UNDER THE RADAR
Rosalia Scalia’s UNDER THE RADAR, her second short story collection, offers a poignant look at characters grappling with grief and loss in various forms. Each story reveals the raw emotions—anger, numbness, confusion—that accompany their journeys, as they navigate a world seemingly oblivious to their pain. In the title story, set in the 1970s, we follow Hope and Kenny, a young couple whose plans to marry are shattered when Kenny reveals he’s gay. “All the Small Joys” explores the clash between two sisters debating whether their mother should be buried with a mink stole or one sister’s dog’s ashes. In “Static Electricity,” adult twins must confront the devastating loss of their mother, an art teacher killed in a school shooting. “Butterfly Moments” focuses on Pearl, who grieves the death of her Marine son, killed by friendly fire, while harboring resentment toward his fiancée, who knew parts of his life Pearl never did. Throughout the collection, Scalia masterfully portrays the characters' struggle to find resilience in the face of overwhelming loss.
Fiction/978-1-963115-14-7/ January 7, 2025
Rosalia Scalia’s UNDER THE RADAR, her second short story collection, offers a poignant look at characters grappling with grief and loss in various forms. Each story reveals the raw emotions—anger, numbness, confusion—that accompany their journeys, as they navigate a world seemingly oblivious to their pain. In the title story, set in the 1970s, we follow Hope and Kenny, a young couple whose plans to marry are shattered when Kenny reveals he’s gay. “All the Small Joys” explores the clash between two sisters debating whether their mother should be buried with a mink stole or one sister’s dog’s ashes. In “Static Electricity,” adult twins must confront the devastating loss of their mother, an art teacher killed in a school shooting. “Butterfly Moments” focuses on Pearl, who grieves the death of her Marine son, killed by friendly fire, while harboring resentment toward his fiancée, who knew parts of his life Pearl never did. Throughout the collection, Scalia masterfully portrays the characters' struggle to find resilience in the face of overwhelming loss.
Fiction/978-1-963115-14-7/ January 7, 2025
Rosalia Scalia’s UNDER THE RADAR, her second short story collection, offers a poignant look at characters grappling with grief and loss in various forms. Each story reveals the raw emotions—anger, numbness, confusion—that accompany their journeys, as they navigate a world seemingly oblivious to their pain. In the title story, set in the 1970s, we follow Hope and Kenny, a young couple whose plans to marry are shattered when Kenny reveals he’s gay. “All the Small Joys” explores the clash between two sisters debating whether their mother should be buried with a mink stole or one sister’s dog’s ashes. In “Static Electricity,” adult twins must confront the devastating loss of their mother, an art teacher killed in a school shooting. “Butterfly Moments” focuses on Pearl, who grieves the death of her Marine son, killed by friendly fire, while harboring resentment toward his fiancée, who knew parts of his life Pearl never did. Throughout the collection, Scalia masterfully portrays the characters' struggle to find resilience in the face of overwhelming loss.
Fiction/978-1-963115-14-7/ January 7, 2025
Praise for UNDER THE RADAR
"In her latest collection, Rosalia Scalia cements her reputation as an astute observer of American life -- nobody can capture the nuances of love, trauma, grief, and struggle with the same depth. She is a writer who, even as she highlights the flaws of her characters, loves them unconditionally - and so will you."
—Susan Muaddi Darraj
"Rosalia's twenty-one stories in her newest collection, "Under the Radar," sweep the reader into the lives of people we may stride past every day and seldom give a second thought. But here they are, thoughtfully, compassionately depicted and worth every minute of our time. With a big heart and keen eye, Rosalia Scalia brings to life an impressively diverse universe of humanity whose stories remind us that we are our best selves when we pay careful attention."
—Ron Tanner
Kudos to Rosalia Scalia for assembling a cast of wildly eccentric characters and the sparks they ignite. These 21 stories are a cornucopia of school shootings, bigots, struggling immigrants, dead pets, AIDS, cancer, aging parents, gay marriage, funerals, disabilities, disasters, and domestic fury. Yet, despite family foibles and mayhem, Scalia heart’s Baltimore big time--the city’s newcomers, underdogs, and all the small joys therein.
—Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine
About ROSALIA SCALIA
Rosalia Scalia is the author of two collections, Stumbling Toward Grace (Unsolicited Press 2021) and Under the Radar (Unsolicited Press 2025.) Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Medicine and Meaning, Big Muddy 21, Notre Dame Review, The Oklahoma Review, North Atlantic Review, The Portland Review, and Quercus Review, among many others. She holds an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University and is a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist’s Award recipient. She won the Editor’s Select award from Willow Review and her short story in Pebble Lake was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives with her family in Baltimore, Md with her family.
