Stories on Stage Sacramento

Two July Performances AND an Online Writing Workshop
We've been surprised by the way our pandemic losses have converted into opportunities. The loss of live, in-person performance has meant the opportunity to experiment with online literary performance. This month is no different. We're thrilled beloved authors Debra Gwartney and Sands Hall have agreed to experiment with us.

Author Sands Hall

Author Debra Gwartney

July 17, Sands Hall and Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology
Friday July 17 at 5 p.m., we'll host a free, live performance of an excerpt of Sands Hall's current memoir, Reclaiming My Decade Lost in Scientology. Actor details forth-coming. With only one story to perform, we'll have time for author questions and answers. Please register in advance for this evening. After registering, you'll receive a confirmation email with the link to join us. The performance will also be recorded for later viewing.

Hall’s memoir is a chronicle of her absorption into the Church of Scientology in the 1980s, at the time of the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige, revealing what drew her into the religion, what she found intriguing and useful, how she came to confront its darker sides—and escape. Hall is Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Franklin & Marshall College, and is on the staff of the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.

July 18, Debra Gwartney and I Am a Stranger Here Myself
Saturday July 18 at 5 p.m., we'll host a free, live performance of an excerpt of Debra Gwartney's current memoir, I Am a Stranger Here Myself. We'll share details about the actor soon. Again, with only one story to perform, we'll offer author questions and answers. Please register in advance for this evening. After registering, you'll receive a confirmation email with the link to join us. The performance will also be recorded for later viewing

Gwartney’s most-recent book is part history, part memoir, tapping into personal and historical details that reveal the universal need to belong and the snarl of family history, while embracing womanhood in the patriarchal American West. Gwartney teaches in the MFA Program at Pacific University.

July 19, 2020 Generative Workshops with Sands Hall & Debra Gwartney (together!)
Sunday July 19, come as you are—in jammies, sweats or swimsuit—for a Stories on Stage Sacramento online creative writing workshop. Two sections of this hands-on workshop will each be led by both of our featured, veteran author-teachers, Debra Gwartney and Sands Hall. You’ll work in a group of no more than ten writers, exploring the topic Writing About Family. There will be time for craft talk, writing and sharing.

One section will go from 9 a.m. to noon, the other from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is only $50.00. Register at Eventbrite while spots are still available.

June 3, Anne Da Vigo and Bakersfield Boys Club

Author Anne Da Vigo

Here is our interview (29:44) with Anne Da Vigo about her latest novel, the page-turning, heart-breaking mystery, Bakersfield Boys Club (February 2020).

Anne Da Vigo is a former police reporter who covered murder and mayhem at newspapers throughout California. At the Bakersfield Californian in the 70s, she covered the trial of the first of the Lords of Bakersfield cases, a series of murders that stretched for decades. She was inspired to write Bakersfield Boys Club, in part, because rich and powerful men were able, with impunity, to engage in sex trafficking vulnerable boys.

She is the author of a previous thriller, Thread of Gold, and one of her short stories was featured at Stories on Stage Sacramento. Purchase Bakersfield Boys Club at Capital Books on K and on Amazon other online sources.

Praise for Bakersfield Boys Club
"A sensitively intelligent dramatization of the abuse of power ... ” (Kirkus Review)
“True crime and murder mystery readers alike will find Bakersfield Boys Club a riveting winner." (Midwest Book Reviews)

Read Anne's recent column in the Bakersfield Californian about the true crimes that inspired the novel.

June 10, Bill Pieper and Borders and Boundaries

Author Bill Pieper

Here is our interview with Sacramento author Bill Pieper about his latest book, the short story collection Borders and Boundaries (Cold River Press, 2020).

Bill Pieper has been a Sierra rat, a desert rat and a Pacific Crest Trail hiker for much of his life. More recently, he used his Spanish for travel in Guatemala, giving rise to three stories that earned an editor’s choice award from Red Fez magazine and have been issued as a Kindle book titled Guatemala Triptych. Bill is a notable alumnus of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and his work has received Pushcart Prize nominations and a national award from Scratch Writer magazine.

In addition to Borders and Boundaries, Bill has two novels in print, Belonging (Comstock Bonanza Press, 2006) and What You Wish For (Pacific Slope Press, 2011), and the short story collection Forgive Me, Father (Cold River Press, 2014). His stories have appeared in The Front Porch Review, Chiron Review, Corvus Review, Blue Moon Review and elsewhere.

Free PDF download of Bill's award-winning Guatemala Triptych

June 24, Shelley Blanton-Stroud and Copy Boy were live on Zoom - Enjoy the video

Author Shelley Blanton-Stroud

Blanton-Stroud grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. She teaches college writing in Northern California and consults with writers in the energy industry. She also co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, and serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. She has also served on the Writers’ Advisory Board for the Belize Writers’ Conference.

Copy Boy is her first novel, and she’s currently working on her second. She also writes and publishes flash fiction and non-fiction, which you can find at such journals as Brevity and Cleaver. She and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons.

"Copy Boy is a fantastic story of a young woman's survival and reinvention. Blanton-Stroud's prose sings and crackles and brings us into the world of Jane with so much compassion and beauty and wisdom."
- Karen E. Bender, author of The New Order, and Refund, a National Book Award finalist.

Copy Boy Virtual Launch and 916 Ink Fundraiser Performance Recordings

If you missed the Copy Boy virtual book launch we co-hosted with Capital Books as a fundraiser for our nonprofit friend,
916 Ink, we have recordings to share:) You'll see a feature we're experimenting with--One Page Readings. We raised over $500 for 916 Ink.

The Long Version (1:03:55) Dorothy Rice emcees, Amanda McTigue, Jessica Laskey and Ian C. Hopps perform one-page-readings from the novel, Shelley Blanton-Stroud answers questions and Capital Books gives away drawing prizes.
One Page Reading by Amanda McTigue (7:55) "It's hard to be ambitious when you're poor."
One Page Reading by Jessica Laskey (9:38) "I want a man who can turn on the lights."
One Page Reading by Ian C. Hopps (10:04) "Sometimes a pocket is not just a pocket."

Find the books featured on Stories on Stage Sacramento at Capital Books on K, our local bookseller partner, and receive postcard-sized art of the bookstore and their neighbor, the Crest Theater. Free with your book(s). Heidi and Ross Rojek have been getting stories to readers in Sacramento and beyond much faster than the big guys during this crisis, so let's reward them for that!

In addition to mail order and curbside pickup, the store is now open by appointment, so you can browse again!

Capital Books & Crest Theater, by Kyle Thaw and his mother, Heidi Rojek. This beautiful artwork FREE with your book purchase!

2020 SEASON