 PORTLAND, OR; November 9, 2021— Within the fifteen short stories of STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE, Rosalia Scalia explores how people who love each other struggle to reconnect their fractured relationships in the face of traumas, personal flaws, and unspoken hurts. Many of her stories explore loss and grief with humor and grace as characters navigate their unwise decisions, unexpected deaths, or their resentments polished into gems. Overall this collection offers readers poignant moments about ordinary people striving to survive and thrive in situations reflective of today’s challenges.
From the Book THERE WAS A fourteen-year-old Black boy. There was a twenty-one-year-old White woman. There was a whistle. There were two White men. There was a Crow named Jim. There was a kidnapping. There was a seventy-five-pound cotton gin fan. There was a lesson in colors, meaning that there were two White men who thought they’d teach the Black boy about a lesson in Money, Mississippi. There was a shed. There were cries in the shed over a lesson in colors, meaning the Black boy who whistles—who probably never ever kissed a girl, who called for his mama—learned a hard lesson in color. You just learned how to whistle to call your dog, Champ, but you don’t want to call Champ anymore because the Crow might come instead. Praise for Rosalia Scalia These stories are like a diamond, and Scalia's prose is a fine cut. Her debut sparkles with the energy of its characters -- all of them radiate their hopes, their tragedies, their humanity on the page. Reading this collection is like being given a close, multi-faceted look right into the heart of a city and its people." — Susan Muaddi Darraj Rosalia Scalia is Baltimore’s Flannery O’Connor. She inhabits her disparate characters, warts and all. Not an easy task considering the bigots, religious fanatics, hoarders, alcoholics, drug users, and damaged lives presented here. And yet, like the fictional Father Brown, she refrains from judgments, allowing each a generous shot at redemption. —Richard Peabody, editor/publisher, Gargoyle Magazine About Rosalia Scalia Rosalia Scalia’s fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Oklahoma Review, North Atlantic Review, Notre Dame Review, The Portland Review, and Quercus Review, among many others. She holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and is a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist's Award recipient. She won the Editor's Select award from Willow Review and her short story in Pebble Lake was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Baltimore with her family. About Unsolicited Press Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at www.unsolicitedpress.com. STUMBLING TOWARD GRACE is available on November 9, 2021 as a paperback (254 p.; 978-1-950730-82-7) and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram. The author is open to speaking opportunities, interviews with the media, and readings. Electronic review copies are available upon request. ### Press only, Unsolicited Press Eric Rancino 619.354.8005 marketing@unsolicitedpress.com For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts: Rosalia Scalia rscalia1@yahoo.com Comments are closed.
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