Daniel A. Olivas

During the pandemic and in the wake of his father's death, Daniel A. Olivas reviewed almost 25 years' worth of his short stories and chose his favorites. The result is How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories. This collection brings together some of his most unforgettable strange tales that will be enjoyed, again, by his fans, and introduce new readers to Olivas's distinct--and very Chicano--short stories.

New and Collected Stories

How to Date a Flying Mexican

During the pandemic and in the wake of his father’s death, Daniel A. Olivas set upon the task of reviewing almost 25 years’ worth of his short stories that had been published in various collections or as parts of novels. Our strange times seemed to call for this type of introspection and examination. He found that many of his narratives fell within the world of magic, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. This review also revealed that many of his fictions confronted—either directly or obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination while being deeply steeped in Chicano and Mexican culture. Olivas decided to choose his favorite tales from the many scores of stories that populated his published works. He added to the mix two recent stories—one dystopian, the other magical—both of which confront the last administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. The result is How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories. Though his books have been taught in colleges and high schools across the country for over two decades, this collection brings together some of his most unforgettable strange tales that will be enjoyed, again, by his fans, and anew for readers who have not, as yet, experienced Olivas’s distinct—and very Chicano—fiction. A literary critic once called Olivas a “literary marvel.” These stories, collectively, offer ample support for this declaration.

Neelanjana Banerjee

Ruben J. Rodriguez

This anthology features the vitality and variety of verse in the City of Angels, a city of poets. This is more about range then representation, voice more than volume. Los Angeles has close to 60 percent people of color, 225 languages spoken at home, and some of the richest and poorest persons in the country. With an expansive 502.7 square miles of city (and beyond, including the massive county of 4,752.32 square miles), the poetry draws on imagery, words, stories, and imaginations that are also vast, encompassing, a real "leaves of grass." Well-known poets include Holly Prado, Ruben Martinez, traci kato-kiriyama, and Lynne Thompson. Many strong new voices, however, makes this a well-rounded collection for any literary class, program, bookstore, or event. The image of the coiled serpent appears in various forms in mythologies throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, India, and America. In pre-conquest times, Quetzalcoatl the Precious Serpent served as a personification of earth-bound wisdom, the arts and eldership in so-called Meso-America, one of seven "cradles of civilization" that also includes China, Nigeria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Peru. "

Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes and Shifts of Los Angeles

The Coiled Serpent

When Benjamin beats his friend James at handball, James calls him a name that hurts his feelings, but Benjamin's father helps him sort out his feelings and figure out why James might have used the word.

Benjamin and the Word/Benjamín y la palabra

"A collection of short stories, each reflecting Daniel Olivas' Chicano culture, a life growing up in Los Angeles, his exposure to Jewish life as a Jew-by-choice, and his experience being the parent of a gay son. The stories are character-driven, which also ebb and flow among various styles, including magical realism, social realism, and speculative fiction"--Provided by publisher.

Daniel A. Olivas

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