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To write her debut novel, Jessica Miller tapped into her inner\u2014or perhaps not so inner\u2014geek.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a huge geek,\u201d says Miller, who teaches English composition at UTC. \u201cI love fantasy; I love historical drama; I love fairy tales, folklore; I play a lot of video games. So I\u2019ve always been into that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of stuff\u201d turned into The Story That Cannot Be Told,<\/em> her debut novel that will be officially released on Tuesday on the prestigious Simon & Schuster Atheneum imprint. To kick everything off, Miller\u2014who writes under the pen name J. Kasper Kramer\u2014is holding a book signing on Tuesday in the UTC Library.<\/p>\n The novel already has earned positive, starred reviews from Publisher\u2019s Weekly<\/em> and Kirkus Reviews<\/em> and, for those who aren\u2019t familiar with the trade publications, it\u2019s a big <\/em>deal. And it kind of freaks her out.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to step back and be like: \u2018What? Trade reviewers are reading my book?\u2019 Just that alone is just mind-blowing,\u201d she gushes. \u201cAnd then it\u2019s: \u2018Wow! They considered reviewing it?\u2019 And then: \u2018Wow! They really reviewed it and it was positive?\u2019 And then to have starred reviews is just not even \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The book focuses on Ileana, a 10-year old girl growing up in Romania in the late 1980s, when the country was still communist and ruled by brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Ileana wants to be a writer, a dangerous choice because any writing considered anti-government can mean death.<\/p>\n Her uncle is a poet whose writing falls into that category and he vanishes. Ileana\u2019s parents send her to her grandparents in the Carpathian Mountains, but it doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n The book actually began as Miller\u2019s thesis for her master\u2019s \u00a0in creative writing, which she earned from UTC in December 2017. Once she finished it, her faculty advisor on the thesis, Sarah Einstein, thought the book was good enough to publish.<\/p>\n \u201cJessica Kramer is talented and artful writer. Her work is always infused with a potent mixture of research and imagination, and her prose is a pleasure to read,\u201d Einstein says. \u201cWe are lucky, here at UTC, to have so many talented writers in both the graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs, and we are always excited to celebrate their successes.\u201d<\/p>\n Most first-time novelists must send tons of query letters to agents and publishers just trying to get a foot in the door. And most times that door is slammed when only the toes are sticking through. Einstein, though, knew an agent in New York City. Miller sent the novel to him, he accepted her as a client and sold the book to Simon & Schuster.<\/p>\n \u201cBelieve me, I know it is the least-inspiring story for aspiring writers,\u201d Miller says with a rueful laugh. \u201cIt was very much right place, right time, right person.\u201d<\/p>\n