Art Returns to San Francisco

Okay, I admit, capital-A art never left San Francisco. The deYoung is still there and the Legion of Honor welcomes guests. It's just that the last few decades have been hard on the lower-case art scene in San Francisco. Many struggling musicians, artists, and writers can't afford to live in the city.  And nobody likes to fight their way in during commute hours. I know ten writers in the East Bay for every writer who lives in my 7 square miles of paradise.

The view from my writer's garret

I fell in love with San Francisco in 1977, a young woman in search of something to live for after an unexpected tragedy, and have been in love ever since.  San Francisco, you were the first beautiful thing I found in that difficult time. More days than not, you take my breath away.

I almost had to leave this city when rents skyrocketed. Luckily, with the patient help of agent Michelle Bouchet, I fell in love with San Francisco in 1977, a young woman in search of something to live for after an unexpected tragedy, and have been in love ever since.  San Francisco, you were the first beautiful thing I found in that difficult time. More days than not, you take my breath away.

Our little redwood box of a house was built in 1945, and served as the destination of choice for many African-American families who earned a middle-class living in the shipyards during the war. It stayed at least 50% African American until the new millenium, when the pressure for housing hit made this neighborhood the most culturally diverse in San Francisco, welcoming Asian, Latino, and Caucasians alike. Without much effort aside from day-to-day respect and courtesy, we all get along. The neighborhood had a few tough years, so everyone here is interested in keeping it safe for the kids, safe for the elderly, safe for everyone.

Best of all, there's a surprising amount of artistic work going on here. My next-door neighbor just dropped a record (Mo' Cubic Inches, which he says is a car motor reference). My husband writes, pencils, inks, and publishes his own graphic novel, Tales of the Moonlight Cutter. Three Million William, down the street, has a lot of projects in development, all run from his barbershop kingdom. And I'm working on my first and second crime novels. Who knows what the kids in the rented house across the way are up to?

See all the Hopperesque warm light?

So far, my favorite thing about the neighborhood is the M-car, especially at night. The rails shake the ground with a deep vibration before an M-train drives by our house, and for a long moment after. The light inside each car is warm: every fifteen minutes from nightfall until I fall asleep, a little Hopper tableau drives by. It's magical.

Note: After composing this post, I learned there was a murder just a few blocks up the street. Just a guy getting off the M-car, shot by another guy from the same train. I think we'll rally, not retreat from each other. At least, I hope so!

The Pens are Back!

Gigi here. It's true! We're back!

The Pens Fatales began in 2009, a group of eight women beginning our writing careers. Each fortnight we would select a new topic to discuss, and for three years we had a great time blogging and getting to know many of our readers. By 2012, we were all busy with more writing projects than we ever imagined. We felt like we'd had a good run, so we decided to abandon daily blogging. Our last regularly scheduled post was on the topic of "friendship" in April 2012.

Juliet and I were on the Women of Suspense panel
at the Sonoma County Book Festival yesterday.

But... we missed the blog! So we got together and brought it back. Our favorite parts of the blog will still be here, but format is a bit different. Rather than different topics, we'll be blogging about all things writing-related. We've learned so much about writing and publishing since we came together in 2009 -- one of the most important things being that it's important to have a tribe of like-minded writers. This is our tribe.

Not everyone had time to fit blogging into their schedules, so while we're all still friends offline, here on the blog you'll notice a slightly new line-up. We'll miss our absent founding members, but we're thrilled to be back! There are 9 of us and we'll each post one blog post per month, approximately every three days. My day is the 22nd, so here I am to welcome everyone back.

On my end it's been an exciting year, and especially an exciting summer. I recently signed my second three-book deal within four months. Yes, it's pretty surreal.

It took a long time to get here, but thanks to the encouragement and wisdom of the Pens, I'm now writing both the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Series for Henery Press and a new forthcoming series for Midnight Ink.

Rather than turn this post into a novel itself, I'll share further details later. In the meantime, I can't resist sharing my gorgeous book covers from Henery Press. Artifact was re-issued in August of this year, and Pirate Vishnu (#2) comes out in February 2014.

 

All our links to find us elsewhere on social media are in the "Check Out the Authors" section at right. Thanks to everyone who suggested we continue this blog. You were right. We're glad to be back.

--Gigi Pandian