The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" ('94) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" ('93), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.

Awards
Short story Collection Naked, with Glasses, Grand Prize, UKA [United Kingdom Authors] Press International Writing Competition, 2007

"Naked, with Glasses," 3rd Prize, "Seven Deadly Sins Contest," Story Magazine, 1995

About Naked, with Glasses
(award-winning short stories)


As in Szeman's other work, the universal themes of family, love, loss, loyalty, and betrayal are visited in this collection as well. Edgy, memorable, and engagingly written, these award-winning stories display another aspect of Szeman's talent — that for short fiction. Filled with distinct voices, unique characters, surprising plot-twists, and successful experimental writing innovations, this prize-winning collection secures the author's critically acclaimed reputation in this genre as well, adding to the accolades she has already garnered for her novels, poetry, and non-fiction. (formerly writing as "Sherri")

Revised & Expanded, Legally & Medically Updated, 12th Anniversary Edition

When Claudia Sloane is arrested for the murder of her mother-in-law, everyone is stunned, especially her husband Sam. Claudia loved Eleanor as if she were her own mother and would never have hurt her. At least, that's what Claudia insists. But even Sam begins to wonder how far Claudia would go in the name of love: did she help the terminally-ill Eleanor commit suicide?

Upon first marrying Sam, Claudia thinks she's found the "happily ever after" life she's always dreamed of. She has an affectionate and devoted husband, and in Sam's mother, Eleanor, the orphaned Claudia finds the mother she's longed for. The perfect family soon crumbles, however, as Eleanor descends into violent & unpredictable emotional eruptions, physical attacks, protracted silences, incontinence, even suspected suicide attempts. Soon, the money saved for other projects, including children and family-businesses, is depleted taking care of Eleanor. Claudia loses her own business, and her marriage to Sam is suffering from the strain of his mother's care. When Eleanor is found dead with a collection of empty pill bottles scattered around her bed, Claudia is charged with murder, and the family's world is blown apart. Again.

During the widely publicized trial, Sam tries desperately to maintain his belief in his wife's innocence despite the mounting evidence against her. Meanwhile, Claudia unwillingly begins to suspect that Sam may have helped his own mother commit suicide, but is letting his wife risk conviction for the murder. Gripping and suspenseful, compassionate yet unflinchingly honest, Only with the Heart deals with the dreadful effects of terminal disease on its patients and their Caregivers, explores our primal need for acceptance and family ties, and examines the complex and evolving nature of love.

This revised, expanded edition includes newly written scenes to include updates in Medical treatment & medications since the novel was first published. Changes in the legal system regarding assisted suicide lead to a shocking ending, dramatically different from the original; chapters from Eleanor's section which were accidentally omitted from the first edition have been restored. A Chapter-by-Chapter Scene Index and Discussion Questions for groups, teachers, and students are provided. The Author's Note explains Szeman's own experience being a full-time Caregiver.



(1st edition: Arcade 2000 (Hardcover), 2001 (Trade Paper) under "Sherri")

About Where Lightning Strikes
The poems in this collection revisit the classic themes that have inspired poets for generations: love, passion, betrayal, doubt, loyalty, despair, faith, and survival — this time in the context of the period before, during, and after the Holocaust with its systematic persecution and extermination of the majority of European Jewry by the Nazi regime.

Szeman's themes, though set, in this collection, around the Holocaust, are universal, encompassing the perpetrators', victims', and survivors' perspectives equally insightfully. Though the line-breaks are syllabic — imitating the arbitrary rigidity of the Nazi persecutions as well as of the concentration camps' operations — the language flows passionately over the artificially imposed line-breaks and formal stanzas. The poems' many fans often state that, despite the fact that they may have been initially wary of the subject matter, they were enthralled and shaken by poetry which so clearly & memorably portrays such complex & harrowing events in human history. (formerly writing as "Sherri" Szeman)

Awards
•The Centennial Review Prize for Poetry (Michigan State University) for best poem published in 1984
• The Isabel & Mary Neff Fellowship for Creative Writing 1984-1985
• Elliston Prize, First Place (University of Cincinnati) 1985
• Elliston Prize, Second Place, 1984
• Elliston Prize, Grand Prize, 1983

About Love in the Time of Dinosaurs (award-winning poems)

Love in the Time of Dinosaurs includes all Szeman's non-Holocaust poetry from 1983-2010. Many of the poems begin with a narrator's or character's questioning his expectations of life versus the reality s/he encounters.
In the section Portrait of the Poet as a Woman, the poems, firmly grounded in everyday objects and people, examine marriage, children, and family relationships; eventually expanding the narrator's or character's view to include the universal human condition, especially that of women.

The narrators of all the family dramatic monologues speak poignantly of our desire for acceptance and love, of the fear of betrayal, of loneliness and isolation even when within a relationship, as well as of treasured moments of love, happiness, and desire. Imaginative depictions of mythological, literary, and biblical characters' lives frequently appear.

Szeman's themes are universal, encompassing the perspectives of men and women, adults and children, equally honestly. Though the line-breaks are often syllabic, and the stanzas formal, the language flows musically over the artificially imposed line-breaks. The poems' stories and characters have generated a multitude of fans who claim that, "for the first time, [they] understand contemporary poetry."

Awards
• Chester H. Jones Foundation Poetry Competition, Honorable Commendation, 1985
• The Centennial Review Prize for Poetry (Michael Miller Award) for best poem published in 1984
• The Isabel & Mary Neff Fellowship for Creative Writing, 1984-1985
• Elliston Prize, First Place, 1985
• Elliston Prize, Second Place, 1984
• Elliston Prize, Grand Prize,1983
• Writer's Digest National Writing Competition, Honorable Mention, 1980

In a post-Z-fected world, Jake is just an ordinary guy, although slightly more educated and a bit better looking than most young men his age. He has a good job, a nice car, a great apartment, and a relatively pretty girlfriend. He knows all about how to protect himself from the Zombies who would eat the brains of every uninfected human on the planet if their own Z-fected brains functioned any longer and they could figure out how to get past the fence barricades that separate the two groups.

Jake has his life all planned out — at least, as much of your life as you can plan when Zombies have been in existence, attacking and killing humans, for several generations. When he unexpectedly becomes so severely ill that his job, relationship, and life are in jeopardy, he's supremely grateful to the girl who steps in to nurse him.

Though he knows Goth-girl Windy only slightly, as one of the waitresses from a Downtown restaurant he frequents, she is more attentive and solicitous during his illness than his current girlfriend. Something draws Jake to Windy, though he's not quite sure what it is. Something unusual. Something that makes her unlike any other girl he's ever known. He thinks that, given the chance, he could love her enough to make a life commitment, something he's never even considered before.

Unfortunately for Jake, Windy is a Z.
A Zombie passing as an uninfected human.

Jake doesn't care about any of that. His only concern is to determine whether there is any way for this poor Romeo to cross the Z-barrier that divides him from his own special Juliet.

Meanwhile, Windy has her own fears. She has a secret far greater than her being a Z who's passing as a human. And if Jake discovers it, he might send her into the Void himself.

The relationship between the Kommandant of a Nazi concentration camp and the Jewish woman inmate whom he forces to become his "mistress," is revealed from the perspectives of both protagonists, as well as from ostensibly objective biographical encyclopedia entries on each. First edition. Harper Collins 1993. Formerly published as Sherri Szeman.

The relationship between the Kommandant of a Nazi concentration camp and the Jewish woman inmate whom he forces to become his "mistress," is revealed from the perspectives of both protagonists, as well as from ostensibly objective biographical encyclopedia entries on each. Second edition (includes translations of opera excerpts). Arcade NYC, 2000. Formerly published as Sherri Szeman.

After growing up in foster homes, Claudia has found the perfect life with a devoted husband and loving mother, but her new world is turned upside down when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a situation that becomes worse when her mother is found dead and Claudia is charged with murder, in an engrossing tale of terminal illness, love, and the struggle for acceptance. 22,500 first printing. First edition. Arcade NYC, 2000. Formerly published as Sherri Szeman

First edition. Story Press / Writer's Digest Press, 2001. Formerly published as Sherri Szeman.

The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" (1994) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" (1993), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.

French Translation

The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" (1994) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" (1993), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.

Norwegian edition

The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" (1994) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" (1993), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.

Swedish Translation

The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" (1994) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" (1993), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.

Spanish Translation

The rumors spread by the Camp's inmates, other Nazi officers, and the Kommandant's own family insist that she was his "mistress", but was she, voluntarily? Told from three different perspectives - that of the formerly idealistic Kommandant, the young Jewish inmate who captivates him, and the ostensibly objective historical biographies of the protagonists - this novel examines one troubling moral question over and over: if your staying alive was the only "good" during the War, if your survival was your sole purpose in this horrific world of the Concentration Camps - whether you were Nazi or Jewish - what, exactly, would you do to survive? Would you lie, cheat, steal, kill, submit?

Flashing back and forth through the narrators' memories as they recall their time before, during, and after the War, and leading, inevitably, to their ultimate, shocking confrontation, "Szeman's uncompromising realism and superb use of stream-of-consciousness technique make [this novel] a chilling study of evil, erotic obsession, and the will to survive" (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY).

Winner of the Kafka Prize for "best book of prose fiction by an American woman" (1994) and chosen as one of the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW's "Top 100 Books of the Year" and "Notable Book" (1993), the tales told by the Kommandant, his "mistress", and their "biographer" will mesmerize and stun you, leaving you wondering, at the conclusion, which, if any, is telling the complete truth about what happened between them.