Books, Films and Non-Fiction by Tom and Laura McNeal

	To Be Sung Underwater "Let’s face it: We’re a country that loves second chances (despite F. Scott Fitzgerald’s opinion to the contrary). We want to rewrite our lives and beat against the current to recapture our pasts. That’s certainly the case in Tom McNeal’s hypnotic new novel, To Be Sung Underwater. His complex, often heartbreaking heroine tries to find the first love she left behind many years ago." --The Washington Post
	Dark Water "It wasn’t wrong in theory. It wasn’t forbidden. But I understood that it was very strange and different, someone like him and someone like me. The people who have nothing aren’t allowed to touch the people with cars and houses. They can work here. That’s all." Finalist for the National Book Award, 2010 Winner, San Diego Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2010
	The Decoding of Lana Morris ". . . The McNeals have created an enchanting heroine whom teens will root for as she struggles in a world made both familiar and extraordinary--a blend of the Midwest and Oz." --The Chicago Sun-Times
	Crushed - The third of three books set in Jemison, New York “The authors extend their own grace to the characters . . . McNeal fans and other young believers in human possibility will find food for thoughtful hope here.” --The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
	Zipped--the second of three books set in Jemison, New York Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children’s Literature
	Crooked - the first Jemison novel Winner of the California Book Award in Juvenile Literature, An ALA Best Book for Young Adults--Top Ten, and A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
	Goodnight, Nebraska Goodnight, Nebraska is the small farm town that becomes both the punishment and the salvation of Randall Hunsacker, who after shooting his stepfather in Utah and crashing a borrowed car is given a choice by his former football coach: “If you go to Nebraska, the court will seal your records, meaning that if you don’t get into trouble for the next five years, they’ll cease to exist. Nobody will know anything about the shooting—not employers, not colleges, not the military, nobody. And most people will think of the car deal as a joyriding thing gone wrong.”
	California's Best: Two Centuries of Writing from the Golden State
	The Best American Short Stories “Tom McNeal’s ‘Watermelon Days’ takes us to the Dust Bowl era in South Dakota to depict the beautiful and unexpected momentary reprieve in a difficult marriage.” --Sue Miller, guest editor
	The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image . . . "When I informed my best friend almost nine years ago that I was expecting a male child, she said, after a distinct pause, “I can’t even imagine you with boys.” I couldn’t imagine it either, in spite of the fact that I’d been trying to get pregnant for four years and had just conceived with the help of a fertility stimulant. I knew that boys could be and frequently were the outcome of pregnancy. I was just assuming that, given my personality, a boy wouldn’t be the outcome in my case." --from "My Life as a Mammal" by Laura McNeal
	"Tully" Based on Tom's short story, "What Happened to Tully," Hilary Birmingham's independent film won five film festival prizes and was called "A real treasure . . . A wonderful movie with pitch-perfect acting" by Roger Ebert.
	The Dog Who Lost His Bob A picture book published in 1996 by Albert Whitman, this is an homage to Tom's former pet Doberman, Dougal. Now that it's out of print, you can buy old copies for next to nothing and enjoy John Sandford's whimsical illustrations. (As often happens in fiction, real life was deemed implausible, and the friendly bow-legged Doberman became a friendly mutt. It's still a feel-good dog story, though.)
	"Don't Look Down" A coming-of-age ritual in San Diego: 12 weeks of dance and deportment lessons from Peter Benjamin.
	"The Death of Judy Huscher" In 1957, a Fallbrook High home economics teacher named Gladys Huscher was charged with the murder of her adopted daughter, Judy. Laura spent a year interviewing Fallbrook residents who knew Judy, finding police reports and newspaper articles about the trial, reading old high school yearbooks, and locating Judy's grave.
	"Want to Be Sent Home in Pieces" This story about cartel violence in San Diego was written for the San Diego Reader.
	The Music Leaves No Space for Sadness A cover story for the San Diego Reader about an unusual--and hugely successful--high school music program.

To Be Sung Underwater
"Let’s face it: We’re a country that loves second chances (despite F. Scott Fitzgerald’s opinion to the contrary). We want to rewrite our lives and beat against the current to recapture our pasts. That’s certainly the case in Tom McNeal’s hypnotic new novel, To Be Sung Underwater. His complex, often heartbreaking heroine tries to find the first love she left behind many years ago."
--The Washington Post

Dark Water
"It wasn’t wrong in theory. It wasn’t forbidden. But I understood that it was very strange and different, someone like him and someone like me. The people who have nothing aren’t allowed to touch the people with cars and houses. They can work here. That’s all."
Finalist for the National Book Award, 2010
Winner, San Diego Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2010

The Decoding of Lana Morris
". . . The McNeals have created an enchanting heroine whom teens will root for as she struggles in a world made both familiar and extraordinary--a blend of the Midwest and Oz." --The Chicago Sun-Times

Crushed - The third of three books set in Jemison, New York
“The authors extend their own grace to the characters . . . McNeal fans and other young believers in human possibility will find food for thoughtful hope here.” --The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Zipped--the second of three books set in Jemison, New York
Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children’s Literature

Crooked - the first Jemison novel
Winner of the California Book Award in Juvenile Literature, An ALA Best Book for Young Adults--Top Ten, and A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

Goodnight, Nebraska
Goodnight, Nebraska is the small farm town that becomes both the punishment and the salvation of Randall Hunsacker, who after shooting his stepfather in Utah and crashing a borrowed car is given a choice by his former football coach: “If you go to Nebraska, the court will seal your records, meaning that if you don’t get into trouble for the next five years, they’ll cease to exist. Nobody will know anything about the shooting—not employers, not colleges, not the military, nobody. And most people will think of the car deal as a joyriding thing gone wrong.”

California's Best:
Two Centuries of Writing from the Golden State

The Best American Short Stories
“Tom McNeal’s ‘Watermelon Days’ takes us to the Dust Bowl era in South Dakota to depict the beautiful and unexpected momentary reprieve in a difficult marriage.”
--Sue Miller, guest editor

The Bigger the Better, the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty, Body Image . . .
"When I informed my best friend almost nine years ago that I was expecting a male child, she said, after a distinct pause, “I can’t even imagine you with boys.” I couldn’t imagine it either, in spite of the fact that I’d been trying to get pregnant for four years and had just conceived with the help of a fertility stimulant. I knew that boys could be and frequently were the outcome of pregnancy. I was just assuming that, given my personality, a boy wouldn’t be the outcome in my case."
--from "My Life as a Mammal" by Laura McNeal

"Tully"
Based on Tom's short story, "What Happened to Tully," Hilary Birmingham's independent film won five film festival prizes and was called "A real treasure . . . A wonderful movie with pitch-perfect acting" by Roger Ebert.

The Dog Who Lost His Bob
A picture book published in 1996 by Albert Whitman, this is an homage to Tom's former pet Doberman, Dougal. Now that it's out of print, you can buy old copies for next to nothing and enjoy John Sandford's whimsical illustrations. (As often happens in fiction, real life was deemed implausible, and the friendly bow-legged Doberman became a friendly mutt. It's still a feel-good dog story, though.)

"Don't Look Down"
A coming-of-age ritual in San Diego: 12 weeks of dance and deportment lessons from Peter Benjamin.

"The Death of Judy Huscher"
In 1957, a Fallbrook High home economics teacher named Gladys Huscher was charged with the murder of her adopted daughter, Judy. Laura spent a year interviewing Fallbrook residents who knew Judy, finding police reports and newspaper articles about the trial, reading old high school yearbooks, and locating Judy's grave.

"Want to Be Sent Home in Pieces"
This story about cartel violence in San Diego was written for the San Diego Reader.

The Music Leaves No Space for Sadness
A cover story for the San Diego Reader about an unusual--and hugely successful--high school music program.

Books, Films, & Non-Fiction