We’re delighted to welcome faculty and students from SHU’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program to campus for the January residency! This month, we’re featuring books by WPF faculty and alumni -- as well as Gangsterland, a thriller by our visiting author, Tod Goldberg, who will teaching a session and presenting a lecture while he is here with us.
(YA Collection) It’s All About Us by Shelley Adina (WPF alum)“Tall, blonde Lissa Mansfield is used to being one of the "in" crowd--but being accepted by the popular girls at posh Spencer Academy boarding school in San Francisco is turning out to be harder than she thought. And then there's her New-York-loudmouth roommate, Gillian Chang, who's not just happy to be a Christian herself--she's determined to out Lissa, too! If Lissa can just keep her faith under wraps long enough to hook Callum McCloud, the hottest guy in school, she'll be golden. But when Callum pressures her to go all the way with him, Lissa has to decide for herself how far is too far. How can she see that line when he's so gorgeous and popular and she's so dazzled? And besides, she's too busy shopping for a Valentino and booking the hottest celeb for the Benefactors Ball. Who knew finding a place at Spencer Academy would be so complicated?” --Amazon
Grave Markings by Michael Arnzen (WPF faculty)“Grave Markings follows the tortured mental breakdown of Mark Michael Kilpatrick-an artist driven to purge visions of hell from his tainted mind by permanently working his ink into the skins of unwilling victims...the flesh of both the living and freshly dead. News reporter Roy Roberts finds himself drawn into an obsession with tattoo culture, at the same time as Kilpatrick's own compulsions produce sicker and sicker masterpieces that attract media attention, twisting in a spiral that inevitably brings Roberts and his loved ones into Kilpatrick's morbidly perverse universe, and the artist's deadly inkgun turns toward them…” --Publisher’s summary
Pocketful of Pearls by Shelley Bates (WPF alum)“At a crossroads in his life, college professor Matthew Nicholas goes wandering. Penniless and malnourished, he comes to the back step of a remote ranch house, where a reserved young woman, Dinah Traynell, feeds him, then hires him as a handyman. Matthew soon finds himself drawn into Dinah's awful story: for years, she's been the mistress of a self-annointed, monstrously smug prophet. She can hardly imagine life outside the cult, but Matthew opens her eyes, and together they overcome their unhappy histories in this affecting story that rips away hypocrisy and replaces it with trust.” --John Mort, Booklist
Rolling in Clover by Penny Dawn (WPF alum)“Kimberley Roderick has it all -- a healthy daughter, a beautiful home, hired help, and a husband with addictions. Unfortunately, his compulsions don't include family life. He spends his weeks on the road and his weekends in the fast lane, leaving Kimberly to wonder "What if?" and wallow in regret for choices made long ago… Luke Jackson has problems of his own. The only woman he's ever loved can't stand to look at him, but he holds it together for the sake of their eight-year-old son, and the hope that he can win back her affection. All that changes when, after a chance meeting, Kimberley and Luke enter into a relationship that evolves from attraction and temptation into a powerful and undeniable love.” --Publisher’s summary
Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg (January residency speaker)“Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, known for his ability to get in and out of a crime without a trace. Until now, that is. His first-ever mistake forces Sal to botch an assassination, killing three undercover FBI agents in the process. This puts too much heat on Sal, and he knows this botched job will be his death sentence to the Mafia. So he agrees to their radical idea to save his own skin. A few surgeries and some intensive training later, and Sal Cupertine is gone, disappeared into the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. Leading his growing congregation in Las Vegas, overseeing the population and the temple and the new cemetery, Rabbi Cohen feels his wicked past slipping away from him, surprising even himself as he spouts quotes from the Torah or the Old Testament. Yet, as it turns out, the Mafia isn't quite done with him yet. Soon the new cemetery is being used as both a money and body-laundering scheme for the Chicago family. And that rogue FBI agent on his trail, seeking vengeance for the murder of his three fellow agents, isn't going to let Sal fade so easily into the desert." --Amazon
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson (WPF alum)“Hopkinson has already captured readers with her unique combination of Caribbean folklore, sensual characters, and rhythmic prose. These stories further illustrate her broad range of subjects, from a Web designer who discovers an unusual ability to alter the pixels of real people to a young girl struggling to survive in a postapocalyptic world where the very air and water are suffused with ground glass.” --Booklist review
(YA Collection) My Abnormal Life by Lee McClain (WPF faculty)“Fifteen-year-old Rose Graham has never been to school. She's never had a date. She certainly never knew she was gorgeous. She's been too busy shoplifting food, keeping Social Services off her family's case, and taking care of her little sister, Dani. Now, living with a foster family in affluent Linden Falls, Rose is supposed to act normal. But high school parties, first kisses, and writing for the school newspaper seem so trivial when all Rose wants is to get her family back together.” --Publisher’s summary
Governess for a Week by Barbara Miller (WPF faculty)“Governess Marian Greenway feels she's been hired by a lunatic when her employer demands she wear a revealing dress to dinner then introduces her to his relatives as his fiance. She realizes his behavior may be rooted in his war wounds, so she agrees. Captain David Armstead, Lord Wyle, wants to fob off his interfering aunts, and a fake engagement seemed a good idea when he was in his cups. But the next day the woman he thought was a hired actress takes over his household and his children become devoted to her. After only a few days he is falling in love with Marian, but she has vowed never to marry a soldier. Marian and Wyle face the dilemma of what is more important, the welfare of the children or their own happiness. They find the answer when a threat to those children vaults them into a plot where only Marian's resourcefulness and Wyle's faith in her can bring them all home safe.” --Publisher’s summary
Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler (WPF faculty)“Living in small town Rockabill, Maine, Jane True always knew she didn't quite fit in with so-called normal society. During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures that are terrifying, beautiful, and deadly--all of which perfectly describe her new 'friend,' Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire. It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never--ever--rub the genie's lamp.” --Publisher’s summary
Poison Study by Maria Snyder (WPF faculty)“Convicted of murdering a general's son, Yelena faces death by hanging until she is offered a reprieve by Valek, the commander of Ixia's chief of security. He will spare her life if she will become his poison taster. As Yelena learns to discern the slightest hint of poison in food and drink, she also discovers that some people want her dead. As tensions mount in Ixia, from rebels within and enemies without, Yelena discovers a growing magical talent within her that she cannot control.” --Library Journal
Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson (WPF alum)“After a routine delivery, midwife Sarah Brandt visits her patient in a rooming house and discovers that another boarder, a young girl, has been killed. At the request of Sergeant Frank Malloy, she searches the girl's room, and discovers that the victim is from one of the most prominent families in New York and the sister of an old friend. The powerful family, fearful of scandal, refuses to permit an investigation. But with Malloy's help, Sarah begins a dangerous quest to bring the killer to justice before death claims another victim.” --Publisher’s summary
