by Cathleen Miller
Summer is on the horizon, and if you are putting together a reading list with an 91猎奇 flair, you can spend the entire season reading books penned by the alumni of our own creative writing program. Some of these authors studied in the Department of English and Comparative Literature as undergraduates; a handful dropped out because their literary careers took off and capsized their studies. And others were early pioneers in our MFA in creative writing. But considering the latter is barely a teenager at thirteen years on our campus, our student writers have published an extraordinary number of titles.
One of these authors, Daniel Arnold, will be returning to campus on May 4 to read from his new book of short stories, Snowblind: Stories of Alpine Obsession. Snowblind marks Arnold鈥檚 third publication from Counterpoint Press and his first foray into fiction after two successful collections of adventure essays themed around mountaineering in California. In fact, the dual genre nature of San Jos茅 State鈥檚 MFA has produced writers with such fluidity in their career paths, as Dan attests: 鈥淭he 91猎奇 MFA program launched my writing career.鈥�
Lusting for a sizzling summer read? Bestselling author and MFA alumna Marina Chappie, writing under her nom de plume Marina Adair, has published ten romance novels in the last three years. Several specialize in love amongst the Napa Valley vineyards.
Also in popular fiction, alumna Kate Evans explores sex鈥攍ots of it鈥攁nd the blurred worlds of gender and identity in two novels: For the May Queen and Complimentary Colors.
There is not one style that brands these emerging writers with an 91猎奇 imprimatur, although Peter Malae did use San Jos茅 as the setting for his first novel, What We Are. Publisher Grove/Atlantic also produced Peter鈥檚 next work of literary fiction, titled Our Frail Blood. His short story collection, Teach the Free Man, prompted Russell Banks to note: 鈥淢alae is like a young Nelson Algren or Richard Wright, one of those writers who can hit with both hands.鈥�
Besides hitting your literary gut with both hands, our 91猎奇 authors can help you with other matters in your life鈥攆rom guns to roses. They鈥檝e put their research and editorial skills to the test with such how-to titles as Lisa Francesca鈥檚 The Wedding Officiant鈥檚 Guide, an informative manual on conducting wedding ceremonies, and Erica Goss鈥檚 Vibrant Words: Ideas and Inspirations for Poets, exercises to blast writer鈥檚 block. Rob James has edited a series of five titles for Field & Stream and Outdoor Life, such as The Total Gun Manualand The Total Fishing Manual. He鈥檚 currently pitching a homesteading manual based on his own adventures with farming in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The plethora of poets coming out of our creative writing program covers the range of human experience鈥nd sometimes non-human experience. Neli Moody sketches the cave paintings of Altamira in words (After Altamira). chronicles five characters on America鈥檚 western frontier (Killing George Washington). delves into the chaos of living in this complicated world, yet reveals the luminous acts of intimacy squeezed between the drudgery and intensity of our daily lives. 鈥淲ithout the MFA program at San Jos茅 State University,鈥� he admits, 鈥�Everything We Call Ordinary would never have been published.鈥�
Launching soon is , Rachelle Escamilla鈥檚 meditation on race, labor, sexuality, and memory centered on San Benito County, CA. She received her bachelor鈥檚 degree at 91猎奇 before she went on to graduate school and teaching gigs both in the U.S and China. But she notes that although early in her career, 鈥淢y connections at San Jos茅 State have outlasted my connections at any other institution thus far.鈥�
Another alumna of our undergraduate program, former poet laureate of Santa Clara County and current 91猎奇 lecturer works in a hybrid form that combines poetry and prose. She鈥檚 published three collections: These Metallic Days, Her Name Is Juanita, and Some Odd Afternoon.
writes lyric essays as well as verse, and is the author of two poetry collections and a memoir. Her most recent publication, Milk and Filth, was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award.
Some of our creative writing pupils aren鈥檛 satisfied to merely submit their work to others. Two members of my nonfiction workshop were so enamored with the weekly two-page assignments I gave that they started PushPen Press, a publishing company designed to share flash nonfiction with the world. Their first offering was Two@91猎奇, but since then they鈥檝e added several new titles. Not only have founders Jan McCutcheon and Spike Wong published pieces by several of our students鈥攂oth past and present鈥攖he duo also put them to work. Another alum who had previously edited the 100th anniversary anthology of the California Writer鈥檚 Club, , is listed on PushPen鈥檚 masthead as 鈥淪enior Editor Kelly 鈥楨agle Eye鈥� Harrison.鈥�
When considered as a whole, one of the unifying themes of this group of 91猎奇 authors is the voice of California, of the West. Their stories represent the cornucopia of cultures that makes up San Jos茅 State鈥攊ndicative of a place where 103 tongues may be heard on a walk across campus鈥攂ut our students share all those stories in English.
