* Written for preachers, teachers, and lay people * Scripture texts are from the two most commonly used Bibles in the Spanish-speaking world: Reina-Valera Revised (NRSV) and the Version Popular (Good News)

EL Cuento breve está destinado para aquellos lectores que aún no han pasado a las ligas mayores, aquellos que necesitan un espacio y un referente para iniciar la carrera por el gusto a la lectura, sólo por el deseo de recrear el espíritu y enaltecer el compendio cognitivo. Las vivencias y anécdotas que vive una familia impregnadas de acciones diversas, todas ellas aderezadas con el estilo preciosista. Los peques y grandes de la familia sé les dedica un espacio de cuento romántico, teniendo como escenario la Edad Media y abundan los príncipes, los reyes y por supuesto las reinas. Cuál sea su gusto, la narrativa o el cuento, encontrará divertido leer de una sentada una historia de la vida real, de ésta familia que enarbola con algarabía la modernidad.

In his book “The Study Of Ancient Times In The Malay Peninsula”, Dato Sir Roland Braddell (1880-1966) writes, “No statement could be more untrue or more unwise than that Malaya has no history”. This dense work of 458 pages (reprinted edition no. 7 by MBRAS in 1989), from Dato Sir Braddells's studies appearing in the “Journal of Asiatic Society”, between 1935 and 1951, is followed by 50 pages of notes on the historical geography of Malaya and sidelights on the Malay Annals by Dato F.W. Douglas, a contemporary of Braddell. Sir Roland examines the book VII of “Ptolemy's Geographica” written about 160 AD, which sends us back to the land of Ophir of the Bible, also called “Golden Chersonese”, where gold of higher purity had already been found around 3000 years ago in today's Pahang. As to the human presence, the “Malay Orang”, “being an islander”, (he) was able to sail the Eastern seas long before the people of the mainland could; and by such contacts achieved a higher state of civilization: he took the products of this area, gold, incense, spices and the Malayan jungle fowl with him and then the people of other countries came here”, according to F.W. Douglas in the conclusion of his foreword, dated 15.1.1949. Malays are therefore inborn sea traders.

A devout woman finds herself adrift in late nineteenth–century Central America in this novel of “deep imagination, stylistic verve, and psychological acuity” (The Washington Post). Set in late nineteenth century Central America and New York City, The Divine Husband tells the story of María de las Nieves Moran, whose brief career as a nun is ended in the wake of revolution. Forced to make her way in the secular world, María is surrounded by an unforgettable cast of characters: José Martí, the poet and hero of Cuban independence and the first man María loves; Mack Chinchilla, the Yankee-Indio entrepreneur intent on winning her hand; a British diplomat setting up a political impostor plot; and Mathilde, the daughter whose birth—perhaps fathered by one of these men—ruins María’s reputation and launches her on a journey toward a new future. This joyfully imagined novel of ideas is populated by Indian girls, wandering Jewish coffee farmers, the founder of the rubber-balloon industry, and one of Latin America’s greatest and most complex men. Written by Pulitzer Prize–finalist Francisco Goldman, The Divine Husband is a sweeping, poetic novel rich in historical detail and vivid characterization. “Goldman echoes Flaubert, García Marquez, and even DeLillo.” —Bookforum

Francis M. Rogers, to whom the current volume is in honor of, may be a modest man in principle, but not in his academic pursuits. To call his interests broad in scope is no exaggeration as they cover the fields of linguistics, literature, philology, bibliography, travel narratives and celestial navigation, which is nicely reflected in this volume. Part I concerns general and Luso-Brazilian linguistics (Bernard H. Bichakjian, John B. Jensen, Anthony J. Naro, Joseph M. Piel, Cléa Rameh); Part II Medieval studies: Sheila R. Ackerlind, Donald Stone Jr., Paolo Valesio, Joan B. Williamson; Part III Luso-Brazilian literature (Memória de Lázaro, Frederick C.H. Garcia, David T. Haberly, Jane M. Malinoff, Noami Hoki Moniz, Maria Luisa Nunes, Noêl W. Ortega, Raymond S. Sayers, Nelson H. Vieira); and Part IV on travel literature (Mary M. Rowan, Charity Cannon Willard). This volume also contains a complete bibliography of the writings of Francis M. Rogers.