Our guest today is Madison author Christina Clancy, for a conversation about her new novel, Shoulder Season.  Christi gave a very interesting and engaging talk at the Wisconsin Book Festival in October, and I’m delighted to bring her to you today.

As you may, or more likely may not know, from 1968 to 1981 there was in southeast Wisconsin the Lake Geneva Playboy Club Hotel, a full-service facility featuring big-name entertainment, championship golf course, a restaurant, cocktail lounge, and, yes the requisite colony of bunnies – many of whom were from small towns around Wisconsin. Towns like East Troy, about 15 miles up HWY 120, where the Alpine Valley Music Center opened in 1977 – the largest amphitheater in the country until 1993. The former Playboy Club, which had become the Americana Center in 1982, has been the Grand Geneva Resort since 1993,

What life was like for the young women who became Bunnies, and how the resort and the amphitheater affected East Troy, are the main issues which concern Christi Clancy in this, her second novel for St. Martin’s Press. It is so interesting and well-written I expect it will do at least as well as her first work, The Second House, so successful it has been optioned for TV miniseries

A Ph D in English from the UW-Milwaukee, Christi worked eight years as a marketing specialist for IBM, then almost a decade as an adjunct English professor at Beloit College before becoming a full-time writer. Her work has also appeared in our best newspapers and literary journals.

She lives in Madison with her family.

It’s a real pleasure to welcome to Madison BookBeat Christina Clancy.