If misfortune hadn’t gotten in the way, Sandra Sanborn would be where she belongs—among the rich and privileged instead of standing outside a Hollywood studio wearing a sandwich board in the hope of someone discovering her. It’s tough breaking into the movies during the Great Depression, but Sandra knows that she’s destined for greatness. After all, her grandmother Vira crossed the country during the Gold Rush and established the Sanborns as one of San Francisco’s most prominent families, and her mother Mabel grew up in a lavish mansion and married into an agricultural empire. Success, Sandra feels, is in her blood. She just needs a chance to prove it. In between failed auditions, Sandra receives a letter from a man claiming to be her father, which calls into question everything she believes about her family—and herself. As she tries to climb the social ladder, family secrets lurk in the background, pulling her down. Until Sandra confronts the truth about how Vira and Mabel gained and lost their fortunes, she will always end up right back where she started from. Right Back Where We Started From is a sweeping, multigenerational work of fiction that explores the lust for ambition that entered into the American consciousness during the Gold Rush and how it affected our nation’s ideas of success, failure, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a meticulously layered saga—at once historically rich, romantic, and suspenseful—about three determined and completely unforgettable women.

Bobby Darling has a lot of catching up to do. He missed his youth, most of his friends, and some great parties. In fact, he spent the last 20 years in a persistent vegetative state. But Bobby's problems are just getting started. It seems Bobby is on a list of terminally ill patients who have outlived their life expectancies. The insurers who own the policies on these patients hope to nudge the process along a bit. If that isn't enough, Bobby's roommate Anthony has made it clear he wants to be more than just friends. To free-spirited Bobby, that might be a fate worse than the hitman heading his way. Maybe Bobby should've stayed in that coma? Can two gay men share an apartment without driving each other horny? More than that...they must ask themselves: can we get Right Back Where We Started?

Includes preprints of: Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, ISSN 0096-3860.