress her findings.



Is any part of the story based on facts / real events?

The story and cast of characters were directly inspired by Rockefeller’s disappearance and his connections with Dutch missionaries, but that is where fact ends and fiction begins.




Are any of the characters based on someone real or are they pure fiction?

According to the many journals and missionary’s reports I have read, Dutch New Guinea was one of the last wild frontiers. The unforgiving and extreme environment, overwhelming heat, plethora of deadly insects and reptiles, as well as the Asmat’s reputation as head hunters, attracted explorers, missionaries, anthropologists and adventurers in droves. All of the characters in my novel are conglomerations of those I have read about. None – not even my missing anthropologist – are based solely on one real person.


If research was necessary what did this involve?

This was a period of time I knew literally nothing about, before writing this story. Frankly, that’s what made it so much fun to write! In order to get a better feel for the environment, attitudes and politics of the era, extensive research was necessary. Luckily, I had already delved into many archives and audio-visual collections while researching the Asmat art exhibition in the Tropenmuseum, so I had a strong basis from which to begin.


 


Website: http://www.jennifersalderson.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JennifeSAlderson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jenniferSAldersonauthor


Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-S.-Alderson/e/B019H079RA/


Thanks again for inviting me back, Pauline!



Thank you for stopping by and meeting Jennifer

On Tuesday we start November's, Yesterday Uncovered with books that include WW1 as a tribute to 100 years since the end of the Great War.
During November there will be three authors and a special guest, so please come back and meet all these great people.









Until next time, I hope the sun is shinning on your face and in your heart.


Pauline

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1 comment:

Eva Pasco said...

I enjoyed reading about your professional background, and the inspiration for 'Rituals of the Dead'.

Friday, November 02, 2018

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