1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE SAINT LAURENT MUSE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
1970s Paris. Fashion. Gay love.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It’s based on a real person: Loulou de la Falaise, muse and creative collaborator to Yves Saint Laurent, who lived and worked in Paris at the time.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes. In a heartbeat. Loulou de la Falaise worked for decades with Yves Saint Laurent, one of my favorite fashion designers. She dressed with an eccentric flair; she loved to go dancing; and she was a loyal friend. I think she must have been someone marvelous I would have loved to know.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Creative. Reckless. Yearning.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That we all stumble through life, no matter our privileges. We all make mistakes in our pursuit of love. As we get older, we hopefully make better choices. If not, we’re doomed to repeat our mistakes over and over.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I always edit my draft as I go. I warm up by editing what I wrote the day before, then plunge onward. The blank page is a scary place.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Pasta with grilled chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, tossed in olive oil. Lots of crusty bread.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
My study is a Victorian parlor in my house. The window over my desk overlooks the gardenia tree on the street. My shelves are overcrowded with books. It’s my refuge from the world.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Guy Gavriel Kay, whose fantasy novels rooted in history are sublime. And I admire any writer who dares to explore the complexity of our human heart without falsehood or cliche.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Several books inspired me, but the one that changed my life was the first book I published.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I’d been rejected countless times. I had four prior agents who submitted my manuscripts (or was it five agents? I don’t recall now). My current agent decided to submit my most recent revision of a novel I’d rewritten several times because of the agent of the moment’s input. I had no indication if this new agent’s round of submissions would go any differently. I thought I would never get “the call,” and I had a full-time job I loved. Publishing had become a dogged obsession for me; it took 13 years to get an offer. But as my book went out on yet another round to editors, I deliberately held back any expectations. Then my agent called me at work, a month or so after submissions went out. I was in “auction,” which, in my case, meant two publishers were vying to acquire my novel The Last Queen. It was surreal. I’ll never forget how, after almost the entire day of my agent going back and forth with the interested editors, I took calls from each of them and then accepted the offer from Random House to publish The Last Queen and my second book, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. Suddenly, I was under contract to a major house. It didn’t sink in for several weeks. Traditional publishing is also a very slow process, with a year or more transpiring between acquisition and publication, so I learned everything I could in the meantime about how to survive the business. I kept my day job for years, just in case. Writing fiction is a very tough way to earn a reliable living.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Since childhood, my favorite genre is fantasy. I also love science fiction. And historical fiction, of course, though I tend to read more historical biographies and era-specific books for research than historical novels for pleasure.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Alien (1979.)
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Going out to dinner with my husband.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m currently enthralled by the series Ozark on Netflix. Kate Winslet’s movie Lee, about WWII photographer Lee Miller, is an acting masterclass and a heartbreaking story. I just finished reading Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night, which is epic and unputdownable.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read. Play video games. Nap. Catch up with friends.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
First, I need to take a break to re-fill my creative well. I have also been working on a gay fantasy trilogy off and on for years that I might self-publish.
The Seductive World of Haute Couture with a Dangerous Edge, Perfect for Winter 2025, Immerse Yourself in the Scandalous Drama
The Paris runways of the 70s come to wild and splashy life in this novel of fashion's “It Girl” Loulou de la Falaise and her life partying and designing with Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, and Halston. Nightlife! Gowns! Cocaine! Glamour!
It’s the 1970s, and from hippie London to Warhol’s Factory in New York, reluctant aristocrat Loulou de la Falaise is desperately seeking adventure. Having escaped an early, unhappy marriage, she arrives on a whim in Paris—the champagne-soaked heart of the fashion world, where the rigid old world of haute couture and the ffast-paced new world of ready-to-wear are vying for supremacy.
Glamour, sex, and cocaine nights fuel the Paris fashion scene. Its crown prince is the soulful and intensely gifted Yves Saint Laurent, whose sexy tuxedos for women and chic Rive Gauche boutiques reflect women’s desire for seductive independence, a desire Loulou knows all too well.
Loulou’s bohemian flair immediately captures Saint Laurent’s attention, and they embark on a glorious intimate friendship as artist and muse. Together they revel in the excesses of high society, decadent parties, and the hedonistic underworld of gay nightclubs, where the young and beautiful become prey, and dangerous rivalries start to emerge. Their course collides with eccentric designer Karl Lagerfeld, intent on his own conquest. Lagerfeld’s bitter professional rivalry with Yves divides Paris even in an era when anything goes. As Yves plunges into a dangerous, secret affair with Karl’s enigmatic young companion, and Loulou finds herself falling in love with a colleague’s handsome boyfriend, evanescent illusion and savage deception will bring them to the brink of ruin.
Intoxicating and unforgettable, The Saint Laurent Muse is the dramatic imagining of a lifelong friendship between two kindred spirits, and of a tumultuous time and place in fashion history that will never be seen again.
Women's Fiction Friendship | Women's Fiction Historical [William Morrow Paperbacks, On Sale: March 18, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780063319837 / eISBN: 9780063319844]
C. W. Gortner is the author of the acclaimed historical novels The Last Queen and The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. He holds an MFA in writing with an emphasis on Renaissance studies from the New College of California. In his extensive travels to research his books, he has danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall and experienced life in a Spanish castle. He is also a dedicated advocate for animal rights and environmental issues. Half Spanish by birth, he lives in Northern California.
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