Palm Readings

Stories from Southern California

New Voices Series

Edited Eve La Salle Caram

Maria Amapro Escandon, Jacquelilne Jaffe, Susan Lee, Stel DeLeon, Marnell Jameson, Louinn Lota, Anita Santiago

"Essential Beginnings" a collection of fiction writing and editing prompts and exercises will be extremely useful to teachers and fiction writers. "I loved every page of this exuberant, rough, altogether refreshing book." (Carolyn See)

"This anthology is best remembered for the unique voices that emerge from these stories written by seven women, most of whom come from bicultural backgrounds. It ushers the reader into the world of a Chinese woman transplanted in San Francisco, the era of Diego Rivera, war-torn Philippines, and other fictive realities reflecting the rich cultural diversity in Southern California. Eve La Salle Caram should be congratulated for this book project!" (Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Author of "When the Rainbow Goddess Wept")

"I was quickly drawn in to these beautifully written and poignant stories of different cultures, and greatly affected as I read on."
Fred Roos, Producer of "Godfather II and III," "The Secret Garden" and "The Black Stallion."

"'Palm Readings' is blessed with themes, rhythms, and voices as fabulously rich and unpredictable as Los Angeles itself. These are stories told without a political agenda and with a great deal of freshness and style." Linda Venis, Director, UCLA Extension Department of the Arts and the Writer's Program.

About the Writers

Maria Amparo Escandon has been writing and publishing short stories in magazines and anthologies in Spanish since 1973, in Mexico, where she has lived most of her life. Since she moved to the United States in 1989, she began experimenting with the English language and is now writing short stories based on events that take place in Mexico, the United States and the line between. Her novel, "Santitus," will be published by Scribners. Her stories have appeared in literary publications such as "Prairie Schooner," "Manoa," "OnTheBus," "West/Word," and others. In Mexico, her work has appeared in "Cuento," "Plural," "Norte," "Adrede," "La Brújula en el Bolsillo," "Vuelta," "Foro Abierto," and many more.
In The Writers' Program at UCLA Extension, she has taught Introduction to Fiction Writing, Introduction to Short Story Writing, and Magic Realism. She lives in Los Angeles, is married to artist Benito Martinez-Creel and has two small children.

Jacqueline Jaffe was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Southern California when she was six years old. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English Literature and worked for many years as an advertising copywriter. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her eight-year-old son. (She has never been to Boise, Idaho, and is not particularly proud of the fact.)

A fifth generation native, Marnell Jameson writes of her homeland with the authenticity of someone thoroughly steeped in California's quirky climate. The author of two books -- "California Palms, A Collection of Short Stories" (Sunstone Press) and a novel "Where the Sun Beats" (publication pending). Jameson also writes regularly for the "Los Angeles Times" and several national women s magazines. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, is a member of PEN West and teaches writing for UCLA Extension. She recently moved from Los Angeles, after sixteen years, and now lives in San Juan Capistrano with her husband, and two children.

Susan Lee was raised in San Francisco among an extended Chinese-American family which included her parents, brother, grandparents, uncles, aunts and many cousins. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter and an extended family of cats.

Stel DeLeon was born in the Philippines and now lives in Los Angeles. A graduate of Maryknoll College in Manila and the University of Madrid in Spain, she currently works in the film industry. Having gone back to school, concentrating on English Literature at Glendale Community College and Creative Writing at UCLA Extension, she has published poetry in several anthologies and is currently working on her memoirs.

Louinn Marie Lota received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1985, and was a National Arts Journalism Program Fellow from 1994-95. She has worked for more than a decade as a full-time print and broadcast journalist for The Associated Press and has done news stories ranging from the arts to sports to zoology. Her essay, "Multiculturalism: Building Tolerance or Tribes?" was published in "The NAJP Journal," No. 1, 1995. She is a digital and visual artist whose work is held in private collections and has exhibited in Conyers, Georgia, and the University of Georgia School of Fine Arts gallery in Athens, Georgia. Her computer generated artwork has appeared in "dlSorient", a Los Angeles Asian Pacific American literary and visual arts journal. "Dream I Scream" is her first published work of fiction.

Anita Santiago was raised in Venezuela and moved to the United States to finish her education in New York. She lives with her family in Los Angeles and owns an advertising agency there.

Eve La Salle Caram has taught fiction writing in UCLA. Extension's Writers' Program for fifteen years, and writing and literature in the English Department of California State University at Northridge. Her novels, "Dear Corpus Christi" and "Wintershine" were published by Plain View Press. A new novel, "Rena, A Late Journey," is forthcoming.

Susan Bright is a poet and the publisher of Plain View Press. Author of fourteen collections of poetry, she has won the Austin Book Awards for "Far Side of the Word," "Tirades And Evidence Of Grace" and "House of the Mother." She was a consulting editor for this collection and contributed the cover photograph, text photographs and a series of revision exercises for fiction writing in the "Essential Beginnings" section of the book.

138 pgs, $15.95, ISBN: 0-911051-02-3