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Home Like a Shadow

College girl accompanies her new boyfriend to his decaying San Joaquin Valley home town for his mother's birthday and is pulled into family conflicts and lost dreams dating back to the Civil War.

Synopsis

Home Like a Shadow won second place in the American Gem Competition and was anthologized in Best New Writing 2011. It also won a fellowship to a writing conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Here’s a link to a recently published online version: https://www.piltdownreview.com/2018/10/home-like-a-shadow.html

Meghan is a cynical, worldly, disillusioned college girl who thinks she has insulated herself against almost any experience. But when her new boyfriend, Cliff, unexpectedly invites her to his mother's birthday dinner in his tiny San Joaquin Valley hometown of "Alton" California, she braces herself.

"I am not particularly worried about meeting his family, either. I know by now that I am not the type of girl parents approve of. “Slinky,” one mom had sniffed, as if that were something bad.

When they finally arrive, Meghan realizes that Alton is a poor California town, straight out of The Grapes of Wrath.

"Piles of sunbleached lumber and crusted paint cans lie about in patchy, weedy yards, as if people had once hoped to renew their lives, but gave up."

Suddenly, I ache for Cliff. Beneath his lanky, cynical pose lies this sad origin."

“C’mon in.” But Cliff opens the door only enough for him to poke his head through and glance around. After a moment he throws it wide and pulls me after him."

Meghan meets Cliff's mother Lili, and his Auntie Verna, both of them sipping bourbon from teacups and already half in the bag. Of Lili, she says:

"Her face is radiantly beautiful, but the fragile skin has been no match for the Central Valley sun. Something about her makes you want to console her."

Auntie Verna, Lili's sister, gives Meghan the once-over:

"I get a whiff of hard liquor, tobacco and perfume. Her sharp blue eyes scan me so quickly that I can almost feel the wind of their passing.

When Cliff's father emerges, Meghan sees yet another truth:

A stubby, graying man in a blue striped seersucker bathrobe hanging half open to reveal a hairy, concave chest above an ample belly. His eyebrows are thick black bolts drawn together by his scowl. His beard is about three days old."

Meghan is now pulled into the family's life. Against her will, she begins to lose the hard shell she has grown around herself.

When the father leaves for a bout of gambling, and Cliff takes off after him, Meghan realizes that it is going to be a long, long night, and that she is going to wake up the next morning changed forever.

Script Excerpt

Written by:

Linda Boroff

Contact Author

Format:

Screenplay

Genres:

Family

Starring Roles For:

Mila Kunis
Chris Pine
Kim Basinger

In the Vein Of:

The Door in the Floor
The Brothers McMullen
The Last Picture Show

Posted:

06/10/2012

Updated:

10/08/2024

Author Bio:

Author website: www.lindaboroffauthor.com Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Boroff/e/B00NWE6J3I

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in fiction in 2021 and 2016

I wrote the feature film, Murder in Fashion, about the shooting of designer Gianni Versace by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. The film played at theatres and festivals and was reviewed in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/movies/22murder.html?_r=0

"Low budget but accurate and well constructed insight into a modern mystery" review by Richard von Lust L.

Author website: www.lindaboroffauthor.com Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Linda-Boroff/e/B00NWE6J3I

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize in fiction in 2021 and 2016

"Low budget but accurate and well constructed insight into a modern mystery" review by Richard von Lust L.A. Times __________________ The producer, Mark Boot, said: "On a personal level I really appreciate your professionalism and enthusiasm on Murder in Fashion. You have been a real joy to work with since day 1." ________________________________________ My short story, published in Cornell University's literary magazine, Epoch, is currently under option to Sony and Road Less Traveled Productions (director Brad Furman). Brad said this about me: "Thank you for inspiring me to make the best film possible, but also to lend your own story and passion to what we believe will be a groundbreaking film. A film that speaks to the youth of this generation. I love so much of what you wrote because it deeply informs the story and character we worked so hard on and I want to tell." _________________________ I collaborated with producer Don Murphy (Transformers, Natural Born Killers) on the script "Fast Fade" about the life of film noir actress Barbra Payton. The script was a quarterfinalist in the Los Angeles International Screenplay competition and semifinalist in 2020 Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Screenplay Competition and 2020 Creative World Awards . ___________________________________ I won 2nd Place in the American Gem competition and first prize in The Writers Place Competition; finalist in the Eric Hoffer fiction competition (over 2000 entries). My script, "The Dressmaker's Daughter" was a Top Ten Finalist in the Bruce Geller Screenplay Competition at American Jewish University.

My medical thriller novel, Twisted Fate, was publishd by Champagne Book Group in April 2022.

My Young Adult novel, The Dressmaker's Daughter, was published by Santa Monica Press in March 2022.

My suspense novella, The Remnant, was published in June 2020 by BTGN Press. My collection of short stories, All I Can Take of You was published by Adelaide Press in August 2020 ________________________ I graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English. My writing appears in McSweeney's, Gawker, All the Sins, Close to the Bone, The Guardian, Cimarron Review, Moxy, BioStories, Shark Reef, Literary Heist, Parhelion, Crack the Spine, Writing Disorder and others.

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Contest Results:

American Gem Short (Second Place) [2013]

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Home Like a Shadow

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