Rudy Ch. Garcia y Manuel Ramos have short stories coming up in Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature from Bilingual Press. Look for it on February 15, 2008. Rudy is a bilingual teacher in Denver and wrote "LAX Confidential" while Manuel Ramos, author of several crime-fiction novels and the Director of Advocacy for Colorado Legal Services, wrote "The 405 is Locked Down." The anthology can be pre-ordered from Tattered Cover, et al., in hardcover or trade paperback.In addition, Garcia and Ramos are founders of and contributors to La Bloga, a Chicano lit blog. Garcia also had a fantasy titled "Memorabilia" accepted by Drollerie Press.
About the "Lotusland" anthology, from editor Daniel Olivas's introduction:
The stories and novel excerpts sandwiched in between "Kid Zopilote" and the excerpt from Chicano bring us to modern day Latino denizens of Los Angeles and the city's surrounding communities. And what a complex and diverse group of people we observe: young and old, gay and straight, rich and poor, the newly-arrived and the well-established. There's a Cuban-American screenwriter trying to pitch the "real" story behind the Bay of Pigs fiasco. We see the Mexican woman struggling with barrio life who believes she's seen a miracle.
There are youths trying to avoid gang life, and others embracing it. And we're introduced to aggressive journalists, cement pourers, disaffected lovers, drunken folklórico dancers, successful curanderos, teenage slackers, aging artists, wrestling saints, aimless druggies, people made of paper, college students, and even a private detective hot on the heels of a presumed-dead gonzo writer. These actors perform on a stage set with palm trees, freeways, mountains and sand in communities from East L.A. to Malibu, Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley, Venice Beach to El Sereno. The storytelling comes in all packages: social realism, lyrical fantasy, tough-talking noir.
