"A bilingual poetic tale that follows one child/tree from the depths of Mami/Earth to the heights of the sky, telling a story about being free to grow and be who we are meant to be and honoring our relationship with the natural world"--

Spirituality has consistently been present in the political and cultural counternarratives of Chicanx literature. Calling the Soul Back focuses on the embodied aspects of a spirituality integrating body, mind, and soul. Centering the relationship between embodiment and literary narrative, Christina Garcia Lopez shows narrative as healing work through which writers and readers ritually call back the soul—one’s unique immaterial essence—into union with the body, counteracting the wounding fragmentation that emerged out of colonization and imperialism. These readings feature both underanalyzed and more popular works by pivotal writers such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, and Rudolfo Anaya, in addition to works by less commonly acknowledged authors. Calling the Soul Back explores the spiritual and ancestral knowledge offered in narratives of bodies in trauma, bodies engaged in ritual, grieving bodies, bodies immersed in and becoming part of nature, and dreaming bodies. Reading across narrative nonfiction, performative monologue, short fiction, fables, illustrated children’s books, and a novel, Garcia Lopez asks how these narratives draw on the embodied intersections of ways of knowing and being to shift readers’ consciousness regarding relationships to space, time, and natural environments. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Calling the Soul Back draws on literary and Chicanx studies scholars as well as those in religious studies, feminist studies, sociology, environmental studies, philosophy, and Indigenous studies, to reveal narrative’s healing potential to bring the soul into balance with the body and mind.

Iliad, my main character who suffers from amnesia after being shot by a pervert, is now pursued by another. Toerch is his name a man who will go to any extreme to get his way and his sights are on Iliad. So far she' managed to best him at every encounter they've had. But with every set-back, he's found new ways of retaliating. The last incident was especially hurtful for Iliad because the man shot two of her friends. One of them was Diana's brother, a policeman from California visiting her. The other was Trixie, a friend, who in the ensuing death struggle managed to put them both in the river. The raging waters separate the struggling duo and Toerch is picked up by Mahogany, an acquaintance of his. She takes him to the nearest hospital, but when he realizes she's done, getting out of there becomes a priority. He devices a clever plan and with her help, he's gone long before the law discover his whereabouts. Every officer in Athens wants to get their hands on Toerch, as does Iliad.

"Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise!" These words of fatherly advice helped shape Ted Turner's remarkable life, but they only begin to explain the colorful, energetic, and unique style that has made Ted into one of the most amazing personalities of our time. Along the way - among his numerous accomplishments - Ted became one of the richest men in the world, the largest land owner in the United States, revolutionized the television business with the creation of TBS and CNN, became a champion sailor and winner of the America's Cup, and took home a World Series championship trophy in 1995 as owner of the Atlanta Braves. An innovative entrepreneur, outspoken nonconformist, and groundbreaking philanthropist, Ted Turner is truly a living legend, and now, for the first time, he reveals his personal story. From his difficult childhood to the successful launch of his media empire to the catastrophic AOL/Time Warner deal, Turner spares no details or feelings and takes the reader along on a wild and sometimes bumpy ride. You'll also hear Ted's personal take on how we can save the world...share his experiences in the dugout on the day when he appointed himself as manager of the Atlanta Braves....learn how he almost lost his life in the 1979 Fastnet sailing race (but came out the winner)...and discover surprising details about his dealings with Fidel Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, and many more of the most influential people of the past half century. Ted also doesn't shrink from the darker and more intimate details of his life. With his usual frankness, he discusses a childhood of loneliness (he was left at a boarding school by his parents at the tender age of four), and the emotional impact of devastating losses (Ted's beloved sister died at seventeen and his hard-charging father committed suicide when Ted was still in his early twenties). Turner is also forthcoming about his marriages, including the one to Oscar-winning actress, Jane Fonda. Along the way, Ted's friends, colleagues, and family are equally revealing in their unique "Ted Stories" which are peppered throughout the book. Jane Fonda, especially, provides intriguing insights into Ted's inner drive and character. In Call Me Ted, you'll hear Ted Turner's distinctive voice on every page. Always forthright, he tells you what makes him tick and what ticks him off, and delivers an honest account of what he's all about. Inspiring and entertaining, Call Me Ted sheds new light on one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

Up-close, personal, and yes, funny — this is the must-have celebrity memoir of the year. This candid, first-person memoir chronicles Russell's life from his humble beginnings in suburbia as a scrawny, brown, bullied kid with ADD all the way to his remarkable rise as one of the world's top-earning comics. This is a shockingly honest book filled with poignant memories of his family, his life and his career. Call Me Russell is a deeply inspirational story for aspiring artists of any culture about having hope, working hard and dreaming big.

Argues that queer picture books with main characters of color can disrupt structures of power in both literature and real life Coloring into Existence investigates the role of authors, illustrators, and independent publishers in producing alternative narratives that disrupt colonial, heteropatriarchal notions of childhood. These texts or characters unsettle the category of the child, and thus pave the way for broader understandings of childhood. Often unapologetically politically motivated, queer and trans of color picture books can serve as the basis for fantasizing about disruptions to structures of power, both within and outside literary worlds. Fusing literary criticism and close readings with historical analysis and interviews, Isabel Millán documents the emergence of a North American queer of color children’s literary archive. In doing so, she considers the sociopolitical circumstances out of which queer of color children’s literature emerged; how a queer and trans of color aesthetic translates to picture books; and how the acts of imagination and worldmaking inspired by picture books produce a realm of freedom, healing, and transformation for queer and trans of color children and adults. Coloring into Existence explores the curious ways that queer and trans of color publications “color outside the lines”—refusing to conform to industry standards, intermixing fiction with nonfiction, and mobilizing alternative modes of production and distribution to create new worlds.

Finalist for the 2023 PEN Translation Prize and the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction “Dazzling." —Marcela Valdes, The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) "A spellbinding novel by one of the best writers of the Americas." —Junot Díaz, author of This is How You Lose Her Ten-year-old Rauli lives in a world that is often hostile. His older brother is violent; his philandering father doesn’t understand him; his intelligence and sensitivity do not endear him to the other children at school. He loves to read, especially Greek myths, but in Cuba in the 1970s, novels and gods can be dangerous. Despite the signs that warn Rauli to repress and fear what he is, he knows three things to be true: First, that he was born in the wrong body. Second, that he will die, aged eighteen, as a soldier in the Cuban intervention in Angola. And third, that he is the reincarnation of the Trojan princess Cassandra. Moving between Rauli’s childhood and adolescence, between the Angolan battlefield, the Cuban city of Cienfuegos, and the shores of ancient Troy, Marcial Gala’s Call Me Cassandra tells of the search for identity amid the collapse of Cuba’s utopian dreams. Burdened with knowledge of tragedies yet to come, Rauli nonetheless strives to know himself. Lyrical and gritty, heartbreaking and luminous, Rauli’s is the story of the inexorable pull of destiny.