moderator: saul gonzalez
Panelists: DC Frost, Kate Gale, and EP Tauzon
A Punishing Breed by DC Frost, published by Canis Major Books, a division of Red Hen Books,
A Punishing Breed, first in a series of mystery novels, features Latino Detective DJ Arias who pursues a murder investigation at a small private liberal arts college nestled in the heart of Los Angeles. The detective and his partner, Bobby Talbot, discover buried secrets and past misdeeds that overshadow an institution promising social justice, transparency and equity. DJ Arias fights against his own troubled history with the college, his partner, and a failed marriage. Along the way, he finds a modicum of salvation with a murdered man’s dog he names Evidence.
D.C. Frost Biography: Denise Cecelia Frost is a second-generation Angelino. For almost twenty years, she has worked as a fundraiser for a small private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, and before that PBS and Variety. Denise has published several literary fiction short stories in journals including UCLA’s Westword. She lives in Los Angeles with her family including three rescue dogs who keep life interesting.
Kate Gale, Founder of Red Hen Press and Author of Under a Neon Sun, Three Rooms Press
Unable to afford rent, Mia—a community college student—lives out of her car, cleaning houses of the well-to-do in the LA area to meet her shoestring budget. Then Covid hits and everything changes.
For people living in houses and apartments, with stay-at-home jobs, the pandemic was inconvenient. For Mia and her fellow housekeeper friends—all living in their cars—the pandemic destroys the source of their frugal income.
Fortunately, gutsy, funny Mia is a determined survivor. After weeks of cutting her limited spending even further, missing meals along the way, her wealthy employers become desperate for her services again. This time, she’s determined not to let them take advantage of her as they have in the past. Her newfound confidence gives her new hope, until she discovers a dead body in a room she was assigned to clean. Sally Rooney meets Elizabeth Strout in this gripping page turner debut novel.
Kate Gale Biography: Kate Gale is the co-founder and managing editor of Red Hen Press, which has been publishing for thirty years in Los Angeles. She is also the author of seven books of poetry including The Goldilocks Zone and The Loneliest Girl, as well as several librettos including Rio de Sangre with Don Davis—who wrote the music to the Matrix movies. Rio de Sangre premiered at the Florentine opera. Her current opera projects are Che Guevara and Esther. Kate grew up in an intentional community. Since leaving, she has put herself through school, ultimately receiving a Ph.D. in English Literature from Claremont Graduate University. She had no one after she left the Farm to depend on, and spent years writing “No one,” as her emergency contact. When she briefly met her father, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he asked where she was living. She said, “my car,” and he asked what kind of car. From those beginnings, she has built a press in Los Angeles, raised a family, and lived a life as a writer and publisher on the West Coast. Since 1989, she has taught writing at universities in Los Angeles every semester. She has also taught publishing at Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University, and USC, and was the President of Pen USA from 2005–2006. Currently, Kate teaches publishing and poetry at Chapman University and lives in Los Angeles.
EP Tauzon, Author of A Professional Lola
A Professional Lola is a collection of short stories that blend literary fiction with the surreal to present the contemporary Filipino American experience and its universal themes of love, family, and identity. A family hires an actress to play their beloved grandmother at a party; a couple craving Filipino food rob a panaderya; a coven of Filipino witches cast a spell on their husbands; a Lolo transforms into a Lola. These are just a few of the stories in the collection that represent its roster of stories beautifully grounded in culture and vividly and meticulously painted to make the absurd seem mundane and the commonplace, sinister. A Professional Lola embodies the joy, mystery, humor, sadness, hunger, and family that inhabit modern-day Filipino American virtues.
E. P. Tuazon Biography: E.P. Tauzon is a Filipino American writer from Los Angeles. They have work in several publications such as The Rumpus, Lunch Ticket, Peatsmoke, and Five South. His work was chosen by ZZ Packer as the winner of the 2022 AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction. They are currently a member of Advintage Press and The Blank Page Writing Club at The Open Book, Canyon Country. In their spare time, they like to go to Filipino seafood markets to gossip with the crabs.
Saul Gonzalez, Host of The California Report, KQED/NPR - Moderator
After short readings by the authors, Saul will lead a conversation with the authors and audience that will focus on how mysteries can explore larger societal issues. He’ll also have the writers discuss starting a writing career later in life.
Saul Gonzalez Biography: Saul has been the Los Angeles co-host of public radio’s statewide show, The California Report since 2019, covering such issues as homelessness and housing policy, the state's response to climate change and the ravages of the Covid pandemic. Whenever possible, Saul tries to report from the field, connecting these issues to the daily lives of Californians.
Before joining KQED, Saul was a correspondent and producer for public broadcasting shows, like the PBS NewsHour. He also hosted the podcast series "There Goes the Neighborhood" about gentrification in L.A.. For his work, Saul has been honored with several Emmys and is a two-time winner of the L.A. Press Club's Radio Journalist of the Year Award.