Monday, July 22, 2019

UNCLE MARTIN NOMINATED AS "BEST OF THE NET" FOR 2018

twisted  
 "UNCLE MARTIN"
NOMINATED AS "BEST OF THE NET" FOR 2018 BY SYNCHRONIZED CHAOS MAGAZINE
 
AND JUST PUBLISHED IN THE "FRAGILE" ANTHOLOGY
 
NOW AVAILABLE FROM MEDUSA'S LAUGH PRESS


Fragile is an anthology comprised of works that express some motif of fragility. It can appear in a variety of ways: the vulnerability of the strong, a balance on the precipice of destruction, the ephemeral nature of bonds, a moment that nearly breaks you, and the like. However, being fragile doesn’t have to mean breaking; it can alternatively lead to growth, rebuilding, moving beyond.
Publication Date: July 2019
Edition size: 200
Dimensions: 8-1/2" x 5-1/2"
Binding: Hardcover Case
Paper: Loop Smooth-Snow 70lb
Cover: Paper printed with a custom design
ISBN: 978-0-9984865-4-3
Price: $15.00
Add to cart

Saturday, July 13, 2019


twisted 
NOW AVAILABLE FROM MEDUSA'S LAUGH PRESS


FEATURING MY STORY, "UNCLE MARTIN"


Fragile is an anthology comprised of works that express some motif of fragility. It can appear in a variety of ways: the vulnerability of the strong, a balance on the precipice of destruction, the ephemeral nature of bonds, a moment that nearly breaks you, and the like. However, being fragile doesn’t have to mean breaking; it can alternatively lead to growth, rebuilding, moving beyond.
Publication Date: July 2019
Edition size: 200
Dimensions: 8-1/2" x 5-1/2"
Binding: Hardcover Case
Paper: Loop Smooth-Snow 70lb
Cover: Paper printed with a custom design
ISBN: 978-0-9984865-4-3
Price: $15.00
Add to cart

Friday, July 12, 2019

MIXING IT UP WITH THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION: 8/16/2019

Women's National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter

2019-07-12 15:00:25-04

top view looking down spiral staircase at Mechanics Institute Library, San FranciscoFriday, August 16, 2019, 2pm to 4 pm
57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104 
4th Floor, Chess Room (Free to Public, refreshments available)
Please join WNBA-SF members and friends for a get together at the beautiful beaux arts building in downtown San Francisco. Start the weekend of right with members of both our Women’s National Book Association Chapter as well as Mechanics Institute Library, and more!
It’s a MIXER, so bring a literary friend or two to join the fun. We appreciate our members and would love for you to join us so we can hear your about how 2019 is going so far for you. We’d love to hear about books you have read, articles you are writing, books you are publishing, events you are promoting, or libraries and literary causes you support.
This event will take place right after the lecture “A Novel Plan,” https://wnba-sfchapter.org/author-lunch-art-of-outlining-fiction/ where WNBA-SF writers share tips and inspiration on crafting fiction. We’ll offer librations and snacks to share and, in addition to the novelists, you can meet some of the judges of our writing contest! https://wnba-sfchapter.org/2019-bay-area-writers-contest/
Let us know if you’re coming and if you’re bringing guests by filling out this short RSVP form. Carpools and rides arranged upon request.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Writers Lunch
A Novel Plan: The Art of Outlining Your Fiction

Friday, August 16, 2019 - 12:00pm

In partnership with the Womens' National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter and moderated by President Brenda Knight.
What are the secrets to success for novels? At least one of them is structure -- our speakers will share the approaches that have garnered them bestseller status, awards and rave reviews. Learn what role planning and research play and how to make your scenes, settings, and characters realistic and compulsively readable from beginning to end. There will be Q&A followed by book signings; bring your lunch, a notebook and plenty of questions! Coffee, tea and dessert will be provided.

Sheryl J. Bize-Boutte is an Oakland multidisciplinary writer whose works artfully succeed in getting across deeper meanings about life and the politics of race and economics without breaking out of the narrative, with Oakland often serving as the backdrop for her touching and often hilarious works. Her first book, A Dollar Five-Stories From A Baby Boomer's Ongoing Journey (2014) has been described as "rich in vivid imagery", and "incredible." Her second book, All That and More's Wedding (2016), a collection of fictional mystery/crime short stories, is praised as "imaginative with colorful and likeable characters that draw you in to each story and leave you wanting more." Her latest book, Running for the 2:10 (2017), a follow-on to A Dollar Five, delves deeper into her coming of age in Oakland and the embedded issues of race and skin color with one reviewer calling it "... a great contribution to literature." Her fictional story, "Uncle Martin" will be published by Medusa's Laugh Press Summer 2019. She currently has a novel in progress titled Betrayal on the Bayou, slated for publication in early 2020. She is also a contributor to award winning author Kate Farrell's upcoming book Story Power, an anthology on how writers build and create their stories. It has been said that Sheryl "brings down the house" with presentations of her stories (both true and fictional) and poetry. Her poems "Cutty Sark and Milk (She Said, She Said)" and "Childthink" were winners in the 2019 San Lorenzo Library Literary Contest. She is still often asked to read "The Last Collard Green," one of her most popular fiction stories, published by Synchronized Chaos Magazine in 2017.
Mary Mackey is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels, including The Earthsong Series—four novels which describe how the peaceful Goddess-worshiping people of Prehistoric Europe fought off patriarchal nomad invaders (The Village of Bones, The Year The Horses Came, The Horses at the Gate, and The Fires of Spring). Mary's novels have been praised by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Pat Conroy, Thomas Moore, Marija Gimbutas, Maxine Hong Kingston, Marge Piercy, and Theodore Roszak for their historical accuracy, inventiveness, literary grace, vividness, and storytelling magic. They have made The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller Lists, been translated into twelve foreign languages and sold over a million and a half copies. Mary has also written seven collections of poetry including Sugar Zone, winner of the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award. This September Marsh Hawk Press will publish a collection of her new and selected poems entitled The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams. At marymackey.com, you can get the latest news about Mary's books and public appearances, sample her work, sign up for her newsletter, and get writing advice. You can also find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @MMackeyAuthor.
Martha Conway’s latest novel, The Underground River, was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. She is also the author of Thieving Forest, which won the North American Book Award in Historical Fiction, and Sugarland, which was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2016. Martha’s short fiction has appeared in the Iowa Review, Mississippi Review, The Quarterly, Carolina Quarterly, and other publications. She has reviewed fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Iowa Review, and is a recipient of a California Arts Council fellowship in Creative Writing. In addition to writing, Martha is an instructor of creative writing at Stanford University’s Continuing Studies Program and UC Berkeley Extension. She received her BA from Vassar College in History and English, and her MA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Born and raised in Ohio, she now lives in San Francisco with her family, where the fog reminds her of lake-effect cloud cover in Cleveland. Martha tweets ten-minute prompts every weekday on twitter (#10minprompt) via @marthamconway.


TODAY'S EMAIL FROM MEDUSA'S LAUGH PRESS:



"I am writing to inform you of the release of Fragile, where your submission of Uncle Martin is included."


IT'S ON THE WAY!  MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW! 
 
EXCERPT FROM UNCLE MARTIN
COPYRIGHT©2018 BY SHERYL J. BIZE-BOUTTE

 
Uncle Martin

I don’t know why Daddy brought me with him to Uncle Martin’s house that day or even remember whether it was just he and I, but there we were, standing on the curb edge squinting into the sun, waiting for Uncle Martin to cross the street.  Dressed in an un-tucked flowy white shirt and severely creased beige slacks, Uncle Martin was looking back nervously over his shoulder as he slowly made his way across the yard and on to the sidewalk carrying a small raggedy suitcase containing what he would later tell me were his “essentials.”  

Much later, I would understand that Daddy was the logical one to be there that day.  He and Uncle Martin had been close since the day Daddy married his only sister, my mom.  Uncle Martin took one more quick look over his shoulder just before his foot hit the black asphalt of the street.  Standing in a stiff row behind him were the family he was leaving, an angry wife and three children; a girl aged 10 and two boys aged 7 and 5.  The girl stood solidly beside her mother trying her best to mimic her adult fury, while oldest boy simply looked lost and confused.  The youngest boy, who looked nothing like Uncle Martin, had a look on his face that coincided with his mismatch, that of utter detachment...