FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Myra Mitzman, Attorney at Law
510-338-0220
msmlaw@sbcglobal.net
Bay Area Business Attorney Uncovers Anti-Islamic Bias while Penning Book about Unplanned Pregnancy
Sheryl Sorrentino didn’t intend to write a controversial book about Muslim stereotypes. Her fourth novel, Stage Daughter, started out as multicultural women’s fiction exploring the difficulties single mothers face:
· The economic challenges of single-parent households;
· Dealing with adolescent rebellion, identity formation, and peer pressure;
· Whether men should automatically have the right to actively participate in rearing their illegitimate children; and
· The unique issues facing gay single parents.
Through a multicultural cast of diverse yet inextricably connected characters, Stage Daughter tells the story of a biracial, “bi-curious” woman who dreamed of someday becoming an actress, but whose plans got derailed when a hapless encounter with a Middle Eastern man landed her the lifelong role of single mother. She tries to keep her dream alive through her “stage daughter,” Razia, a rebellious pre-teen enrolled in a competitive performing arts school (patterned after Oakland School for the Arts), but is losing her battle to prevent Raz from knowing her devout Muslim dad, the father of two in a traditional arranged marriage.
“In researching Muslim culture for this book—especially the prohibitions against premarital sex, unchaperoned contact between members of the opposite sex, and views on illegitimate children, I came upon a shocking wellspring of Anti-Islamic hate speech. I was simply floored by the degree of bias and ignorance that is seemingly tolerated in today’s society as a result of 9-11,” Sorrentino says. “In my effort to create a realistic Muslim male character, I went into numerous Islamic chat rooms and mosque websites, and the hateful and threatening comments posted by so-called patriotic Americans were downright chilling and—I daresay—unAmerican.”
A practicing attorney by day and prolific author by night, Sheryl Sorrentino has forged a provocative women’s fiction sub-genre through culturally-inclusive stories dealing with socially-significant issues such as adolescent pregnancy, abortion, domestic abuse, racial inequality, and employment discrimination. Her latest novel, Stage Daughter, offers a pointed exposé of how religious intolerance can further challenge the already tough realities facing fractured families.
Sheryl Sorrentino (the literary pseudonym of Oakland business and real estate attorney Myra S. Mitzman) is the author of three previous books: Later With Myself: The Misadventures of Millie Moskowitz, An Unexpected Exile, and The Floater. In addition to her writing career, Sorrentino/Mitzman is a full-time transactional lawyer who grew up in New York City and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter. To learn more about this trailblazing attorney cum author, visit www.sherylsorrentino.com. (Stage Daughter is available at through Amazon (http://stagedaughter.com) and select Bay Area booksellers.)
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Press Release
Contact: Sheryl Sorrentino
Phone: 510/338-0220
Email: sherylsorrentino@sbcglobal.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STAGE DAUGHTER RECEIVES COMPULSION READS BOOK ENDORSEMENT
Number One Indie Book
Endorsement Site Gives
Sheryl Sorrentino’s
Latest Novel the Thumbs Up
Oakland, California August 2013 – Stage Daughter, written by Sheryl Sorrentino, has met the high quality standards set by Compulsion Reads and earned that organization’s esteemed endorsement.
The Compulsion Reads evaluation system is built upon assessing and endorsing those indie novels that possess the foundational components of a good story, including well-developed characters, strong pacing, a well-researched world and a powerful overall voice.
“The Compulsion Reads endorsement is all about discovering and highlighting the best indie books on the market and the talented authors behind them,” said Leslie Ramey, co-owner of Compulsion Reads. “When a reader sees the CR seal on a book’s cover, they know that they’re in for a good read. Stage Daughter meets this standard, and Sheryl Sorrentino is definitely an author to keep an eye on.”
Stage Daughter follows the lives and interrelationships of three highly diverse yet inextricably connected characters. Sonya Schoenberg dreamed of becoming a famous actress, but instead, a hapless one-time tryst with a Middle Eastern man landed her the lifetime role of single mother. She doggedly tries to keep her dream alive by pushing her 12-year-old daughter, Razia, into an acting career; but the drama really begins when Raz sets out to find her absentee dad—a devout Muslim man in an arranged marriage who by now has two kids of his own. Stage Daughter will interest parents of teens and adolescents in particular, but will hold strong appeal for single mothers, young adults, modern Muslims, and gay couples raising kids.
“I realize I took a huge risk writing portions of this book from the point of view of a Muslim man,” Sorrentino says. “Because of all the Anti-Islamic backlash as a result of 9-11, I was determined to create a Muslim character who was at once devout yet genuinely likeable, while portraying the complicated interrelationships among these three individuals in a way that underscores some of the realities blended families face in this day and age.”
Stage Daughter is available for sale through Amazon.com and select San Francisco Bay Area retail outlets. The ebook version is priced at $2.99, while the paperback version is priced at $12.99 or less. Interested readers can also learn more about Stage Daughter by visiting the Compulsion Reads Endorsed Book library at www.compulsionreads.com/books. Compulsion Reads seeks to encourage higher readership of indie authors by providing a quality standard for independently published novels. The Compulsion Reads Endorsement is given to those books that pass an evaluation process based on the fundamental qualities of good storytelling. For more information on Compulsion Reads, visit www.compulsionreads.com. To see all the novels that have received the Compulsion Reads Endorsement, visit the company’s Endorsed Book Library at www.compulsionreads.com/books.
A practicing attorney by day and prolific author by night, Sheryl Sorrentino has forged a provocative women’s fiction sub-genre through culturally-inclusive stories dealing with socially-significant issues such as adolescent pregnancy, abortion, domestic abuse, racial inequality, employment discrimination, single-motherhood, and religious intolerance.
Sheryl Sorrentino (the literary pseudonym of Oakland business and real estate attorney Myra S. Mitzman) is the author of three previous books: Later With Myself: The Misadventures of Millie Moskowitz, An Unexpected Exile, and The Floater. In addition to her writing career, Sorrentino is a full-time transactional lawyer who grew up in New York City and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter. To learn more about this trailblazing attorney cum author, visit www.sherylsorrentino.com.
