Local Authors & Local Stories

This event is free to attend. Seating is first come, first served.

Meet the authors, find out about terrific new books, ask questions and hear directly from the authors, and get personalized signed books!

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Bookshop West Portal is delighted to spotlight three local authors with local stories! We're thrilled to celebrate these authors and their latest books.

Our local authors, whether they're prolific or aspiring authors, verse or prose writers, traditionally published or self-published, all enrich our bookstore, our reading, and our community. Engaging with our local authors is one of the biggest rewards of being an independent bookstore.

Please join us in celebrating three new releases from three compelling fiction authors:

St. James Park

Set in Depression-era San Jose, St. James Park is a fast-paced novel rooted in California history. Based on actual events, the novel is a portrait of San Jose's labor unrest, government corruption, and anti-immigrant racism during the Great Depression. The book resonates strongly with themes of social justice, media manipulation, and community identity—issues that continue to echo today. It is very much a noir of Santa Clara Valley nearly a century ago—long before the orchards were plowed under and paved over.

John Doll is a third-generation San Josean who grew up listening to family rumors, memories and confessions about the city. St. James Park is based on his Italian-American mother’s and grandmother’s tales of a once beautiful Santa Clara Valley, but also one gruesome 1933 night in downtown San Jose. Witnessing the gradual destruction of the valley’s orchards, John has been intrigued about the causes of this transformation. He studied economic development at University of California, Santa Cruz and University of Wisconsin, Madison, receiving respective undergraduate and graduate degrees. These enabled him to launch an entire career creating revitalization projects throughout the Bay Area, including the restoration of a once prominent hotel in downtown San Jose. Now semi-retired living in Bernal Heights, San Francisco with his wife Rachael and a pair of inquisitive cats. He loves it when his daughter Gemma, a Los Angeles cinematographer, visits.

Written on the Wall

Written on the Wall by Marisa Atha follows the intertwined lives of four women as they navigate the complexities of love, family, and the pursuit of happiness. Becka struggles with the heart-wrenching disappointment of failed attempts at conceiving a child while Sara finds solace in the everyday joys of motherhood. Renee and Dena never plan to exchange San Francisco’s night scene for quiet family life, but unforeseen events shift their trajectory. As their paths intersect and diverge, the four women grapple with the challenges of balancing personal desires with external expectations. With poignant prose and heartfelt storytelling, Marisa Atha delves into the depths of human emotion and resilience, painting a vivid portrait of four women on a journey of self-discovery and redemption. Written on the Wall is a compelling exploration of the ties that bind us and the choices that define us.

Marisa Gray Atha is a writer and teacher who continues to express her lifelong curiosity about inspiration, art, narrative, and the thread that connects people to one another. An avid blogger and guest contributor, her debut novel, Written on the Wall, was published in 2025. Marisa is the owner of Three Sparrows Studio, providing private vocal instruction with a holistic approach that empowers her students to find and free their own natural sound. She holds a BA in Music, with a concentration in Vocal Performance, MM in Classical Vocal Performance, BA in English, Minor in Psychology, and is a RYT-500 registered yoga teacher and CMT-200 certified meditation teacher. She has been published in the NATS Journal of Singing, NATS Inter Nos, OM Yoga & Lifestyle Magazine, Sad Girl Diaries Online Literary Magazine, The Speakeasy Cooperative, and offers all manner of musical, mind/body, and wellness musings in her studio blog. Marisa lives with her family in Northern California.

And So I Took Their Eye

The discovery of a body on the black-sand beaches of Guatemala sparks a chain of events that ripple across the globe.

From an Italian tailor crushed under the weight of his father's legacy to a mother challenging local snobbery on the cricket fields of England, a vengeful Bolivian priest chasing Che Guevara's ghost, to a Bay Area therapist blind to his own advice, the lives of a seemingly unconnected group of strangers become fatefully entangled in M**der, arson, betrayal, and love. These stories examine abuses of power in a world fractured by inequalities. As their characters confront brutal truths, morality blurs, forcing them to question the meaning of belonging and the lengths they'll go to carve out their place in an unforgiving world.

Guided by the ancient creed of 'an eye for an eye', Ben C. Davies' And So I Took Their Eye is a gripping collection of interlinked stories exploring what happens when justice is taken into your own hands - and ultimately, what it means to be human.

Ben C. Davies is a California-based author whose debut short story collection, And So I Took Their Eye, was published by Bridge House Publishing in 2025. Originally from the UK, his short fiction has appeared in journals such as The Fiery Scribe Review, Left Brain Media, and Downtime Review, while his articles have been featured in Electric Literature, The International Times, Work, Huck, and Lost.

He serves as an editor for the Ginosko Literary Journal, is a member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto, and is currently finishing his debut novel, Black Sand.​ In addition to his writing, Davies is the co-founder and director of Studio Luce, a Guatemalan writing retreat and artist residency, and helps authors with marketing and publicity through Studio Luce Books.

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