Deeanne Gist fans won’t have to wait until the April 30 release
of It Happened at the Fair to read her latest work! On March 19, readers
will be able to purchase the e-short, Tempest in the White City, a
40-page short story prelude to It Happened at the Fair, for 99 cents
from all online retailers. While the characters from the short story are not
carried over into the full-length release, audiences will get a taste of the
awe-inspiring backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and will be anxious to
spend more time exploring the exhibition.
In true Gist form, Tempest in the White City combines her
trademark humor with romance. Hunter Scott is one of the elite. A Chicago
World’s Fair guard specifically chosen for his height, physique, character and
ability to serve and protect. When Hunter is overcome with debilitating
abdominal pain, he stumbles to an infirmary in the Fair’s Woman’s Building only
to discover the doctor is female—which he is none too happy about. But even
worse, she has the nerve to diagnose him—the toughest man west of anyplace
east—with constipation.
The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair overflowed with the latest
innovations welcomed by a throng of people from all around the globe. This
setting replete with history, intrigue and wonder caught Gist’s attention and
is sure to draw readers of both releases in as well. “I’m always drawn to
events in our country’s past that are strangely absent from our history
classes. Why the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition has been left out, I don’t
know, especially since it was such a pivotal event for us,” explains Gist. “We
were able to wow the world with our scientific innovations, and it gave women
their first official board position recognized and approved by an Act of Congress
(all before we had the right to vote). But it was technology which claimed the
day as it nipped at the heels of horses, buggies and man-powered tools.”
In It Happened at the Fair, young inventor Cullen
McNamara gambles everything, including the family farm, in order to make his
family proud—and earn his father’s entry money to the Fair Expo back—by selling
his design for an automatic sprinkler system inspired by his mother’s death in
a mill fire. Struggling with hearing loss from his previous life on the farm,
McNamara finds it difficult to communicate with potential buyers over the din
in the Fair’s Machinery Building. In an act of desperation, he hires attractive
Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading.
Much like the newly invented Ferris Wheel, Cullen is caught in a whirl between
his girl back home, his dreams as an inventor and his unexpected attraction to
his new tutor. Can he keep his feet on the ground or will he be carried away?
Another date that fans will
want to mark on their calendars is May 22, 2013, at 8:00 PM EST. Gist will
be hosting a webcast event where she will be discussing more of the story
behind It Happened at the Fair and answering reader questions. During
the course of the evening, a number of prizes will be given away to those
participating in the discussion.