Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Al Jazeera, VIDA Review, the Offing, and elsewhere. Now a new memoir, First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story (Prometheus Books), dedicated to the themes of love and sexuality as experienced by an Muslim-American, is out. Faith Adiele, author of The Nigerian Nordic Girl’s Guide to Lady Problems, calls it, “An honest, often amusing, account of one young woman’s quest to balance the traditional Muslim values she acquired from her Iraqi immigrant parents with the romantic fantasies she acquired from American media. Her story is both unique in that the devout, overachieving narrator is not the rebellious first-generation daughter we’ve come to expect from immigrant narratives, and universal in its instructive journey from youthful hubris and naïveté to learning how to make a marriage work.” Jasmin Darznik (The Good Daughter) calls it simply, “A wonderful book.” Huda Al-Marashi joins us for the first time as a Special Guest Speaker, and we’re delighted to welcome her aboard!
Among the other additions to our SD33 staff already confirmed, Demetra Brodsky, Nikki Katz, and Gwendolyn Womack–all past Special Guest Speakers–will be returning with some nifty new workshops. Gwen has a new book out spring, 2019 called The Time Collector. The novel follows two psychometrists—“people who can sense the history of any object they touch.” Cool.
Recent Good “Muse”
Lots of SCWCers with new titles now out or dropping shortly. Before we get to that, let’s luxuriate for a moment in this particularly bright item: Deadline Hollywood reports that the “The Jim Henson Company has acquired the rights to Stacey O’Brien’s bestselling memoir Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, with Dolphin Tale co-writer Karen Janszen attached to pen the adaptation.” Stacey’s story became a beloved, international sensation after being discovered at our LA5 or LA6 conference. It will likely play out as the major theme of SD33: quality storytelling, determination, perseverance, and tenacity matters.
A fine western by Michael Dukes, The Avenging Angels, is now out … Also, A.K. Patch’s Journey From Delphi, the third volume in his Apollo Series … Gene Desrochers’ Dark Paradise, a Caribbean noir murder mystery … And Greta Boris’ Sanctity of Sloth.
Also out, Grim, by workshop leader Laura Perkins (writing as Mercy Hollow), and Andrew Peterson’s Hired to Kill, the seventh book in his Nathan McBride series, discovered way back at one of our Palm Springs editions of the SCWC.
Coming up fast: Webs of Perception, international award-winning author Darlene Quinn’s thrilling conclusion to her epic family saga, drops November, as does Christa Yelich-Koth’s Coiled Vengeance: An Eomix Galaxy Novel … And Matt Coyle’s fifth Rick Cahill mystery, Wrong Light, is out December. Best of success to all!
Your Voice. Your Story. Tell It. Sell It.
Housekeeping
We’re going to open up Advance Submission Reader selection earlier than usual, November 1st. If you’ve already registered for our winter event and chose “To Be Determined,” be sure to email Chrissie or Michael with your reader choice(s). It’s exceedingly important that you get up to speed on what to do, what not to do, what to expect, and more by reviewing the following link:
Most important thing to remember? Do NOT submit multiple drafts of your manuscript pages. Submit the draft that’s ready to go, and only that draft. You have until the January 12 deadline to submit pages. Makes no difference to us if you submit them earlier than the deadline. If you’ve already selected your reader(s), you’re good to go. However, if you submit pages, then at a later date submit an updated version of those pages, your re-submission will be rejected. Be professional. Be smart. Be patient, and take the time to get it right the very first time.
That’s about it for now. Discounted pre-registration is now open. Do so by November 1st and save, save, save. Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list for vital updates, because there’s plenty more to come. And in case you missed him at our recent Irvine event, here’s an excerpt from Henry Lien’s Saturday morning talk, where he dissects his approach to author appearances (the next Peasprout Chen book is out January).
–Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC/SWS
