The Fajitas and Beer Convention


Book Description

The story begins with the passing of little Manolo’s mother. She left instructions with their ranch hand, Salvador, to deliver Manolo to their only family in the northern part of Mexico. Along the way, Manolo and Salvador encounter great adventures including a sinister drunk, a deceiving carnival owner, a magician, and the beautiful Paloma. The adventure does not end in northern Mexico! When Manolo and Salvador accidentally enter the United States on a train, they find themselves walking the streets of an American border town. Here they come across a wealthy neighborhood where ten Mexican gardeners are preparing to have a social. They explain that they all work for wealthy men, who are using the funds from their businesses to take vacations, meanwhile writing these off as, “conventions.” So, every time their bosses leave, they use their houses to have their own “conventions” with fajitas and beer. Each of the men tells a tale during one of these socials, each with its own plot, moral lesson, and satire.




Invisible Mending


Book Description

A themed poetry collection—a kind of “séance”—an evening to get in touch with other souls, and the world they once lived in. Yet, as a linked collection, the poems trace the arc of a life from birth to death, from childhood to old age, and move towards a spiritual journey in art. Our lives seem to be vanishing acts, perfected from birth to death. The trip also takes us within. There are joys and sorrows, a sense of delight, and also grief. The collection suggests that the “real horror” is losing a loved one. But, while the poems keep an eye on death, the point is life, even the contemplation of a life beyond death. Certainly, there is remembrance—a time to mend our wounds—both visible and invisible. Invisible Mending tries to connect with the joy and grief that binds us all. Invisible Mending consists of three parts: I. Invisible Mending, II. Walking Shadows and III. Mending Time. The title of Part I—Invisible Mending—refers to a technique used to patch fabric and leather so that the “wound” seems to disappear. My father used “invisible mending” in his trade, plied in the late 40’s, after World War II, but abandoned it when he came to Canada in 1952. Part II—Walking Shadows—is a poem sequence dealing with the life in the theatre and life as a play. The “poor players” that strutted and fretted” their hour on the stage are gone, but their “shadows” remain in life and theatrical memory. Part III—Mending Time—is a suite of linked poems tracing the spiritual quests of artists, writers and seekers who are searching for their “true worth” in the world.




Medusa’s Hairdresser


Book Description

“Maria Jacketti’s new release, Medusa’s Hairdresser, paints where the wind tells her to go. You will find no clichés in her work. From this book, one discovers an unprecedented journey into a world of surprising images, such as a line from her poem ‘Witch Watch,’ where Maria writes, ‘Angels like to stop watches; so do nuclear bombs,’ or from her poem ‘Song for Change,’ ‘Oh gorgeous bucks, you golden kibble, it’s time for you to ficklekiss.’ These and more are just a few of the unconventional yet enchanting lines that are sure to draw you in. Make sure you don’t read too long! You might find yourself cast in stone, forever lost in her language. A great book sure to entertain, enchant and stimulate a whole new approach to reading and appreciating poetry. Revolutionary work.” —Melanie Simms, former Perry County Poet Laureate, President, Association of Pennsylvania Poets Laureate




Vovochka


Book Description

Welcome to Vladimir Putin’s phantasmagoric world, where a heady mixture of Orthodoxy, socialism, imperialism, racism, homophobia, and Mother Russia worship defines and distorts reality. Vovochka is the story of “Vovochka” Putin and his intimate friend—a KGB agent with the same nickname. The two Vovochkas recruit informers in Berlin’s gay bars, spy on East German dissidents, survive the trauma of the Soviet Union’s collapse, fight American, Ukrainian, Jewish, and Estonian “fascists,” and plot to restore Russia’s power and glory. As their mindset assumes increasingly bizarre forms, Vovochka Putin experiences bouts of selfdoubt that culminate in a weeklong cure in North Korea. A savage satire, Vovochka is also a terrifyingly plausible account of Vladimir Putin’s evolution from a minor KGB agent in East Germany to the selfstyled Savior and warmongering leader of a paranoid state.




Glurk!


Book Description

The first book-length, epic poem about Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, aka North America’s largest salamander. Through an investigative poetic lens of folklore, history, science and ecology, grotesque-advocate Mark Spitzer paints a four-part profile of an amazing phenomenon. This semi-monstrous mosaic of a living, breathing barometer of water quality and biodiversity is accomplished through a visionary voice that incorporates research, data, primary sources, and images that twist and torque like an actual bender (as the mythology goes) wending its way back to hell.




Architecture of Being: Selected Poems


Book Description

Bruce Colbert’s powerful new poetry collection rests on realities and the art of seeing, tasting and being in this human chaos we call life. And with the muscular shoulders of Chicago, maybe the last great American city as much of his backdrop we are taken on an enduring emotional and spiritual quest. His Architecture of Being is a painful and profound journey of the heart.




Revolution Time


Book Description

George Washington has three problems. One is the fact that the British have landed 20,000 troops to fight him on Long Island. The second is that the British navy is at his back, blocking any hope of retreat and the third is that two children, Eddie and Angie, claiming to be from the year 2014 have just been captured and brought to him by Lieutenant Collins. Eddie and Angie do not paint a hopeful picture of the upcoming battle. They claim to be lost, having been accidentally sent there by their eccentric Uncle Sol. Unknown to Washington, a British spy wants to kidnap the children and use them to help the British war effort. The challenge Eddie and Angie face is to stay out of the hands of the British and to find a way to get home. Uncle Sol and his assistant, Vernon, are frantically trying to find the children. The only problem Sol and Vernon have is that they are not sure of the exact time or place the children were sent. Fortunately, Vernon has a plan.




Armageddon at Maidan


Book Description

A novel-requiem based on real stories, heroes and monsters. This is the first fictional verbal portrayal of the galactic-scale events in Maidan, in the heart of Kyiv, Ukraine that have left their mark on world history. From this apocalyptic perspective, angels and demons in human flesh operate on the 21st century stage of Maidan, a sacral place of the Earth. The protagonist of the novel, Yarko, feels that he can no longer stay at home, as he watches the capital of his country being absorbed by the revolution on TV. He takes a leave of absence at the institute where he works as a researcher, and leaves his family, rushing at dawn to catch a train to Kyiv. Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the country, in Donetsk, a gang, which includes the current president of Ukraine, gathers for a meeting. In Maidan, Yarko serves as one of the architects of a set of barricades because the chances of the Republic of Liberty being attacked grow daily. Despite a severe frost, he lives in a tent, like tens of thousands of rebels. Before the climax of this conflict, a Heavenly Hundred of peaceful, unarmed protesters will have given their lives for the Revolution and thousands of others would suffer in their defense of freedom and the independence of Ukraine. The citizens of the Free World will feel as if they are at the brink of a bloody Armageddon when they hold this requiem book in their hands.




When Leaves Change Color


Book Description

An adventure based on the introduction of horses to the Plains Indians. Santiago Ortega was born to a wealthy family living on a sprawling ranch in the Spanish province of New Mexico. When the Pueblo Indians revolt against the Spaniards, the lives and dreams of Santiago and his family are forever shattered. Santiago embarks on a dangerous journey back into New Mexico to find a lost brother and to seek revenge on all Indians. Ouray lives in poverty with his Indian tribe in a desert on the high plains of Wyoming. Ouray’s life unravels when hostile warriors destroy his family and capture the woman he loves. Ouray begins an impossible search to find his woman, but discovers something so unusual and wonderful that his life will never be the same. Fate eventually pulls Santiago and Ouray onto an unexpected collision course.




Birds on Elephant


Book Description

In "Birds on Elephant", all of the landscape is an allusion, and “we borrow or skim on [it], and our work becomes more fertile.” Each poem in the collection either perches on a great work or a famed poet, or has first words that make a sentence if read downward—as in: Across and Down Frame your memory so I could see it tomorrow. Your place in mine has gone off with the tide. Memory is not quite the warmth that was once on me. So gather the particles and weigh in; it’s not too dispersed. I will look up and fly the gossamer of you yesterday. Could you withstand the mind without the frame? See it against the sea. It will elevate with the sun. I’ll just diminish tomorrow.