Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist


Book Description

Compelling short stories, written in the Latin tradition of magical realism




Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist


Book Description

Compelling short stories, written in the Latin tradition of magical realism




Spirits of the Ordinary


Book Description

In the tradition of Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel, Alcala presents a magical, multigenerational tale of family passions set along the Mexican-American border in the 1870s. "A strong and finely rendered book in which passions both ordinary and extraordinary are made vivid and convincing".--Larry McMurtry.




Treasures in Heaven


Book Description

When Estela moves to Mexico City in the late 1800s and meets La Señorita, "what starts as lessons to educate poor children grows into a school for prostitutes, and that soon leads to a controversial all-women orchestra, a radical underground newspaper, and an increasingly dangerous movement for social change that foreshadows the Mexican Revolution."--Jacket.




The Deepest Roots


Book Description

As friends began “going back to the land” at the same time that a health issue emerged, Kathleen Alcalá set out to reexamine her relationship with food at the most local level. Remembering her parents, Mexican immigrants who grew up during the Depression, and the memory of planting, growing, and harvesting fresh food with them as a child, she decided to explore the history of the Pacific Northwest island she calls home. In The Deepest Roots, Alcalá walks, wades, picks, pokes, digs, cooks, and cans, getting to know her neighbors on a much deeper level. Wanting to better understand how we once fed ourselves, and acknowledging that there may be a future in which we could need to do so again, she meets those who experienced the Japanese American internment during World War II, and learns the unique histories of the blended Filipino and Native American community, the fishing practices of the descendants of Croatian immigrants, and the Suquamish elder who shares with her the food legacy of the island itself. Combining memoir, historical records, and a blueprint for sustainability, The Deepest Roots shows us how an island population can mature into responsible food stewards and reminds us that innovation, adaptation, diversity, and common sense will help us make wise decisions about our future. And along the way, we learn how food is intertwined with our present but offers a path to a better understanding of the future. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG8MpTo_ZU&feature=youtu.be




The Riverhouse Stories


Book Description

"It's a gift to the world, not quite a novel, not quite a collection of short stories....A precious moment in the channels of contemporary literature...very simply, a book of the heart."--San Francisco Chronicle¶"Her stories are carefully crafted magic....They joyously lull and illuminate."--Chicago Tribune




The Desert Remembers My Name


Book Description

My parents always told me I was Mexican. I was Mexican because they were Mexican. This was sometimes modified to ÒMexican American,Ó since I was born in California, and thus automatically a U.S. citizen. But, my parents said, this, too, was once part of Mexico. My father would say this with a sweeping gesture, taking in the smog, the beautiful mountains, the cars and houses and fast-food franchises. When he made that gesture, all was cleared away in my mindÕs eye to leave the hazy impression of a better place. We were here when the white people came, the Spaniards, then the Americans. And we will be here when they go away, he would say, and it will be part of Mexico again. Thus begins a lyrical and entirely absorbing collection of personal essays by esteemed Chicana writer and gifted storyteller Kathleen Alcal‡. Loosely linked by an exploration of the many meanings of Òfamily,Ó these essays move in a broad arc from the stories and experiences of those close to her to those whom she wonders about, like Andrea Yates, a mother who drowned her children. In the process of digging and sifting, she is frequently surprised by what she unearths. Her family, she discovers, were Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition who took on the trappings of Catholicism in order to survive. Although the essays are in many ways personal, they are also universal. When she examines her family history, she is encouraging us to inspect our own families, too. When she investigates a family secret, she is supporting our own search for meaning. And when she writes that being separated from our indigenous culture is Òa form of illiteracy,Ó we know exactly what she means. After reading these essays, we find that we have discovered not only why Kathleen Alcal‡ is a writer but also why we appreciate her so much. She helps us to find ourselves.




Sharp & Sugar Tooth


Book Description

Sharp & Sugar Tooth: Women Up To No Good is a horror anthology of dark fiction and darker appetites, edited by Octavia Cade. Containing 22 stories of "bad" women, and "good" women who just haven't been caught yet, it features 22 fearless writers who identify as female, non-binary, or a marginalized sex or gender identity. It's the third in the Women Up To No Good series, which can be read in any order, or as standalone anthologies. Contributors are based in or hailing from Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Singapore, the UK, and all over the United States. Between them, they have won the Andre Norton, Eugie Foster Memorial, Hugo, Lambda, Locus, Mythopoeic, Nebula, Prix Imaginales, Rhysling, Romantic Times' Critics Choice, This Is Horror, James Tiptree Jr., and World Fantasy Awards, and been shortlisted for the Bram Stoker, John W. Campbell, and Shirley Jackson Awards! They are: Kathleen Alcalá, Betsy Aoki, Joyce Chng, Katharine Duckett, Anahita Eftekhari, Chikodili Emelumadu, Amelia Gorman, Jasmyne J. Harris, A. R. Henle, Crystal Lynn Hilbert, Erin Horáková, Kathryn McMahon, H. Pueyo, D. A. Xiaolin Spires, Rachael Sterling, Penny Stirling, Catherynne M. Valente, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Damien Angelica Walters, Rem Wigmore, Alyssa Wong, and Caroline M. Yoachim. Editor Octavia Cade is a New Zealand writer with a PhD in science communication and a particular interest in science history and marine studies. She been published in places like Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Apex Magazine, and is the author of Food and Horror: Essays on Ravenous Souls, Toothsome Monsters, and Vicious Cravings (Book Smugglers, 2017), a book of poetry and several novellas. She has been nominated for BSFA and Elgin awards, and has won three Sir Julius Vogels, twice for best novella (The Ghost of Matter and The Convergence of Fairy Tales) and once for best fan writing, for a series of columns on food and horror.




Ginseng and Other Tales from Manila


Book Description

Beautiful and poignant stories set in the Philippines




Ink


Book Description

"What happens when rhetoric about immigrants escalates to an institutionalized population control system? Ink opens as a biometric tattoo is approved for use to mark temporary workers, permanent residents and citizens with recent immigration history--collectively known as inks"--Page 4 of cover.