ANNOUNCING . . .

Azalea Art Press
is proud to announce
publication of

TREMORS:
Short Fiction by California Writers

Pub. Date / October 2014

© Ken Branch, Douglas Burgess, Charles Burke,

Franklin Burroughs, Maya Mitra Das, Sue Hummel,
Cecilia Pugh, Lynne Grant-Westenhaver,

2014.

All Rights Reserved.

Foreword

by Janice de Jesus

During a visit to Monterey, I came across a lovely anthology of fiction writers. It inspired me to see if the Creative Writing class that I had been teaching through the Pleasant Hill Recreation and Park District might be interested in creating their own collection.

My students more than warmed up to the idea. To say they were enthusiastic was an understatement. As time went by and the more we talked about having an anthology to call our own, the more fuel we stoked for the fire that was burning within us. It would finally happen.

So in the summer and fall of 2012, submissions kept pouring in. In the end, eight souls braved the waters of writing, critiquing, revising, more revising, and editing their stories. I was so proud of these writers—the way they navigated through the vicissitudes and challenges writers typically go through on the journey toward publication.

What I cherish most about this whole experience of gathering this special group of writers is the fact that they—that we—are a family. We’ve grown together and as such were not immune to expressing our opinions. Admittedly, we had our fair share of differences just like any family. But the group learned and grew from the experience and learned not only to appreciate each other’s writing but also respect each other in the process.

In the beginning, I envisioned a group, much like the fiction writers of the Monterey Peninsula that showed pride not only in their work but also of where they were from. True, each writer came from a different place in the world but the one common bond that they shared was that their rich ideas, their creative spirits, their literary souls were born together on Saturday mornings in a little preschool classroom in the old Willow Center in Pleasant Hill. It didn’t matter where they were physically born or where they were raised. Their literary lives grew in Pleasant Hill, one story at a time.

During the process of building this anthology, the writers learned to become more autonomous, learning the business of publishing thanks to their esteemed and gracious publisher, Karen Mireau. Like a mother who nurtured her children from birth, I stepped back to watch them blossom on their own as they found their own path throughout this process. But as their Creative Writing instructor, I was never too far away.

And so it is with immense pride that I present to you the work of the Creative Writing students whose stories represent a breadth of experience. These pieces will amaze you, will entertain and inform and even enlighten you as you see how these writers embraced the philosophy of crafting stories and cultivating them in the fine art of creative writing. No matter where they go, I will always love and be proud of this intimate group I’ve always fondly referred to as the “Saturday Word Painters.”

- Janice De Jesus

September, 2014