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Upcoming book - Flunk. Start.: Report From a Former Scientologist, by Sands Hall.
Available March 1, 2018.
https://www.amazon.com/Flunk-Start-Report-Former-Scientologist-ebook/dp/B071P44P9R/
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"Sands Hall has brought her remarkable talents to bear on this memoir. By turns endearing and alarming, this story describes the hazards involved in having to choose between . . . one sort of belonging and another. I consider it Sands' best book." —Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere and The Last Laugh
In Flunk. Start., Sands Hall chronicles her slow yet willing absorption into the Church of Scientology. Her time in the Church, the late 1970s, includes the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige. Hall compellingly reveals what drew her into the religion—what she found intriguing and useful—and how she came to confront its darker sides.
As a young woman from a literary family striving to find her own way as an artist, Hall ricochets between the worlds of Shakespeare, avant-garde theater, and soap-opera, until her brilliant elder brother, playwright Oakley Hall III, falls from a bridge and suffers permanent brain damage. In the secluded canyons of Hollywood, she finds herself increasingly drawn toward the certainty that Scientology appears to offer.
In this candid and nuanced memoir, Hall recounts her spiritual and artistic journey with a visceral affection for language, delighting in the way words can create a shared world. However, as Hall begins to grasp how purposefully Hubbard has created the unique language of Scientology—in the process isolating and indoctrinating its practitioners—she confronts how language can also be used as a tool of authoritarianism.
Hall is a captivating guide, and Flunk. Start. explores how she has found meaning and purpose within that decade that for so long she thought of as lost; how she has faced the “flunk” represented by those years, and has embraced a way to “start” anew.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for Flunk. Start.
"In this unflinching and nuanced self-portrait, Sands Hall examines a decade of entanglement with the cult of Scientology and her circuitous process of liberation. Interweaving the backstory of a tragic accident that left a hole in her legendary family, Hall takes readers on a profound journey of loss, longing, and recovery." ?Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe
"Sands Hall displays her fine literary talent in Flunk. Start., a raw and moving account of her personal journey through… the Church of Scientology. Sands shares her uniquely Californian coming-of-age tale with grace and courage." ?Julia Flynn Siler, author of The House of Mondavi and Lost Kingdom
"It is a great strength of Sands Hall's clear-eyed and compelling memoir that she shows what she found authentic and rewarding in the Church of Scientology, not merely its corruption and imprisoning dogma. There is regret in her account but little anger or blame. Her triumph is not that she got out, but that she winnowed what nourishment the church could provide and took it forward in her spiritual journey." ?John Daniel, author of Gifted and Rogue River Journal Praise for Catching Heaven
Random House Reader's Circle Selection 2001
Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction
"Rich, warm, and utterly satisfying… [A] wonderful debut from a first-rate storyteller." ?Amy Tan, author of The Valley of Amazement
"[A] polished, accomplished debut… Endlessly intriguing… The prose is richly layered with metaphor and symbolism. For the discerning reader, nothing in this finely crafted work is extraneous." ?San Francisco Chronicle
"Vibrant… Deftly reveals the push and pull between two sisters who love each other dearly, but who face new tensions when their lives collide in mid course… A realistic story of two women trying to let go of old hurts and find love that will last." ?The New York Times Book Review
"Flashes of heart and soul…There is something achingly sad about these sisters' realization that some things in life have simply passed them by. And it's that simple truth that makes Catching Heavan a nice catch." ?New York Post
"Sands Hall is a wonderful writer, full of soul and feeling." ?Anne Lamott
"In the small western town of Marengo one person arrives, one person returns, one person stays put. Each inhabits a private world of possibility, passion, and regret. Bring them together and you have Sands Hall's Catching Heaven, a book that contains some of the realest fictional people you'll ever meet. Elegantly constructed, vividly conveyed, with heart enough for three." ?Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
"Ms. Hall writes with a genuine gift for how we (humans) sound, and for sensing how we feel and think in our everyday lives. But she also seems to intuit what happens between these two realms - between the said and the thought and the felt. As Octavio Paz wrote, what's 'in between' is where the poetry lies. And so it does in Catching Heaven." ?Richard Ford, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of the Bascombe novels
"With fluid, elegant prose and a watchful eye for detail, Hall has crafted a compelling novel about love, loss, and hope." ?The Sacramento Bee
Praise for Tools of the Writer's Craft
"Superbly practical, filled with terrific exercises, anecdotes and examples. Sands Hall is a beautiful writer and a brilliant teacher." ?Max Byrd, author of Grant
"Sands Hall's love of the written word has inspired hundreds of her students, including many grateful published authors." ?Steve Susoyev, author of People Farm
"Reading this book is like learning how a juggler juggles. It will be invaluable for writers new and old, and for anyone giving or taking a writing workshop." ?Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere
About the Author
SANDS HALL is the author of the novel, Catching Heaven, a Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction, and a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; and of a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft. She teaches at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Community of Writers, Squaw Valley, and is a Teaching Professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.
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Available March 1, 2018.
https://www.amazon.com/Flunk-Start-Report-Former-Scientologist-ebook/dp/B071P44P9R/
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
"Sands Hall has brought her remarkable talents to bear on this memoir. By turns endearing and alarming, this story describes the hazards involved in having to choose between . . . one sort of belonging and another. I consider it Sands' best book." —Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere and The Last Laugh
In Flunk. Start., Sands Hall chronicles her slow yet willing absorption into the Church of Scientology. Her time in the Church, the late 1970s, includes the secretive illness and death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, and the ascension of David Miscavige. Hall compellingly reveals what drew her into the religion—what she found intriguing and useful—and how she came to confront its darker sides.
As a young woman from a literary family striving to find her own way as an artist, Hall ricochets between the worlds of Shakespeare, avant-garde theater, and soap-opera, until her brilliant elder brother, playwright Oakley Hall III, falls from a bridge and suffers permanent brain damage. In the secluded canyons of Hollywood, she finds herself increasingly drawn toward the certainty that Scientology appears to offer.
In this candid and nuanced memoir, Hall recounts her spiritual and artistic journey with a visceral affection for language, delighting in the way words can create a shared world. However, as Hall begins to grasp how purposefully Hubbard has created the unique language of Scientology—in the process isolating and indoctrinating its practitioners—she confronts how language can also be used as a tool of authoritarianism.
Hall is a captivating guide, and Flunk. Start. explores how she has found meaning and purpose within that decade that for so long she thought of as lost; how she has faced the “flunk” represented by those years, and has embraced a way to “start” anew.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for Flunk. Start.
"In this unflinching and nuanced self-portrait, Sands Hall examines a decade of entanglement with the cult of Scientology and her circuitous process of liberation. Interweaving the backstory of a tragic accident that left a hole in her legendary family, Hall takes readers on a profound journey of loss, longing, and recovery." ?Elizabeth Rosner, author of Survivor Cafe
"Sands Hall displays her fine literary talent in Flunk. Start., a raw and moving account of her personal journey through… the Church of Scientology. Sands shares her uniquely Californian coming-of-age tale with grace and courage." ?Julia Flynn Siler, author of The House of Mondavi and Lost Kingdom
"It is a great strength of Sands Hall's clear-eyed and compelling memoir that she shows what she found authentic and rewarding in the Church of Scientology, not merely its corruption and imprisoning dogma. There is regret in her account but little anger or blame. Her triumph is not that she got out, but that she winnowed what nourishment the church could provide and took it forward in her spiritual journey." ?John Daniel, author of Gifted and Rogue River Journal Praise for Catching Heaven
Random House Reader's Circle Selection 2001
Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction
"Rich, warm, and utterly satisfying… [A] wonderful debut from a first-rate storyteller." ?Amy Tan, author of The Valley of Amazement
"[A] polished, accomplished debut… Endlessly intriguing… The prose is richly layered with metaphor and symbolism. For the discerning reader, nothing in this finely crafted work is extraneous." ?San Francisco Chronicle
"Vibrant… Deftly reveals the push and pull between two sisters who love each other dearly, but who face new tensions when their lives collide in mid course… A realistic story of two women trying to let go of old hurts and find love that will last." ?The New York Times Book Review
"Flashes of heart and soul…There is something achingly sad about these sisters' realization that some things in life have simply passed them by. And it's that simple truth that makes Catching Heavan a nice catch." ?New York Post
"Sands Hall is a wonderful writer, full of soul and feeling." ?Anne Lamott
"In the small western town of Marengo one person arrives, one person returns, one person stays put. Each inhabits a private world of possibility, passion, and regret. Bring them together and you have Sands Hall's Catching Heaven, a book that contains some of the realest fictional people you'll ever meet. Elegantly constructed, vividly conveyed, with heart enough for three." ?Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
"Ms. Hall writes with a genuine gift for how we (humans) sound, and for sensing how we feel and think in our everyday lives. But she also seems to intuit what happens between these two realms - between the said and the thought and the felt. As Octavio Paz wrote, what's 'in between' is where the poetry lies. And so it does in Catching Heaven." ?Richard Ford, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of the Bascombe novels
"With fluid, elegant prose and a watchful eye for detail, Hall has crafted a compelling novel about love, loss, and hope." ?The Sacramento Bee
Praise for Tools of the Writer's Craft
"Superbly practical, filled with terrific exercises, anecdotes and examples. Sands Hall is a beautiful writer and a brilliant teacher." ?Max Byrd, author of Grant
"Sands Hall's love of the written word has inspired hundreds of her students, including many grateful published authors." ?Steve Susoyev, author of People Farm
"Reading this book is like learning how a juggler juggles. It will be invaluable for writers new and old, and for anyone giving or taking a writing workshop." ?Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere
About the Author
SANDS HALL is the author of the novel, Catching Heaven, a Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction, and a Random House Reader’s Circle selection; and of a book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft. She teaches at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, the Community of Writers, Squaw Valley, and is a Teaching Professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.
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