I’m so excited that Susan Tepper likes my story “Something about LA” enough to invite me to chat about the story and my process in writing it.  If you get a chance today or sometime this week, hop on over to the Fictionaut site and find out what we talked about.

Monday Chat with Gay Degani

Read the story here: Something about LA

Just read a review of Tim Johnston’s Short Story America Anthology–a very nice one BTW–and was thrilled to see the main character of my story “Wounded Moon” mentioned!  So thrilling to me so I had to share.

“Days laters, I’m still thinking about Mason, the shattered survivor in “Wounded Moon,” by Gay Degani. And Elaine, the disoriented middle-aged mother who sees her former self in her son’s rebellious girlfriend (“This Is Not My Beautiful Life,” by Ted McLoof). I’m haunted by the old woman, Irene, slowly slipping down the dark hallway of Alzheimer’s – where the same memory keeps changing shape (“Disengaged” by Jen Knox) – and the old man, Fergus, whose spite-filled fantasies keep him alive (“Fergus” by Laury A. Egan).”

Here’s the link:  A Comeback Story 

During WWII, my parents were Marines. My father was a Lieutenant who served as a pilot instructor, my mother was a sergeant in the motor pool at El Toro in California.  They met on my mother’s 21st birthday in a bar in Laguna Beach.  He was from Iowa, she from Louisiana. They fell in love and when my father shipped out to the Pacific, they got married.   They survived the war and moved close to my mother’s hometown so my dad could get his Masters’ degree in Economics at Tulane. They lived in Iowa too before moving to California in the mid-50’s.They had two daughters and remained together until my father’s death in 1983.

On this day of remembrance and thanksgiving, I honor my parents and all veterans who have served our country. Let those of us who are kept safe because of the sacrifice of others, continue to strive to be better people so we can have a stronger, more humane and ethical country. Let’s put greed behind us, selfishness too, honor achievement and hard work, and move toward something good.  Let us talk and plan without thought of what we personally benefit, but rather how everyone can benefit. Then perhaps when those men and women who die for us will not die in vain.

Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful

Pomegranate Stories is now available as an eBook at Amazon.com for only 99 cents.  If you prefer, the paperback edition is also available for $9.99. This is a chapbook of eight stories constructed around the relationships between mothers and daughters.


From Annie Clarkson’s review of Pomegranate for the short review:

Pomegranate Stories is a brief glimpse into Gay Degani’s short fiction, and I want to read more. Her writing in this collection is visceral, has punch and explores the lives of characters that are not experiencing the easiest lives or relationships. There is some beautiful imagery and description and a very insightful approach to dialogue. 

Here are some comments posted about the paperback edition of Pomegranate Stories at Amazon:

…by the end you wish there were twenty more stories to read. The stories are inspiring, thought provoking, emotional, and a pleasure to read. –John Towler

Gay Degani has a stunning voice, gripping and charged, and loaded with such authentic realism, that her literary stories borderline nonfiction horrors.  –Erin Cole

Gay is a wonder at laying bare a fictional life and reminding you so much of your heart is in that character. She is a master at cutting to the quick of emotions and then layering them with humanity.  –Kevin Shamel

The stories in ‘Pomegranate’ convince you Gay Degani’s been in your shoes, thought your thoughts, felt your emotions. You realize that you are stronger than you thought you were, the ironies of life won’t stop the rain from falling, and that we need to smile when the opportunities present themselves. Beautiful prose, beautiful stories, do yourself a favor and buy this book. –Jodi MacArthur

Alongside the growing number of short story collections published recently–some of them doing surprisingly well–comes this delicious little “sleeper” volume by Gay Degani, titled “Pomegranate Stories.” 

There are only eight stories, and a few of those are short enough to qualify as Flash Fiction, but the content is so startling, so intense and provocative, so well written, that it feels like a much weightier volume. The stories are about mothers and daughters (and the men in their lives), but don’t think `sentimental sweetness,’ think `raw reality.’  –Jackie Houchin

How long do you sit at your computer every day? You want to stay in flow, but it’s not  good for your neck, your back, the “seat of the pants” that you want to keep in the seat of the chair.  Here’s a possible solution: a work-out band that has the exercises printed on the band itself. Easy to jump up from your computer and do some “body work,” allowing you to get back to work before you let go of the “flow.”

My friend and exercise maven, Estelle Underwood, has come up with a useful and smart piece of equipment for exercise enthusiasts and those who aren’t so enthusiastic, but find they need to do work those muscles anyway. Like me!!!  Sooooo, here’s her press release and all the links for you to find out everything you want to know about The Body Works Band!