Base Notes, page 37
But even before that, the idea was born when I read Jude Ellison Sady Doyle’s “My quest to find the great American perfume,” published in The Guardian. Without that exploration of the unpleasant in perfume, you wouldn’t have read this one.
I did a lot of research for this book—and leaned on a lot of other people’s expertise—but ended up ignoring most of it in favor of telling a very strange story. All mistakes are my own, as are all the flights of fancy.
Thank you to the staff at Perfumarie, especially Rachel Ann and Madison, and to Andrea Bifulco of Nose University. Twisted Lily (requiescat in pace), with its generous sample policy, was an invaluable resource and will be sorely missed. Speaking of samples: thank you to everyone on the Dry Down Slack who swapped with me.
There are many small business owners to thank as well, and we’ll start with the perfumers:
Chris Rusak (Chris Rusak), Carter Weeks Maddox (Chronotope Perfume), and Daniel Jones (Dandy Parfums) all generously offered their time, attention, conversation, and advice on the technical and professional aspects of niche perfumery. Thanks also to Sixteen92, Nasomatto, and CB I Hate Perfume, who were gracious enough to consent to the use of their copy.
Several consulting tailors offered sound advice on just what exactly would make them homicidal: David Reeves (David Reeves Bespoke), Jean-Francois Rodrigues (Cad & the Dandy), and Nathaniel Adams (Natty Adams). Actually, Natty would insist (rightly) he is a designer, not a tailor, but he still had a bone to pick with contrasting buttonholes.
A tip of the hat to tonsorial rockabilly Michael Haar, of the eponymous Haar & Co., who throws great parties, makes great playlists, and once let me smell his Barbicide. (It smells like salicylic acid, if you’re wondering.)
Then, there are the readers.
Ella Dawson read and loved Base Notes before anyone else other than Caitlin. Leah Zander introduced me to Tarquin Winot when he was most needed. Andrew Keahey provided invaluable advice on creeping this book up. Molly Majumder and Ryan Douglass were more than game for quick turnaround and gave thoughtful feedback. Jackie Kay was my cavalry, coming in at the last minute with some refreshing thoughts about cantaloupe, among other things.
I have Micaiah Huw Evans, former pathologist, to thank for the alcohol enemas, as well as many facts about rigor mortis. He also gave some great late-stage pep talks about craft, perfume, and classical music that honestly got this book over the finish line.
I cannot overstate the value of Rachel Sobel’s friendship and advice. Base Notes would not be itself without her. (Sorry, Rachel, I’m not even softening this with sarcasm or a snarky aside. You will just have to suffer through my sincerity.)
There are friends and family too who may be reading this for the first time and realizing in horror what their support helped me accomplish. Michael Jaoui did some emergency wrangling of chemist recommendations in the final weeks of edits. Then there’s everyone in the Pub, of course, especially L. X. Beckett, for the cherry on—or down, as it were—the top and many other excellent pieces of advice; Jay Wolf, as ever, for having all the good ideas; and Tessa Fisher, who helped me murder Giovanni.
Thanks, Dad, for Trumper and Süskind, and Mom, who brought me the last drops of Dali to smell when all I could remember was “the bottle shaped like a nose.” And Eliot, of course, who sat over my left shoulder most evenings I was drafting and suffered many moments of my spinning in my office chair and steepling my fingers like a Bond villain, saying, “so,” and sticking him with a thorny plot problem to solve.
A final thank-you to Holly Black, who said at Clarion that in real life, it’s bad not to tip a waiter; it’s worse to cheat on your spouse; murder is the gravest sin. And then said it’s pretty much the opposite in fiction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2020 Eliot Routh
Lara Elena Donnelly is the author of the Nebula-, Lambda-, and Locus-nominated trilogy the Amberlough Dossier. She has taught in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College, as well as the Catapult classes in New York and the Alpha SF/F/H Workshop for Young Writers.
In the summer, she wears The Cobra & the Canary. In the winter, Nudiflorum. And some others in between, to keep things interesting.
Corporeally, she lives on the grounds of the old Hamilton Estate, with a screenwriter and a small mask-and-mantle tabby pretentiously named after a bitter Italian aperitif. Digitally, you can visit her at www.laradonnelly.com.
Donnelly, Lara Elena, Base Notes
