Hi fellow BookBrowse readers! Bill Smoot, the author of San Quentin Exodus, has graciously agreed to stop by to discuss his book with our members. So drop in & say, “hi,” ask questions, etc.
The greatest gift a writer can receive is a group of sensitive and responsive readers, so I have felt blessed to read the perceptive and heartfelt comments of the good people who have shared their comments about San Quentin Exodus here. Writing can seem like sealing a note in a bottle and casting it into the sea, never knowing if it will be found and read, so the reader feedback here has been a balm for this writer’s soul.
I would be very grateful if people choose to leave a brief review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Those are very helpful, especially for non-famous writers, in getting word out there about a book.
If anyone has questions for me, I would be happy to respond to them.
Hi Bill, I enjoyed your “threaded” story; hadn’t heard that term before. Knowing you were “released” from your volunteerism at the prison, have you reconnected with any inmates you taught? Were you privy to their reactions about your dismissal? Are you still active in outreach programs? Finally, is there another book being written/published? Thanks for sharing.
1 Like
Thank you for your questions, Nan. Here is what little I know: Two of my former students, now paroled, have read the book and liked it. One of them came to my booklaunch event at a Bay Area bookstore. I also know (through another teacher in the program) that one of my former students, still incarcerated, was very unhappy to hear I had been fired. That’s all I know. I was very sad that I didn’t get to say goodbye to my students. I taught about 25 classes over 14 years, so I have several hundred students former students there. The director of my program says that my security clearance has been revoked, but the prison has never informed me of that, and according to the rules, there is a procedure for appealing such revocations. But my experience is that the prison frequently does not follow its own rules.
As for future books, I have a collection of short stories, Not So Long Ago, coming out on March 30, 2027, published by April Gloaming Press.
2 Likes