Jennifer Semple Siegel's Other Books on Amazon

Are You EVER Going to be Thin? (and other stories) chronicles artist Samantha Mallory’s battle with weight, family, molestation, love, marriage, sexuality, the Catholic church, traumatic cultural events, and death.

A family reunion awakens the voices of Samantha’s relatives, dead and alive.

“Time, An Other,” the opening story, describes Samantha’s first memory; other stories move forward and backward and forward in time. “In the Name of God” places Samantha’s daughter and granddaughter in New York City during 9/11; “Psychedelic Bingo” moves forward to 2035; “Time, Suspended,” the last story (set in 1990), reveals a family secret.

“Are You EVER Going to be Thin?”: the title story, interweaves childhood letters from an aunt with a grandmother’s dire warnings.

“Cut,” a bonus story added to the Kindle version, delves into Samantha’s fascination and fear of fire and her willingness to court danger as she befriends a prisoner via mail.

Also included: “Are You Thin Yet?” the essay that inspired the title story and this collection.

For Educators and Book Clubs: The Kindle edition includes questions for discussion and 25+ creative writing exercises.

Sample Discussion Question and Writing Exercise:

In the title story “Are You EVER Going to be Thin?,” Samantha is a silent presence as two alternating voices address her in various ways. Who are they, and how do their own attitudes toward Samantha’s weight inform her own self-awareness and body image? In what literary form does each voice address Samantha, and why are both forms important to Samantha’s understanding of her familial relationships? The author has said that she was influenced by Jamaica Kincaid’s classic short short story “Girl.” How are the two stories similar? How are they different?

Writing exercise (about 250 words): Based on a “voice” from your own past (or made up), write a short fictional passage in which an adult is addressing a child (who remains silent).

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About Kindle and Fire (A Long Short Story)...

What do a packet of letters, a felon, a pair of red bikini panties, a box of matches, auburn hair, a controlling husband, and a restless wife have in common?

All are pieces of a puzzle that make up this 6,000-word story of longing, smoldering anger, and secret obsession.

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About The Trash Can of L.A.: A Reality Play...

TILLY ZEACE, a homeless woman, has been approached by OSCAR FISHBEIN, a washed-up screenwriter, to participate in the first segment of TONY THORNTON’s new “reality-based” TV show.

STREET SHOCK, a Unicorn Studio Production, would feature each week a different segment of the underclass. For the first episode, TONY wishes to feature TILLY and other street people in a segment about the homeless; he and a videographer, armed with a hand-held camera, would follow TILLY around as she does what homeless people supposedly do.

TILLY is drawn to this project because she believes that the American public has a skewed view of street life, and she wishes to present another point of view. However, while TONY wants the final product to “feel real” to his audience, he also wants the segment to have a plot, so the studio has hired OSCAR to write up a script, one filled with stereotypes about street people and depicting TILLY as a shabby alcoholic and drug addict who has no choice about her circumstances. However, as OSCAR gets to know TILLY better, he slowly sheds these preconceived notions.

For a time, it seems as though TILLY will be able to present the “real Tilly as street person” to the American public, but a complication presents itself: the DIVINE MS. ALTA UNIVERSE, a “New-Age” guru and the new owner of Unicorn Studios, adds her own agenda to the script; she insists on adding a scene in which TILLY converts to a new-age Christianity and abandons her “evil” life. Adding to this mix, TILLY, in a monologue, reveals that she is not exactly what she appears to be.

In the middle of this muddle, GINGER, a shallow young woman harboring her own secret, shows up on the set and complicates everyone’s life even more, especially TONY’s.

TILLY soon discovers that reality-based TV has its own set of rules, so she must decide whether she wants to play by those rules or retain her unfettered way of life.

But then a dramatic change occurs, affecting each major character in some significant way; even so, this STREET SHOCK episode has limped along through production and is now ready for its debut.

What happens when STREET SHOCK is finally shown to a live audience? Will theatre goers get a genuine glimpse into the life of a homeless woman? What overall commentary does this play impart about American culture and entertainment?

Throughout the play, these questions are addressed, some implicitly and some answered in the “The Wrap.”

For the overall societal implications for our culture, each reader/ playgoer must arrive at his or her own conclusions.