Behind the Headlines: A Woman Searching for Truth in a Divided City w/ Author Shelley Blanton-Stroud

Carole O’Neill’s guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Shelley Blanton-Stroud, author of the book An Unlikely Prospect. Shelley grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. Recently retired from teaching writing at Sacramento State University, she serves as President of the Board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. She also interviews mystery and thriller authors for the Mystery Review Crew. Shelley is the author of the critically acclaimed Jane Benjamin Mystery series, which includes Copy Boy, Tomboy, and Poster Girl. Her writing has been a finalist in the Sarton Book Awards, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards, Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award, the American Fiction Awards, and the National Indie Excellence Awards. She and her husband live in Sacramento, surrounded by photos of their out-of-town sons, their wonderful partners, very first grandchild, and a lifetime of beloved dogs.

In her book review, Carole O’Neill stated: An Unlikely Prospect is historical fiction by Shelley Blanton-Stroud. I immediately found myself routing for Sandy Zimmer who inherits the job of publisher of the Prospect newspaper when she becomes a widow at the age of thirty-two. As San Francisco erupts in celebration, the VJ Peace Riot results in eleven deaths and six rapes throughout the city.

While everyone around her celebrates, Sandy is forced to take over her husband’s former duties and win the support of her controlling father-in-law. She guides her newspaper to cover the riot by printing the truth of the assaults on the victims. However, her father-in-law tries to use his position on the board to bury the scandal in order to attract the United Nations Headquarters to San Francisco.

She knows she must navigate between the needed reporting and the required votes on her board to keep her job and save the Prospect. Convincing the other newspaper publishers in the city to divide the issues and report the truth results in her finding her voice in the male dominated world of 1945 journalism.

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You can follow Author Shelley Blanton-Stroud
Website: https://shelleyblantonstroud.com/
FB: @blantonstroudauthor
IG: @blantonstroud

Purchase An Unlikely Prospect on Amazon:
Paperback: https://amzn.to/48IkFku
Ebook: https://amzn.to/4pWLb0D

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com
FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor
IG: @terimbrown_author
X: @terimbrown1

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlin...

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