La revelación del Tercer Secreto de Fátima. By Jorge Cancino. ISBN: 978-1-888205-39-8. $24.95

Jorge Cancino nació en Chile en 1956. En Guatemala fue jefe de redacción, profesor universitario, subdirector de la revista Polémica y agregado de prensa. Vive en Miami y trabaja en Univision.com. Además de ‘La Revelación del Tercer Secreto de Fátima’, es autor de ‘Las Flores del Coral Rojo‘, una colección de cuentos cuyos derechos de publicación fueron adquiridos por Floricanto Press.

Infinitas. By Carlos T. Mock. ISBN: 978-1-888205-38-1. $19.95

    As a Puerto Rican living in the US, I no longer fit into my homeland. Every time I travel there, I'm considered un Americano. I'm always addressed in the English language. What's worse, my Puerto Rican friends who live on the Island don't seem to care about me anymore. I guess we've gone our separate ways--I've become too public with my homosexuality, while they endure best by living within the closet. On this side of the pond, in the United States, there are Puerto Ricans who have never been to Puerto Rico. They don't speak Spanish, they don't know our history or culture-yet, they declare themselves Puerto Rican. To them, I am less Puerto Rican than they because, in their eyes I didn't experience the same discrimination from the white culture while growing up as they did. So, where do I fit- what am I? I owe the answer to that question to my sister, Mayu-to whom I dedicate this book. As I cared for her and saw her cruel death arrive, unable to prevent it, I finally learned who I am. I am me, a special individual that is the sum total of all my experiences until now; no labels are needed to adequately describe me. Just like my sister-may she rest in peace-I will also turn into ashes when I die. This book tells some of my story, and because I think in both English and Spanish I decided to write it in both languages, to help those who still don't know who they are.

BETWEEN BORDERS: ESSAYS ON MEXICANA/CHICANA HISTORY.
La Mujer Latina Series
    Edited by Adelaida R. Del Castillo. 1997 560 pgs. ISBN: 0915745186 (pbk) . Includes biblio. $54.00 Price for class use $38.95
   

The most comprehensive and complete original history of U.S. Latinas of Mexican descent written by an outstanding team of Mexican and U.S. scholars and based on copious documentary sources from both countries. Between Borders has been hailed by the scholarly review media as "the most important piece of original research on Mexicana/ Chicana ever published."
This collection of essays is a smashing success in terms of organization, presentation, significance of content, and theoretical approach. The essays reflect the maturation of the field in the 1980's. In keeping with the bilingual/bicultural tenor of Chicano Studies, contributions written in Spanish are presented in their original form, prefaced with abstracts in English.
The book underscores the benefits of international exchanges in Chicano Studies and in the history of Mexican women on both sides of the border. Addressed here are the historical significance of gender, class, culture, and ethnicity. Collected here are twenty-five essays by an international group of scholars who discuss methods, content and critical theoretical concerns of Chicana historiography to date.

Habanera: A Portrait of a Cuban Family. By Teresa Dovalpage. ISBN: 978-1-888205-37-4. $25.99

Under A Dark Sun. By Robert Friedman. ISBN: 978-1-888205-26-8  $17.95

Sobre tus ojos dormidos… Artículos críticos sobre la obra de Elías Nandino. On your sleeping eyes… Critical articles on the work of Elías Nandino

Edited by Gerardo Bustamante Bermudez. ISBN:978-1888205-33-6  $38.95

    Este libro descubre  varias facetas no estudiadas sobre la obra del poeta Elías Nandino, considerado por algunos como el “último de los Contemporáneos”.  Se trata del primer libro colectivo que relee la obra del poeta mexicano.

Mourning for Papá: A Story of a Syrian-Jewish Family in Mexico. By Jacobo Sefamí.

ISBN: 978-1-888205-31-2  $26.98

    Using the death of the father as a point of departure, the novel is divided into ten chapters, a structure that is particularly effective because the chapters correspond to the ten days that begin on the Jewish New Year and end on the Day of Pardon... Thus the mythic time of a millenarian religion such as Judaism is strategically juxtaposed to the recapturing of a family's memory that is both contemporary and unmistakably Mexican... The dialogues are tinged with Jewish humor -Jorge Schwartz Each character lives simultaneously within three cultures -Jewish, Syrian, and Mexican-in a hybrid narration that produces fascinating mixtures -Lucía Guerra

Competing Truths in Contemporary Latin American Literature: Narrating Otherness, Marginality, and the Politics of Representation. By Sandro R. Barros. ISBN: 978-1-888205-32-9. $26.95

    The overwhelming success of the filmic adaptations of Before Night Falls by Cuban exile Reinaldo Arenas, The Virgin of the Assassins by Colombian writer Fernando Vallejo, and City of God by Brazilian author Paulo Lins attracted audiences worldwide to rediscover and rethink the content of these works as enigmatic messages of disillusionment and abjection regarding the Latin American realities they promote. The original texts' representation of sicarios, favelados, and homosexual dissidents undermines the conceptualization of the Latin American continental identity as "Other" in relation to dominant Eurocentric and North American perspectives. Competing Truths delves into the question of to what extent the fictional and autobiographical truths purported by the aforementioned bestsellers engage in the process of fixating conventional paradigms of "Third World" identity, such as poverty, violence and exclusion, as images of consumption for world audiences. Furthermore, Competing Truths examines what constitutes truth and reality from a perspective that assesses Latin American history and culture in a contest for the very meaning of the postmodern truth. Competing Truths presents a critical reflection of three of the most compelling and successful novels emerging from the Latin American literary scene at the end of the 20th century, questioning the politics behind their historical, racial, and gendered representations. Competing Truths explores the Latin American identity within a literary fictional framework and realistic social paradigms, a dichotomy that challenges the reality of identity of the social types. Lector, The Hispanic Book Review Journal.

Heaven is Hard to Swallow=Paraísos duros de roer. By Rafael Pérez Gay.

Translated in to English by Dr. Eduardo Jiménez Mayo. ISBN: 978-1-888205-29-9 $26.95

    A forlorn psychoanalyst; a cultural historian exploring the possibility of life after death; a middle-aged couple that schedules a rendezvous with a younger version of itself; a man who compensates for his phobia of death and dying with intense sadomasochistic practices; a writer who futilely explores the sexual habits and customs of Mexico City: These five short stories comprise the body of Heaven is Hard to Swallow (Paraísos duros de roer), the latest masterpiece of the phenomenal Mexican publisher, journalist and fiction writer, Rafael Pérez Gay.

Dreams Sueños. By María del Pilar Muñoz. ISBN: 978-1-888205-24-4 $22.98

Feminine Transgression=Transgresión Femenina. By Patricia Rosas Lopátegui. ISBN: 978-1-888205-27-5 $35.95

    This is a seminal literary critical study of the most prominent Mexican women writers, including Antonieta Rivas Mercado, Nellie Campobello, Guadalupe Dueñas, Josefina Vicens, Elena Garro, Guadalupe Amor, Rosario Castellanos, María Luisa Mendoza, Amparo Dávila, Inés Arredondo, Luisa Josefina Hernández, Elena Poniatowska, Beatriz Espejo, Helena Paz Garro and Silvia Molina; they are symbols of literary achievement, irreverence, and struggle in Mexico, transcending borders with their works and literary influence. Desde Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz las mujeres creadoras en México han sorteado toda clase de malabarismos para poder producir su obra. En esta antología se estudian quince escritoras mexicanas nacidas entre 1900-1946; autoras que, a contracorriente, han enfrentado y desafiado al statu quo creando una literatura femenina de primer orden. Antonieta Rivas Mercado, Nellie Campobello, Guadalupe Dueñas, Josefina Vicens, Elena Garro, Guadalupe Amor, Rosario Castellanos, María Luisa Mendoza, Amparo Dávila, Inés Arredondo, Luisa Josefina Hernández, Elena Poniatowska, Beatriz Espejo, Helena Paz Garro y Silvia Molina son iconos de la creatividad, irreverencia y lucha en México, trascendiendo fronteras gracias a sus aportaciones literarias. El libro de Patricia Rosas Lopátegui, Transgresión Femenina... es un sólido eslabón de la cadena que las mujeres más audaces han ido forjando.  René Avilés Fabila

Cuba Libre. Mentirita! By Carlos T. Mock, M.D. ISBN: 978-1-888205-16-9 $25.95

    The Cuba Libre ("Free Cuba") is a cocktail made of Cola, lime, and rum. This cocktail is often referred to as a Rum and Coke in the United States and Canada, where the lime juice is optional. Bacardi claims ownership of the original, while some have also claimed it for Havana Club. It seems unlikely, however, that anyone could safely identify the first individual to combine rum and Coca-Cola-when seven or eight individuals lay claim to the creation of the Margarita, a far more complex drink-let alone identify the brand. Both the cocktail and its name remain politically loaded due to the history and current status of Cuba-United States relations. The situation is further complicated by Bacardi's political involvement in Cuba. Cuba Libre is sometimes called "Mentirita" ("little lie") by Cuban exiles opposed to the current Communist government run by Fidel Castro, as a comment that Cuba is currently not free. Cuba Libre "Mentirita" is a history book.

Suzanna. By Irene I. Blea. ISBN: 978-1-888205-21-3 $23.95

Chalino: A Chronicle Play of Fulgor and Death. By Julián Camacho Segura.  ISBN: 978-1-888205-12-1 $22.95

    With "Chalino", Julian Camacho writes about a raw, unflinching Mexican icon with an unapologetic honesty only he can provide.  He excels at bringing this story to larger than life tale because he possesses one of the most experienced voices among his contemporaries. Oscar Barajas, Author, "True Tales from the Wireless Clothesline"

Day of the Dead/ Día de los Muertos. By Manuel Luis Martínez. ISBN: 978-1-888205-19-0 $25.95

Hasta la Vista, Baby! By Donna Del Oro. ISBN: 978-1-888205-17-6 $22.95

    Matadores is a unique, solid, and authoritative collective biography covering the career of various Latino and a few American toreros, who performed in the old Plaza Monumental de Toros of Ciudad Juárez over the plaza’s five decades of operation. This detailed reference book includes over 200 biographies of matadores, novilleros, rejoneadores, picadores, banderilleros and even a handful of writers who were regulars in the plaza. There is an ample selection of both famous and not-so-famous names.

Por culpa de Candela. By Teresa Dovalpage. ISBN: 978-1-888205-15-2  $23.95

    This is a collection of Cuban American short-stories. The island of Cuba absent or present. That one, which some want desperately to escape from; the island that many dream to return to.  Cuba is the common denominator to these fourteen shot stories of love and of love betrayed.

    Today, the contentious issue of Latino immigration has spurred backlash efforts to anoint English as the official language in federal and state government to the exclusion of Spanish and other languages, than English. Even cities have weighed in to restrict the legitimacy of Spanish in local government affairs. Last century, European immigrant groups stood accused of failing to assimilate in the American melting pot. But while European immigration has slowed, Latino immigration has surged. This steady immigration, combined with the geographical proximity that brought Latinos into the Southwest long before Anglo immigrants, assures a different cultural dynamic for Latinos than for other groups.

The centuries of continued Latino occupation and then immigration have forged a unique, shared destiny between the United States and Mexico, as well as other Latin American countries. U.S. history has hosted more than a casual sharing of Mexican recipes in the kitchen; rather, a passionate and lively mating of cultures-Latino and "American." Foremost among these cultural exchanges is the influence of the Spanish language in the United States. With a foothold of several centuries, and the recent propulsion of mass media and pop culture, Spanish has significantly entered the American mainstream through the open and receptive borders of the English language. Taking a lighter view of the current anti-immigrant frenzy, this book offers considerable and colorful examples of the historical and current cross-pollination of the English and Spanish languages in settings ranging from geography to culture and cuisine.

Ultimately, it urges recognition of our increasingly shared languages-not by rejecting Spanish and legislating an official status for English, but by embracing our shared culture as a uniquely American blend of culture and language. In contrast to the anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican, and anti-Spanish forces trying to tear us apart, acknowledging the contributions of Spanish language to our past, present, and future will help to unite Americans and the Americas. Valuing the Spanish language and tapping the resource of our Spanish-speaking youth can be a catalyst of the surprising unity that recognition and respect for difference can bring. The alchemy of Spanish is that it holds the potential for propelling the U.S. into a new realm of multicultural connection and influence with its neighbors that is sorely needed in this time of increased isolation and nativism. ¿Comprende?

    This book focuses on how a dictator or a culturally dominant power can use language to impose cultural values. As an instrument of power, language is used by a dictator to educate, induce, or manipulate a nation's citizens into acting in accordance with the ruling power's cultural values and beliefs. Jorge Zalamea's El Gran Burundún-Burundá ha muerto, Gabriel García Márquez's El otoño del patriarca, and Mario Vargas Llosa's La fiesta del Chivo draw attention to how the use of the vernacular can resist cultural imposition by employing specific words in order to represent its own culture and nature of reality. The original significance of these words is then altered in the translated text creating a new meaning determined by the dictator's or translator's ideology and usage. The new words that have substituted the original ones reveal how the construction of language defines relationships of power and resistance between a dictator and his nation, or between one culture and another, such as the relations of the United States over Latin America. The analysis of this relationship will provide an understanding of how language functions as an instrument for the imposition of power to gain or maintain cultural or political supremacy.

    Alvarado's call for "a quiet remaking of cells" is nothing short of revolutionary. Read this book, look at yourself and the world around you and know: anything is possible. Demetria Martínez author, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana In some respects, this is stark work. "These are nightmare words," says one of Lisa Alvarado's speakers, and it seems so: "Soon the fists will come, soon the belt"-spurring one to yearn for alternative connections: "I want so much to braid myself to him." Or compel us toward acute observation where "each day, / I watched / your small suicides." And yet we sense, finally, that "world is word / word is my body"-that is: language, sculpted, can console "from a place that is tender, deeply so," as in the moving portrait, "La Perdida," that closes this collection. Simply put, Raw Silk Suture is "a scar / that has / become a flower." Francisco Aragón Editor, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry Founding Editor, Latino Poetry Review (LPR)

Lisa Alvarado is a poet, performer, and installation artist, focusing on identity, spirit, and the body. She is the recipient of grants from the Department of Cultural Affairs, The NEA, and the Ragdale Foundation. Lisa is also developing an ambitious trilogy of performance pieces, whose themes are the culture of violence, popular culture and personal redemption.

“Esperanza is an admirable and too real story of many Latino youth lacking role models, who find themselves lost and isolated in the paved jungles of the inner cities and overwhelmed by the dissonance of barrio life. Sandra C. Chávez has created a resilient and likeable character, Esperanza, who seems closer to a naked truth-seeker than to a barrio kid—desperately trying to get out of a crappy world, but not knowing exactly where she was going to. Highly Recommended.”  Andrea Alessandra, University of California, Berkeley.