Reading and Q & A with Rosalia Scalia, Gary Almeter and Mick Bennett

Three authors from Unsolicited Press read from their books followed by a Q & A.
Gary Almeter
In this moving, sophisticated, and often humorous novel, Gary Almeter artfully crafts a group portrait of several families using the finest of details in seemingly mundane encounters and everyday events.

It’s 1983 and a young Brown University librarian and JFK, Jr. begin an affair. She gets pregnant, tells no one but her best friend, leaves the baby, a son, on the steps of a nearby convent, and over the next several decades we follow her, and her son, in their respective worlds. Upon learning who he is, the son, a modern magical child of Arthurian legend but also a regular guy, must decide what to do with that information, and the rest of his life.

Mick Bennett

Mick Bennett’s new novel is forthcoming June 2023, titled Take the Lively Air.

His previous novels include The Belmar Series (trilogy) It’s summer, 1987. Image is everything in his Jersey Shore hometown. Jimmy hasn’t kept up. An overweight grandfather in his late forties, he’s lost a cancerous larynx, and on top of that, A.I.D.S. has spiked fears of anyone with a questionable sexual history.

Beat the Blues: A love story following two teens of the late 60’s into adulthood. After living very different lives, they meet again after 20 years and discover human hearts seldom rest.

Rosalia Scalia
Rosalia Scalia’s debut collection of short stories, titled Stumbling Toward Grace, has been described as “an emotional telling of what we miss as humans.” The collection begins with a story about a father who misses his daughter for marrying whom he considers the wrong man and ends with a child’s view of life events Martin Luther King’s murder.