Join The Muse Writers Center for a reading by Jeff Schnader from his new book, The Serpent Papers. After the reading, there will be a Q&A and book signing. This event will be held in person at The Muse and copies of the book will be available for purchase. Proof of vaccination is required to attend. See the Muse’s current Covid-19 policies. For those who are not able to attend in person, there will be a live stream of the event on the Muse Facebook page.

“I could not put The Serpent Papers down. I felt an urgent need to continue reading… The Serpent Papers finds the human soul. It is Schnader’s gift.”

—Sandra Fluck, Founder & Publisher, bookscover2cover & THE WRITE LAUNCH

About the book: 

J-Bee, scion of a military family, is raised in a violent milieu during the 1960s where he commits a retaliatory act of brutality. While his best friend volunteers to fight in Vietnam, J-Bee is repulsed by his own violence and refuses to follow in his father’s military footsteps. Instead, he matriculates at Columbia in 1971, an era of counterculture, in order to seek redemption. Although he feels loyalty to his friend fighting overseas, he strongly sympathizes with his girlfriend’s rationale against the war. Torn between supporting the war or protesting against it, his paradoxical feelings are fueled when his best friend, on furlough from Vietnam, visits him at Columbia. With ratcheting tensions and bullhorns inciting students to protest, pro-war and anti-war factions collide in campus riots, and J-Bee redeems his prior acts of violence by making the choice that comes to define his life.

About the author: 

Jeff Schnader was at Columbia in 1972; he participated when students held massive demonstrations and were beaten by the NY Tactical Police in full battle regalia, an experience which he uses as inspiration for true-to-life scenes in his novel.

After graduating from Columbia with a BA in physics, Schnader received his medical degree (MD, CM) from McGill University with further work at Johns Hopkins. He recently retired as full Professor of Medicine after authoring over 50 scientific publications and chairing & speaking at over 130 national medical conferences. He was a frequent guest on NPR’s “Sound Health” and has been awarded for teaching and for editing a medical journal. He worked full-time in the Department of Veteran’s Affairs for 22 years, serving American war veterans, including those of the Vietnam War.

He has authored 50 medical publications. As an author, he won 1st Prize in the League of Utah Writers 2020 Quills Contest for new fiction for his short story, “The Champion.” Multiple chapters of The Serpent Papers have been published in advance of the full book by the literary journal The Write Launch in its October, November & December 2020 and February & March 2021 issues. The Serpent Papers was a short-listed finalist in the 2021 Blue Moon Novel Competition. See his website for further information: https://jschnaderauthor.com

Please note: This class or event is in-person and will be held at our center.