Author’s Interviewing Characters: Shelley Blanton-Stroud
For fans of Kate Quinn’s The Rose Code and Jacqueline Winspear’s The Consequences of Fear comes a gripping novel, set in post–WWII San Francisco, about a young female newspaper publisher and a story that could change the course of her city’s future.
In the jubilant aftermath of Japan’s surrender in World War II, San Francisco erupts in celebration. But for Sandy Zimmer, the thirty-two-year-old widow publisher of the Prospect newspaper, the revelry masks a darker truth. In the chaos of the VJ Day Peace Riot, eleven deaths and six rapes take place.
Driven by journalistic integrity and battling her own instincts to maintain peace, Sandy directs her paper to investigate the riot. Her quest for truth pits her against formidable adversaries: her controlling civic-leader father-in-law, the newspaper’s resistant board, and authorities desperate to bury the scandal as they vie to attract the United Nations Headquarters to San Francisco.
Based on little-known historical events, An Unlikely Prospect follows Sandy’s fight to find her voice in the male-dominated world of 1945 journalism. As she navigates power dynamics, gender roles, and the steep price of printing the truth, Sandy must confront her own transformation from a people-pleasing widow into a determined publisher willing to challenge the status quo.
Finding Her Voice: A Conversation with Sandy Zimmer
Author Shelley Blanton-Stroud sits down with the protagonist of An Unlikely Prospect to discuss courage, transformation, and what it takes to tell the truth when everyone wants you to stay quiet.
Shelley: Sandy, you’d inherited the San Francisco Prospect newspaper from your husband Edward when he passed away. But, at the novel’s beginning, you were basically letting the board run everything. What was going on with you?
Sandy: God, you’re going right for the jugular, aren’t you? (laughs) Look, I was comfortable being Edward’s secretary. I knew how to do that job brilliantly. But publisher? That felt like wearing someone else’s too-big shoes. I kept thinking if I just smiled enough, listened enough, made everyone happy, they’d let me keep the title without actually having to… well, be the publisher. Pathetic, right?
Shelley: Not pathetic. Human. But something shifted when you witnessed the 1945 Peace Riot, when Japan surrendered in WWII and San Francisco’s celebrations turned into a melee. Tell me about that night.
Sandy: I saw a young woman surrounded by sailors, screaming for help. And I froze. Just stood there, frozen like a coward. But then this WAC broke through and tried to help the victim, and I thought—this is it. This is the thing women fear every time we dare to go out into the world. And I realized I had a newspaper. I had the power to tell this story, to make sure what happened to that woman and all those other women didn’t just… disappear.
Shelley: But you didn’t just decide to cover it and enjoy everyone’s applause, did you?
Sandy: (laughs bitterly) Oh no. Wyatt—my father-in-law—wanted me to bury it. The board wanted me to protect our advertisers. Even Jane Benjamin had to basically kick me in the pants to get me to call Mac and commit to the investigation. Everyone kept reminding me about the UN headquarters bid, about the city’s reputation, about being a ‘good girl.’ And part of me desperately wanted to be that good girl.
Shelley: So what changed? When did you stop wanting approval more than you wanted to do what was right?
Sandy: There wasn’t one magic moment. It was more like… layers peeling away. Every time I chose the story over someone’s approval, it got a little easier. Every time I saw how the victims were being silenced, I got angrier, Anger, I discovered, is a lot more useful than needing to be liked. Jane told me to stop ‘whimpering around the edge of everything.’ That stung, but she was right. The girl who used to ‘get crackin’—she’d been hiding behind widow’s weeds and board agendas.
Shelley: Your relationship with Olive—Edward’s mother—evolved significantly too. How did that happen?
Sandy: Olive surprised me. She was always so proper, so concerned with appearances. But when it came down to it, she chose the right thing over the comfortable thing. Watching her stand up to Wyatt, seeing her risk her perfect social standing to support the investigation—that taught me something about different kinds of courage. She showed me you can be gentle and still be fierce.
Shelley: Let’s talk about the moment you wrote your first-person account of witnessing the attack. That was incredibly vulnerable.
Sandy: Terrifying. Putting my name on that story, admitting I’d been there, that I’d been afraid—that meant I couldn’t hide anymore behind being ‘just the publisher.’ It meant taking a public stand. But it also meant I was finally using whatever privilege and platform I had for something that mattered. Not just inheriting power, but earning it.
Shelley: By the end of the novel, how do you define success differently than you did at the beginning?
Sandy: (pauses) At the start, success meant keeping everyone happy. Keeping the paper running without rocking the boat. Proving I deserved to sit in Edward’s chair. But now? Success means uncovering truth and holding powerful people accountable, even when—especially when—they don’t want to be held accountable. It means those rape victims had their stories heard. It means the Prospect became the paper I always pretended it was: one that actually matters.
Shelley: What would you say to women today who feel stuck between wanting to be liked and needing to speak up?
Sandy: That the cost of silence is always higher than the cost of speaking up. That being liked is lovely, but being respected—by yourself, first—is essential. And that finding your voice isn’t about becoming someone different. It’s about becoming more fully who you already are. I was always competent, always capable. I just had to stop apologizing for it.
Shelley: One last question—what’s your relationship with Wilford the pug telling us about your journey?
Sandy: (laughs) You would ask about the dog! My driver found Wilford wandering the streets and I took him in. At first, I think I needed somebody to take care of, something to focus on besides all the pressure. But somewhere along the way, those late-night walks with Wilford became my thinking time, my planning time. He went from being a distraction to being a companion for who I was becoming. Plus, he’s an excellent judge of character. He never trusted Wyatt for a second.
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Shelley Blanton-Stroud’s “An Unlikely Prospect” is available from She Writes Press. Learn more about the real history behind the Peace Riot at shelleyblantonstroud.com.
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Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in Bakersfield, California, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. Retired from three decades teaching writing in the California State University system, she continues to consult with writers in the U.S. energy industry. She has served as President of the Board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children, and on the Board of Advisors for the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College. Her historical mystery series—Copy Boy, Tomboy, and Poster Girl—follows Jane Benjamin, a cross-dressing, tomato-picking San Francisco gossip columnist who investigates crime stories that never make the front page. Her fourth novel, An Unlikely Prospect (She Writes Press), is based on the 1945 V-J Day San Francisco Peace Riot, featuring a widow publisher fighting to report unacknowledged rapes in a male-dominated field.
Category: Interviews, On Writing
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