*** Winner selected! Congratulations to Mariandrea in Los Angeles! ***
Every month, I give away a book I love by an author I admire to one of my newsletter subscribers. Sign up with your email in the right sidebar to be entered to win!
For a glimpse at the darker, grittier side of Newport Beach, pick up Victoria Patterson‘s Drift: Stories, a collection of 13 interconnected stories featuring an alcoholic community college student, homeless stoner, friendly transvestite, and other colorful, desperate figures — all looking for someone or something to anchor their tumultuous lives.
The stories offer a wry and heartbreaking commentary from the people living in the margins of this affluent town. You’ll get a better sense of Newport Beach reading this slim volume than by watching all four seasons of The O.C.
On a personal note, Drift was a big influence on Cake Time, my own forthcoming novel-in-stories — which, like Drift, is a collection of interconnected stories set (mostly) in SoCal. Reading Drift helped me reenvision how to structure my stories into a collection. And Victoria’s entire body of work — which now includes three novels — has been a true inspiration to me.
Get a copy of Drift: Stories now, or enter to win one by signing up for my newsletter to the right. Already signed up? Then you’re already entered!
Come back mid-month to read a Five Firsts interview with Victoria Patterson!
Sounds like a juicy read! I’m a SoCal resident, more inland, and you always hear about the fabulous side of OC and the surrounding areas, but not the grit. Would love to check this out so I’m all signed up, thank you!
Ah, the IE! Hope you’re keeping cool out there — and as long as you’re subscribed to the newsletter, you’re entered into each month’s drawing 🙂
Yeah!