“New Orleans has no star, she is an ensemble piece”
—George Sanchez, Lit by Lightning
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Like a jam session, this book is semi-improvisational. One tune links up to the next just as the musicians riff, ending with an internal structure all its own, ebbing and flowing from the life and experience of the players. It takes from the past; the present; and, perhaps, gives hints to the future.
Neither history nor biography, it is sketches, roughly organized to guide the reader through New Orleans and its culture as it is, and how it got that way, as told through the eyes of someone growing up circa 1940-1960.
A Mediterranean city, New Orleans is made up of many cultures, each adding its customs, mores, food, music, and world view. The Lady takes that raw material and shapes it through the prism of her location, history, and residents who live in the past and present simultaneously, forging a life from a gumbo of people, places, and things foreign to the rest of the world, but second nature to the residents to create something uniquely her own. The result is a culture that has contributed much to the world, creating something as unique as its residents.
Also Available on Audible
Upcoming Events
LOUISIANA BOOK FESTIVAL
October 31st, 2026 Appearing at the Louisiana Book Festival with the Acadia Authors Collective Downtown Baton Rouge 9-4pm
The Jeffrey Chaussier Series: New Orleans Mysteries
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Available on Audible.com!
Listen to the first four titles in the Jeffrey Chaussier Mystery Series plus the latest release narrated by George -
Lit by Lightning | Explorations End
Short Stories, Prose & Verse
A Novel of New Orleans, 1963
Looking for Tennessee Williams
New Orleans, Louisiana, an Old World city on the shores of the New, where the young and the beautiful are menaced by the old and misshapen.
November, 1963, a time when new winds shake old trees in a contest to see who prevails. The actors of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” have come to perform at the Tennessee Williams College Theatre Festival where they meet people, places, vices, virtues, and in so doing, themselves.
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Reviews for Looking for Tennessee Williams
“Sanchez’s story is adept at setting up relationships that are fraught with conflict…Along with the interplay of such characters is the city itself. As much as the tale is about knotty relationships, it is also a long enticing love letter to New Orleans… These details all come together to form an image of a place as complex and unique as the people who call it home.”
- Kirkus Reviews
ABOUT
George Sanchez recalls writing his first poem in the fourth grade, which he still remembers to this day but will not recite. “I’ve written all my life. First poems, then plays. I put fiction aside because a teacher told me I had an ear for dialogue and should write plays. So I did.” During his travels to Europe, he wrote poems instead of journal entries. While a book of poetry may eventually be on his radar, right now George's focus is writing fiction.
In the first of his “Jeff Chaussier Mysteries” series, George introduces us to Jeff Chaussier, an actor who returns home to New Orleans to investigate his father's mysterious death. The mystery becomes secondary to the city and the people, which is ironic because, when he started, George resisted the label of “southern writer,” only to discover that is what he is because his primary subject is New Orleans, especially its quirky inhabitants. "You know, we're not magnolias and mint juleps down here, nor are we crawfish and gumbo. We're all of that and more, because, it's the people who give New Orleans its unique ambiance." In addition to writing, George spent his working years as a Theater Director for programs in the Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Tammany Parish school systems. Many of his students have continued to work in various facets of theater: acting, producing, performing, and the business aspects of theater...and, though he rejects the idea, many credit him as the source of their knowledge and their conviction that theater deserves respect and dedication.
He has published an original play based on Louisiana's Governor “Uncle” Earl Long, and co-authored a theater textbook, a travel book and a history of the New Orleans Fire Department.
George resides in the New Orleans area with his family, and he currently writes and produces a monthly cable television law enforcement program.
Contact
For all inquires, or to order books, schedule book signings or appearances, use the form or directly email George at: gjsanch@gmail.com
