Two Sacramento State English professors recently published novels that took inspiration from human connection. One novel puts a spin on a classic tale from the 1400s, while the other compares and contrasts the emotional struggles of family life.

“Here Lies Memory: A Pittsburgh Novel,” by creative writing professor Doug Rice, tells the story of two families in Pittsburgh and the internal strife they have to face. Rice said he found inspiration from reminiscences of his own childhood in the same city.

The first family recounts stories about a man who tries to raise his grandson by himself amidst all the gentrification, while the second family is about a father who created an imaginary child for his bipolar wife, and the journey they had together in finding this nonexistent being.  

Rice said the most challenging part of the writing process for this third novel was the feedback from his publishers and agents. He said they felt that, in today’s fast paced environment, no one would have the patience to slowly read a novel like “Here Lies Memory.”

“We make art because we don’t care about money,” Rice said. “We don’t care about being famous. We care about the people we’re writing about.”

When Rice was not busy teaching at Sac State, he said he took about 12 to 16 hours a day to work on this novel, which he specifically dedicated it to his children.

“What gives me the deepest pleasures are those moments of writing,” Rice said. “The most beautiful thing in the world is to write a sentence that is poetic and powerful…and how it has the power to contribute to and participate in the political world.”

Sharing the same sentiment about immersing oneself to the art of writing is medieval literature professor Kim Zarins, who published her young adult novel “Sometimes we Tell the Truth” on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

The novel is a retelling of Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous 1478 work “The Canterbury Tales”. In her novel, Zarins wrote about a group of high school seniors telling their own personal stories on bus ride to Washington D.C. As an incentive, the person who tells the best story would receive an A grade in their civics class.

“I think [“Sometimes we Tell the Truth”] is a pretty good title because [the students] are all telling personal stories and they’re often concealing things about themselves,” Zarins said. “Sometimes when you tell a story and it’s not particularly about you, it would end up revealing something about you.”

Zarins has two picture books that have previously been published. “Sometimes we Tell the Truth” is Zarins’ first published novel, and her third overall, as the first two have never been introduced to the public.

“Sometimes you have got to just keep writing,” Zarins said. “Try something new and maybe your best story will come out that new time.”

Liliana Garcia, freshman psychology major, attended Zarins’ reading and signing event at the Library Gallery on Thursday, Sept. 8, along with many of Zarins’ other students.

Garcia said that the book reading session helped her learn more about why Zarins wrote the story, as well as provided her with a better understanding of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.”

“It is pretty interesting how she took Chaucer’s story that was made for adults and aimed it towards teenagers,” Garcia said. “It’s crazy how she took [a centuries-old work] and made it her own.”

As for senior English major Deepali Gill, she said she is planning to use “Sometimes we Tell the Truth” to help her have a deeper appreciation and understanding of “The Canterbury Tales”.

“I hope to get a better understanding of the novel because reading it in class with the old scripter or the old writing style is kind of hard to understand and this might be easier for me to [grasp],” Gill said.

Zarins also said that the most exciting thing about being a writer at this moment in her life is all about the passion and drive she has for the form of art.

“I was laughing while I was writing [“Sometimes we Tell the Truth”] and a reviewer was also laughing while she was reading it,” Zarins said. “And then I thought that that’s a dream come true, that you could share that emotion with another person. So that’s definitely the magic of writing and the magic of being read by just the right person.”

Zarins’ “Sometimes we Tell the Truth” was published on Sept. 6, while Rice’s “Here Lies Memory: A Pittsburgh Novel” was released Sept. 7 with a worldwide distribution date of Sept. 15.
On Tuesday, Oct. 11 there will be a book release for “Here Lies Memory” in the University Library Gallery at 6:30 p.m.