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December 30, 2024  |  Sash Bischoff

‘Sweet Fury’: Literary thriller from ex-La Jolla resident explores fame and revenge

Sash Bischoff, who started writing while attending school in La Jolla, will be back in town Jan. 22 to discuss and sign her debut novel

By Ashley Mackin Solomon | [email protected]

Author Sash Bischoff’s upcoming book discussion and signing at Warwick’s in La Jolla represents a full-circle moment for the former local resident.

After taking her first writing classes in La Jolla during her youth, having a stop here on a national book tour for her debut novel, “Sweet Fury,” has created what she calls a “pinch-me feeling.”

“Sweet Fury,” dubbed a literary thriller, focuses on main character Lila Crayne, an American film actress who is “adored by the whole world,” Bischoff said. “She and her boyfriend move from L.A. to New York City because they are in pre-production for a film that is a feminist adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Tender is the Night.’ Lila is a producer and plays the leading role, and to prepare, she works with an esteemed therapist to dig into the trauma of her own past to feed into the role.”

But in the process, Lila’s life begins to unravel.

“As that happens, the characters in the book become entangled in a deadly game of revenge in which everyone plays a part,” Bischoff said.

“Sweet Fury” was years in the making, drawing from Bischoff’s own experiences in the entertainment industry.

As a child, Bischoff lived in Los Angeles and Alabama before moving to La Jolla, where she spent her formative years, attending The Evans School and The Bishop’s School.

At the time, Bischoff felt she was on a path to become a professional actor.

“I got into acting when I was 6 years old, the same year we moved to La Jolla, because I was painfully shy … and my mom thought theater was the answer,” Bischoff said. “So she had me audition for a regional production and I got in. The show finished and she thought I was cured [of shyness] and that was it. But for me, it became my passion and I felt I was meant to be an actress.”

After stints in local and regional children’s theater, Bischoff would drive to Los Angeles for auditions when she was in high school. On the advice of her Bishop’s School acting teacher, Courtney Flanagan, Bischoff also explored directing and creative writing.

“I found that I really liked directing and creative writing and was getting good feedback on it,” Bischoff said.

When it came to selecting a college to attend upon her graduation from Bishop’s in 2005, Bischoff chose Princeton University for its creative-writing department. During her senior year there, she did two theses. One was directing both parts of Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America” and the other was trying to write a novel in eight months.

“The novel was due the same week the show opened, so it was not good,” Bischoff said with a laugh. “It is in a drawer, never to be opened again.”

Author

After graduation from Princeton, Bischoff had to decide whether to pursue acting or directing. Ultimately, considering the lack of control that comes with acting and the pressure to conform to beauty standards, she chose directing.

She moved to New York and began a career as a professional director, including staging “Dear Evan Hanson” on Broadway, all the while writing in her off time.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, shutting down all Broadway productions.

“In the blink of an eye, my whole industry disappeared,” she said. “But I chose to take it as a sign … to focus on my writing and to give it a shot.”

So in June 2020, Bischoff began writing what would become “Sweet Fury.”

After “a number of edits,” the book is scheduled for release Tuesday, Jan. 7.

The story has “many messages and many questions,” Bischoff said.

“As an author, I am more interested in raising questions about our culture and our society than I am about giving prescriptive answers,” she said. “I want people to take something away from it and think about a situation in a new light.”

Among the themes are the different sides of the entertainment industry, the MeToo movement and reflections on present-day society.

“Something that was really important to me in writing this is that this is not a story that is black and white,” Bischoff said. “I was interested in seeing, in the aftermath of the MeToo movement, what is the meaning of justice? How far is too far? What happens when things go too far? Can we ever know what really happened?”

Returning to La Jolla for the event at Warwick’s bookstore “means so much to me,” Bischoff said. Her appearance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 7812 Girard Ave. Learn more at warwicks.com/event/bischoff-2025.

For more information about Bischoff and “Sweet Fury,” visit sashbischoff.com. ♦

Link: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/12/27/sweet-fury-literary-thriller-from-ex-la-jolla-resident-explores-fame-and-revenge/