Holiday gifts from La Bloga's Latino authors

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La Bloga can serve as your last-minute source for anyone left on you Nice List. Whoever your favorite of our dozen Bloguistas are, nearly all of us have books in print that would appeal to almost anyone of any age group. To my knowledge, La Bloga has never asked you our readers for financial support; this website is totally a volunteer effort. However, by selecting books written by our daily contributors, you would indirectly be supporting Latin@ authors in the greatest way. Plus, you get to gift great readings.

These are our websites where you can access books covering genres from poetry to detective novel to sci-fi to children's lit, in English, Spanish and sometimes both. I only listed one book; we have produced too many to list them all. Go to the websites for details about more. I think in most cases we've authored short stories or poems also available in anthologies. Since today's Saturday, I'll of course start with mine.

Rudy Ch. Garcia, The Closet of Discarded Dreams.

Amelia Montes, An Angle of Vision.

Daniel Olivas, Things We Do Not Talk About.

 

Ernest Hogan, Cortez on Jupiter.

 

Lydia Gil follows below.

Manuel Ramos, Desperado: A Mile High Noir.

  

Melinda Palacio, How Fire Is A Story, Waiting.

Michael Sedano, because.

Olga García Echeverría, Falling Angels: Cuentos y Poemas.

René Colato Laínez, Señor Rancho Had a Pancho.

Xanath Caraza, Lo Que Trae La Marea.

Reyna Grande, The Distance Between Us

For her post yesterday about the great campaign she initiated for her Mexican hometown of Iguala, I doubly suggest Reyna.

(Iguala, Guerrero -- site where the missing 43 students from Ayotzinapa were abducted and probably murdered.)

Lydia Gil, Letters from Heaven/Cartas al Cielo

Next Saturday, December 13 at 2 pm atthe National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. A free public event. La Bloga contributor Dr. Lydia Gil will read from her tender story of family and friendship, Letters from Heaven/Cartas al Cielo. The book celebrates Latino traditions, particularly those of the Spanish Caribbean.

Synopsis: Celeste is heartbroken when her grandmother dies, and nothing can make her feel better. But everything changes when a letter mysteriously comes in the mail-from Grandma! "I know you miss me as much as I miss you. Don't be sad. Where there is love, there is no sadness." As letters continue to arrive from the beyond, each with the recipe for a favorite food she used to prepare, Celeste follows her grandmother's advice and consoles herself by learning how to cook the dishes.

With Grandma gone, so is her Social Security check. Celeste's mom needs to get a second job to make ends meet, and Celeste has to quit her favorite activity, dance lessons. At school, Amanda the bully gloats over the fact that Celeste won't participate in the upcoming recital. And her friends think that she's gone crazy; dead people can't send letters!

When a final letter arrives, Celeste realizes that all the recipes combine to make an entire meal: café con leche, guava and cheese croissants, congrí, plantain chips, ropa vieja and flan. Can she really make a Cuban feast to celebrate her cherished grandmother's life?

This entertaining bilingual novel is written in ten brief chapters for children ages 8-12 and includes six traditional Cuban recipes with easy-to-follow instructions. Paying tribute to family, it deals with contemporary issues such as trouble with friends and the death of a grandparent.

Please help welcome one of La Bloga's contributors presenting her latest book, at NHCC, 1701 4th St. SW, Albuquerque, NM, (505) 246-2261. Lydia will also do a Reading and Book Signing on January 10, 2015 at 2:00 pm in Denver at Tattered Cover Bookstore (Colfax).

Es todo, hoy,

RudyG, who has his hands up and can still breathe. [Others no longer can.]