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About Eighteen Roses
Lucia Cruz may be turning eighteen this year, but she is not the debutante type. Everything about a traditional Filipino debut feels all wrong for her. Besides, custom dictates that eighteen friends attend her for a special ceremony on her birthday, and Lucia only has one friend- Esmé Mares. They've stuck to each other's side all throughout high school, content to be friends with only each other. At least, Lucia thought they were content.
As it turns out, Esmé wants something different out of her senior year. And, on top of that, Lucia's mom has planned a debutante ball for her birthday behind her back. She'll be forced to cobble together a court of eighteen "friends" before her beloved lola arrives from the Philippines for this blessed occasion.
How far will Lucia stray from her comfort zone in order to play the role of dutiful daughter and granddaughter? Will she do the unthinkable- participating in a school sponsored activity? Will she discover that her sense of humor can be a way to connect with people, not just push them away?
Shannon C.F. Rogers is a multiracial American writer of young adult novels and plays. While studying Creative Writing at the University of New Mexico and Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles, she also served as an educator, after-school program director, and lost mitten finder at schools in Albuquerque, Chicago, and Brooklyn, where she now lives. Her debut novel, I’D RATHER BURN THAN BLOOM, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Youth Literature in 2024.
Yume Kitasei (www.yumekitasei.com) is the author of The Deep Sky and The Stardust Grail. She is half Japanese and half American and grew up in a space between two cultures—the same space where her stories reside. She lives in Brooklyn with two cats, Boondoggle and Filibuster. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Baltimore Review. She chirps occasionally @Yumewrites at Instagram, TikTok, and Blue Sky.