Download or read book Zia Summer written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Chicano PI hunts his cousin’s killer in “a compelling thriller [with] a deep-seated respect for the traditions of a people and a culture” (Booklist). The great-grandson of a legendary lawman and gunfighter, thirty-year-old Sonny Baca hopes he possesses even a tenth of El Bisabuelo’s courage. But instead of cleaning up New Mexico by hunting down dangerous desperadoes, the struggling PI looks for missing persons and deadbeat husbands. The game changes when his cousin Gloria—the first woman Sonny ever loved—is brutally slain. Her corpse is found drained of blood. A zia sun sign, the symbol on the New Mexican flag, is carved on her stomach. Gloria’s husband, Frank Dominic, a politician making a run for mayor of Albuquerque, has a powerful motive for murder. But Gloria wasn’t the first victim. A year earlier, another woman was slain in the exact same way. Is a serial killer on the loose? Or is this the handiwork of some satanic cult? Feeling his cousin’s spirit crying out for justice, Sonny and his girlfriend begin a search that takes them across New Mexico’s polluted South Valley to an environmental compound in the mountains. As Sonny moves closer to the truth, he uncovers a chilling connection between his past and a very real and present evil . . .
Download or read book Rio Grande Fall written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Mexico PI tries to stop a cult leader’s murderous rampage in “a fascinating hybrid of detective story, adventure yarn, and shamanistic magic.” —Kirkus Reviews The world-famous International Balloon Fiesta of Albuquerque is one of the city’s most eagerly anticipated annual events and its biggest moneymaker. But when a woman plunges to her death from one of the balloons—foreshadowed by Sonny Baca’s vision of a body plummeting from the sky—Sonny’s sure it’s murder. The dead woman was the chief witness to testify against the cult implicated in the murder-for-hire of Sonny’s cousin Gloria, whose death still haunts him. In addition to motive, Sonny finds means and opportunity: a homeless family who saw someone push Veronica Worthy out of the hot-air balloon. Worthy was one of the four wives of Raven, leader of the sun cult, and a dangerous, shamanlike criminal who’s supposed to be dead. But the four black feathers found on the corpse are his calling card—clues to let Sonny know he’s alive and kicking. And his murder spree isn’t over. Now, led by his spirit guides, Sonny must race to stop a vengeful madman and save the woman he loves. From the American Book Award–winning author, this is “a completely entertaining mystery novel [that] offers two parallel lands of enchantment” (Booklist).
Download or read book Shaman Winter written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Mexican shaman and PI is up against a shape-shifting adversary who haunts his worst nightmares, in a “fascinating and absolutely eerie” mystery (Thrilling Detective). After a savage confrontation with his archenemy, Sonny Baca is confined to a wheelchair. The doctors don’t know if he’ll ever walk again—and now the Chicano PI is plagued by disturbing dreams of his female ancestors being abducted. The reality is even more chilling. In present-day Santa Fe, the mayor’s sixteen-year-old daughter has disappeared. The four black feathers found on Consuelo Romero’s bed confirm Sonny’s fears: Three more girls will go missing before Raven’s master plan becomes a terrifying reality. A charismatic, chameleonlike power broker who also possesses a shaman’s gifts, Raven lures radical environmentalists into committing terrorist acts under the guise of antinuclear protests. But his true agenda is to bring down Sonny once and for all. By obliterating Sonny’s dreams—the portal into the spirit world—he will destroy his past and his future. The only way to fight back is for Sonny to enter Raven’s own dream state. But can he rid the world of an evil that refuses to die? Rich in atmosphere and setting, this stellar series offers both edge-of-your-seat mystery and one man’s journey into the complex landscape of the soul.
Download or read book Jemez Spring written by Rudolfo A. Anaya and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private detective Sonny Baca enters a deadly race against time when his investigation of the drowning death of the governor of New Mexico leads him to the realization that his old enemy Raven in back at work and has planted a bomb near the Los Alamos National Laboratories.
Download or read book In the Light of What We Know written by Zia Haider Rahman and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold, epic debut novel set during the war and financial crisis that defined the beginning of our century One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unraveling, receives a surprise visitor at his West London townhouse. In the disheveled figure of a South Asian male carrying a backpack, the banker recognizes a long-lost friend, a mathematics prodigy who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power. In the Light of What We Know takes us on a journey of exhilarating scope--from Kabul to London, New York, Islamabad, Oxford, and Princeton--and explores the great questions of love, belonging, science, and war. It is an age-old story: the friendship of two men and the betrayal of one by the other. The visitor, a man desperate to climb clear of his wrong beginnings, seeks atonement; and the narrator sets out to tell his friend's story but finds himself at the limits of what he can know about the world--and, ultimately, himself. Set against the breaking of nations and beneath the clouds of economic crisis, this surprisingly tender novel chronicles the lives of people carrying unshakable legacies of class and culture as they struggle to tame their futures. In an extraordinary feat of imagination, Zia Haider Rahman has telescoped the great upheavals of our young century into a novel of rare intimacy and power.
Download or read book The Essays written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-11-24 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty-two essays exploring identity, literature, immigration, and politics by the American Book Award winner, one of the godfathers of Chicano literature. Best known for his novel Bless Me, Ultima, which established him as one of the founders of Chicano literature, Rudolfo Anaya displays his gift for storytelling and deep connection to the land and its history in The Essays. These intimate and contemplative essays explore censorship, immigration, urban development, the Southwest as a region, and personal identity. In “Aztlan: A Homeland Without Boundaries,” he discusses the reimagining of the modern Chicano community through ancient myth and legend; in “The Spirit of Place,” he explores the historical connection between literature and the earth. Some essays are autobiographical, some argumentative; all are passionate—and a must-read for Anaya fans and readers who crave a view of contemporary America through fresh eyes.
Download or read book Serafina s Stories written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative novel combines Spanish folktales with Native American legends to create a captivating Southwestern version of The Arabian Nights. Like Scheherezade, who ensured her survival by telling her royal husband stories, the title character in Rudolfo Anaya’s creative retelling of The Arabian Nights must entertain the recently widowed governor with legends of Nueva Mexicana, or she and her fellow captives will die. With fresh snow covering the high peaks of Sangre de Cristo, a group of native dissidents prepare for revolt. In seventeenth-century Santa Fe, insurrection against a colony of the king of Spain is punishable by death. A Spaniard loyal to the governor names twelve conspirators. One of them is a young woman. Raised in a mission church, fifteen-year-old Serafina speaks excellent Spanish and knows many of her country’s traditional folktales. She and the governor strike a bargain: Each evening, she will tell him a cuento. If he likes it, he will release one prisoner the following day. The twelve tales recounted here mirror the struggle of a divided country. They include the social and political symbolism behind “Beauty and the Beast” and retell “Cinderella” as “Miranda’s Gift.” Interspersed with these timeless cuentos is the story of Serafina herself, and that of a people battling to preserve a vanishing way of life under the long shadow of the Inquisition.
Download or read book The Sonny Baca Novels written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-10-25 with total page 1095 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four suspenseful southwestern mysteries featuring a Chicano PI in New Mexico, by the “extraordinary” author of Bless Me, Ultima (Los Angeles Times Book Review). These four novels starring detective Sonny Baca are set against the terrain of the American Southwest, blending its Spanish, Mexican, and Native American cultures. Zia Summer: Sonny Baca’s cousin Gloria is brutally slain, her body found drained of blood with a Zia sun sign—the symbol on the New Mexican flag—carved on her stomach. His quest to find her killer leads Baca across New Mexico’s diverse South Valley to an environmental compound and a terrifying brujo. Rio Grande Fall: A woman plummets to her death from a hot air balloon during Albuquerque’s famous Balloon Fiesta—and Baca recognizes it as no accident. Shaman Winter: Baca, confined to a wheelchair after a violent encounter, is haunted by chilling dreams, but has no choice but to go to work when the Santa Fe mayor’s teenage daughter disappears and the trail leads to a charismatic and dangerous shaman. Jemez Spring: A high-profile murder ignites a hotbed of political treachery and terrorist threats that take Baca to Los Alamos, pitting him against a formidable foe—and a nuclear bomb. Unrelentingly suspenseful, with vivid details of the physical and spiritual landscape of northern New Mexico, these mysteries are perfect for fans of Margaret Coel or James D. Doss and star “a fascinating hero” (Edmonton Journal).
Download or read book Zia Erases the World written by Bree Barton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Luminous, empowering, and full of heart-healing truths, this is a novel that belongs on every shelf."—Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award winning author For fans of Crenshaw and When You Trap a Tiger comes the extraordinary tale of a headstrong girl and the magical dictionary she hopes will explain the complicated feelings she can't find the right words for—or erase them altogether. Zia remembers the exact night the Shadoom arrived. One moment she was laughing with her best friends, and the next a dark room of shadows had crept into her chest. Zia has always loved words, but she can’t find a real one for the fear growing inside her. How can you defeat something if you don’t know its name? After Zia’s mom announces that her grouchy Greek yiayia is moving into their tiny apartment, the Shadoom seems here to stay. Until Zia discovers an old family heirloom: the C. Scuro Dictionary, 13th Edition. This is no ordinary dictionary. Hidden within its magical pages is a mysterious blue eraser shaped like an evil eye. When Zia starts to erase words that remind her of the Shadoom, they disappear one by one from the world around her. She finally has the confidence to befriend Alice, the new girl in sixth grade, and to perform at the Story Jamboree. But things quickly dissolve into chaos, as the words she erases turn out to be more vital than Zia knew. In this raw, funny, and at times heartbreaking middle grade debut, Bree Barton reveals how—with the right kind of help—our darkest moments can nudge us toward the light.
Download or read book Pl ticas written by Nasario García and published by Texas Tech University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nasario Garcia's interviews elicit candid commentary and spontaneous responses that reveal much about life experiences, the creative process, and the unique role that culture, tradition, and geography play in the literature that these writers have produced.".
Download or read book Tortuga written by Rudolfo Anaya and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Book Award Winner: A novel of a New Mexico teenager’s journey of physical and spiritual recovery from the author of Bless Me, Ultima. When the story opens, the eponymous hero of Rudolfo Anaya’s novel is in an ambulance en route to a hospital for crippled children in the New Mexican desert. A poor boy from Albuquerque, sixteen-year-old Tortuga takes his name from the odd, turtle-shaped mountain that is rumored to possess miraculous curative powers. Tortuga is paralyzed, and not even his mother’s fervent prayers can heal him. But under the mountain’s watchful gaze, with the support of fellow patients, he begins the Herculean task of breaking out of his shell and becoming whole again. Drawn from personal experience and imbued with the phantasmagorical vision quests that distinguish Anaya’s work, Tortuga is a joyful, life-sustaining book about hope, faith, friendship, and love that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit in the physical world. “An extraordinary storyteller.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
Download or read book Chicano and Chicana Literature written by Charles M. Tatum and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-07-26 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The literary culture of the Spanish-speaking Southwest has its origins in a harsh frontier environment marked by episodes of intense cultural conflict, and much of the literature seeks to capture the epic experiences of conquest and settlement. The Chicano literary canon has evolved rapidly over four centuries to become one of the most dynamic, growing, and vital parts of what we know as contemporary U.S. literature. In this comprehensive examination of Chicano and Chicana literature, Charles M. Tatum brings a new and refreshing perspective to the ethnic identity of Mexican Americans. From the earliest sixteenth-century chronicles of the Spanish Period, to the poetry and narrative fiction of the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and then to the flowering of all literary genres in the post–Chicano Movement years, Chicano/a literature amply reflects the hopes and aspirations as well as the frustrations and disillusionments of an often marginalized population. Exploring the work of Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Luis Alberto Urrea, and many more, Tatum examines the important social, historical, and cultural contexts in which the writing evolved, paying special attention to the Chicano Movement and the flourishing of literary texts during the 1960s and early 1970s. Chapters provide an overview of the most important theoretical and critical approaches employed by scholars over the past forty years and survey the major trends and themes in contemporary autobiography, memoir, fiction, and poetry. The most complete and up-to-date introduction to Chicana/o literature available, this book will be an ideal reference for scholars of Hispanic and American literature. Discussion questions and suggested reading included at the end of each chapter are especially suited for classroom use.
Download or read book Chicano Detective Fiction written by Susan Baker Sotelo and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2005-05-23 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his 1985 novel Partners in Crime, writer Rolando Hinojosa introduced homicide investigator Rafe Buenrostro, the first Chicano protagonist in one of the most enduring genres of modern literature. Since that time, Chicano writers have embraced the detective novel, successfully diversifying and refining a traditional Anglo American and British genre. The 21 whodunits of Hinojosa, Rudolfo Anaya, Lucha Corpi, Michael Nava and Manuel Ramos are closely studied in this groundbreaking work. The models, both contemporary and Romantic, of this relatively new Chicano genre are first discussed. Next come detailed analysis and reviews of such novels as Shaman Winter, Partners in Crime, Cactus Blood and 18 others, focusing on how each writer departs from contemporary detective genre formula, uniquely rendering a particular regional or cultural variation of what it means to be Chicano. It is this departure from the norm that defines these writings and distinguishes them from the Anglo American and British whodunit. Interviews with the writers conclude the work.
Download or read book Island of the Blue Dolphins written by Scott O'Dell and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1960 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Far off the coast of California looms a harsh rock known as the island of San Nicholas. Dolphins flash in the blue waters around it, sea otter play in the vast kep beds, and sea elephants loll on the stony beaches. Here, in the early 1800s, according to history, an Indian girl spent eighteen years alone, and this beautifully written novel is her story. It is a romantic adventure filled with drama and heartache, for not only was mere subsistence on so desolate a spot a near miracle, but Karana had to contend with the ferocious pack of wild dogs that had killed her younger brother, constantly guard against the Aleutian sea otter hunters, and maintain a precarious food supply. More than this, it is an adventure of the spirit that will haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. Karana's quiet courage, her Indian self-reliance and acceptance of fate, transform what to many would have been a devastating ordeal into an uplifting experience. From loneliness and terror come strength and serenity in this Newbery Medal-winning classic.
Download or read book Child of Spring written by Farhana Zia and published by Holiday House. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 1960s Indian village populated by endearing characters springs to life in Farhana's Zia's novel about privilege, perspective, and opportunity. Impulsive and passionate, Basanta may not always understand the consequences of her actions, but that doesn't stop her from involving herself in the lives of friends and neighbors in her village—even if things don't necessarily go the way she intends. Basanta longs for the beautiful ring worn by her young mistress, but when it is finally hers, she realizes that it's not the wonderful possession she expected. Increasingly aware of the struggles of her less privileged friends, Lali and Bala, she finds a way to improve their lives and entertain their community— and the beautiful ring takes on new meaning. Over time, Basanta gains maturity, self-awareness, and compassion—all while hosting doll weddings, attending kite fights, and planning an exciting performance of Bala the Wonder Dog. Farhana Zia's engaging novel—filled with a cast of distinct, endearing characters and humorous, thought-provoking events—provides an insightful look at relative privilege and opportunity.
Download or read book The Chicano Movement written by Sara E. Martínez and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-01-23 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book furthers appreciation of key pieces in American literature from the Chicano Movement by placing them in the context of history, society, and culture. Part of Greenwood's new Historical Exploration of Literature series, this book provides teachers with ready-reference works that align language arts and social studies standards for secondary classes on the topic of the Chicano Movement. It will serve to help students better understand key pieces in American literature from the Chicano Movement by putting them in the context of history, society, and culture through historical context essays, literary analysis, chronologies, documents, and suggestions for discussion and further research. The book includes works such as Bless Me Última by Rudolfo Anaya (1972), This Migrant Earth by Tomás Rivera (1970), The Revolt of the Cockroach People by Oscar Z. Acosta (1973), and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984). The book also supplies additional information in the form of chronologies, historical context essays, and primary document excerpts that support understanding of the historical period, as well as materials such as activities, lesson plans, discussion questions, topics for further research, and suggested readings.
Download or read book Summer of Night written by Dan Simmons and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2011-07-05 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This masterfully crafted horror classic, featuring a brand-new introduction by Dan Simmons, will bring you to the edge of your seat, hair standing on end and blood freezing in your veins It's the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys' days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic middle-childhood. But amid the sundrenched cornfields their loyalty will be pitilessly tested. When a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the night, the townsfolk know it marks the end of their carefree days. From the depths of the Old Central School, a hulking fortress tinged with the mahogany scent of coffins, an invisible evil is rising. Strange and horrifying events begin to overtake everyday life, spreading terror through the once idyllic town. Determined to exorcize this ancient plague, Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a war of blood—against an arcane abomination who owns the night...
