Alternative Book Press

15/08/2025

During the Spring of 2009 in the hard-knocks timber town of Aberdeen, Washington, seventeen-year-old wallflower Jeremy Sweet, his friends, and their families

15/08/2025

15/08/2025

Honored to see Christina and the Whitefish featured as the top story in the Pasadena Weekly ahead of my Vroman’s Bookstore event.

On August 21, I’ll be in conversation with the brilliant Rising Up With Sonali about love, war, loss, and redemption — the themes that haunt this novel and define so much of our lives.

If you’re in the LA area, join us.

📍Vroman's Bookstore Pasadena
🗓️ Thursday, August 21 @ 7PM

14/08/2025

Pasadena Weekly Interview/article with ABP author Stephen Vittoria Stephen Vittoria out today!

"Independent filmmaker and author Stephen Vittoria will appear at Vroman’s Bookstore on Thursday, Aug. 21, to discuss his new novel “Christina and the Whitefish,” a story about love and identity. Vittoria will be joined in conversation by journalist and activist Sonali Kolhatkar.

The book was released on Feb. 25 of this year and is about Christina, a young Gulf War veteran who struggles with PTSD and the loss of her parents. She drives across the country to New Jersey, where she meets The Whitefish, a disabled Vietnam veteran and philosopher.

The story also flashes back to Christina’s younger years, when she and her best friend Jaime secretly fall in love. They later move to Las Vegas to escape judgment and try to build a new life.

Vittoria described the book as an uplifting story. “It’s a story about the trauma and the pain of war that is left in human beings, and how these two human beings have resilience and great redemption.”

Vittoria grew up in New Jersey and originally wrote this story as a screenplay about 30 years ago. He spent nearly two years turning it into a novel. “A screenplay is like a blueprint for a movie … it can be very boring to read, but a novel, you can fill in all the blanks, and you can go much deeper on the characters and the story,” he said.

“Christina and the Whitefish” is his fourth book, but the first novel he wrote solo. His other works include three nonfiction books co-written with Mumia Abu-Jamal.

He said the idea for Christina’s cross-country journey came from his admiration for her strength. “She didn’t even know how to drive a stick shift,” he said. “She learned in a Ralphs parking lot supermarket, and then she took cross country … I did that to show how courageous she was.”

Vittoria mentioned that a small part of the book was actually written at Vroman’s Bookstore, which is why the upcoming event feels especially meaningful. “I remember writing passages from the book there and doing some editing. So it’s kind of neat to be able to go back.”

The cover photo is titled “New Year’s Day in Asbury Park” and was taken by photographer David Rucker. Vittoria found it online and said it felt just right for the story. “It’s beautiful and dark at the same time,” he said. The two have since become friends.

He said one of his favorite parts of the book is the diner scene between Christina and Jaime. “Even when I read it now, I have a hard time not crying,” he said. “I love these two characters so much.”

He mentioned that readers as young as 14 and as old as 100 can connect with the book. “Male, female doesn’t seem to matter. Straight, gay doesn’t seem to matter,” he said.

Vittoria also just finished working on a second novel titled “The Last Philadelphia Cowboy,” which is based on another screenplay he wrote years ago.

“Christina and the Whitefish” is available now at Vroman’s and online.

“I want the audience to feel that hope can always be at the end of a journey … that you have to keep pushing forward if you’re going through bad times,” Vittoria said.

Pasadena Weekly Vroman's Bookstore

Independent filmmaker and author Stephen Vittoria will appear at Vroman’s Bookstore on Thursday, Aug. 21, to discuss his new novel “Christina and the Whitefish,” a story about love and identity.

13/08/2025

Montjoy, from ABP author Curt Finch, is another novel that deserves your attention! Check out this reveiw from Indie Reader - https://indiereader.com/book_review/montjoy/

Get your copy here: https://alternativebookpress.com/product/montjoy/ or from your favorite bookstore.

A literary novella concerning an academic’s investigation of a recently discovered Nazi-era notebook. As his research intensifies, real and imagined monsters are uncovered.

12/08/2025

Chronogram Magazine's list of 11 Books by Hudson Valley Authors to Read This August https://www.chronogram.com/arts/11-books-by-hudson-valley-authors-to-read-this-august-

West Kill/ABP author Stephen H. Foreman made the list for his moving novel HOME: A LOVE STORY. Get your copy here: https://alternativebookpress.com/product/home-a-love-story/

Stephen H. Foreman Jamie Donnelly

11/08/2025

Happy book birthday to Shaun Anthony McMichael & WHISTLE PUNK FALLS!!

Our newest fiction release is available now from your favorite bookstore or direct from the publisher: https://alternativebookpress.com/product/whistle-punk-falls/

Kaitlin-Shaun McMichael

During the Spring of 2009 in the hard-knocks timber town of Aberdeen, Washington, seventeen-year-old wallflower Jeremy Sweet, his friends, and their families

11/08/2025

11/08/2025

07/08/2025

Sonali Kolhatkar & Stephen Vittoria!

07/08/2025

Join me at Vroman’s Bookstore on Thursday, August 21 at 7pm for a powerful conversation with journalist Sonali Kolhatkar
We’ll be diving into Christina and the Whitefish.
📍Pasadena, CA