Lauren Smerkanich

What would you do if I handed you forty thousand dollars, right now, no strings attached?
Unable to resist this sales pitch, homemaker Judith is roped into A Dignity Circle, a simple gift-giving pyramid scheme that promises empowerment to the women of Sacramento while draining their bank accounts. Judith makes money, connections, and a deep friendship with the ringleader of the circle, Angela. But what will happen to Judith's newly-found independence and her newly-forged connection when the truth of the con is revealed?

SMILE FOR ME follows the 19th century artist Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, personal portrait-painter to Marie Antoinette, immediately after her escape from Paris on the eve of the French Revolution. Finding herself in Naples, she splits her time between looking for a new patron and attempting to climb a recently-erupted Mt. Vesuvius. But will Lisabeth’s reputation from her time in Paris hinder her professional and
personal ambitions?

Lynne and Rob have just moved to a town where holiday decorations are taken seriously and the neighbors are always watching. As they carve a pumpkin in anticipation of Halloween, the young couple hash out what brought them to their new home, and decide to decorate for their own reasons - neighbors be damned.

The holidays are a time for family, both living and not living. In Gigi Inherits Four Mink Coats, the newly-married Gigi attempts to navigate the complications that arise from celebrating Christmas with both her husband and her recently deceased mother. Gigi explores the experience of death in a culture that offers no instruction on how to grieve, and the audacity to hope for the future in a time of crisis.

It starts as a standard interview in a nondescript office. Nadia, the boss's daughter, meets with Derek, a young corporate underling working his way up the ladder. She hopes to secure an entry-level position at her family's company, a task which should be relatively easy. But what starts out as mere verbal jousting between these two quickly escalates into violence. The pair must now navigate the consequences of their actions and determine how each one of them will survive in America's brutal corporate landscape.