Jump to: Non-Fiction Fiction
Non-Fiction
Take a Hike: The Best 50 Routes in the Community of Madrid (Ediciones La Librería, May 2011)
In the early summer of 2008 my friend, Beau, and I decided to take a day trip out of Madrid. From what we were wearing, the ticket agent assumed we wanted to go for a hike so she recommended we head out to Cercedilla. In Cercedilla, we stopped at the local education center to pick up a map. We asked if there were any other places to hike close to the city. The clerk then took out a map of the Community of Madrid and began circling towns furiously. Although we had searched for a book about hiking in Madrid, all we found were books in Spanish. Not one in English! Wouldn’t it be great to have a hiking guidebook in English?
From August to November we took over 160 hikes. We aren’t lying. And from those 160 hikes we’ve chosen the ones we think are the best—a variety of easy, medium, and advanced routes, packed with history and beauty. Only later in the game did we decide to turn our book into an English/Spanish-language teaching tool. We’ve written the book with the intention of teaching English/Spanish through hiking. Flip through the book and for every town and hike, on the left side of the page you’ll see a list of vocabulary words translated from English to Spanish, including many phrasal verbs and idioms. One day we went for a hike and were inspired to share our love for history, nature and language. If only one day in the mountains changed our lives, we know the same can happen for you.
Fiction
Submerged: Tales from the Basin (StepSister Press, 2008)
Submerged: Tales from the Basin is an anthology of literature, memoir, and art created by more than thirty women to benefit those who survived Hurricane Katrina. The title refers to a fear many of us had as young children, of having our heads submerged under water while our mothers washed our hair. The stories, essays, poems, and art of Submerged are an exploration of each contributor’s relationship with her hair, in most cases emotional, often humorous, and consistently generated from youth.
Contributors: Gretl Claggett, Sumayya Coleman, Dianne D. Feula, Stella Fiore,Anne L. Francis, Kelly A. Gola, Lauren González, Leslie González, Mary Ann González, Lauren Guida, Ellen Hagan,Shayla Hason, Anne Hays, Rebecca O. Johnson, Lorien Jordan, Jean Kahler,Cynthia Blair Kane, Hope Kavoosi,Shannon Kelley, Dafna Kory, Emily Macel, Jessica Palmer, Lissette Peña, Sara V. Pic, Carla Porch, Bonnie Richardson, Alyssa Robbins, Skye Van Saun, Bren Simmers, Miriam Weisfeld,Anne K. Wenzel, Kara Westerman, Allison Yates
Who Knows Jordan Stein?
Jordan Stein dreamed of living among the literati in New York, partaking in the glamorous parties, poetry readings, book signing and general happenings of the “in” crowd. After moving to the city to start graduate school, however, she finds she hasn’t even come close to making those dreams come true. Is it possible that Manhattan is not the magical place she imagined it to be? Instead of getting published in high-profile magazines, she’s struggling to complete her thesis and find herself as a writer and moreover a young, single woman in one of the most predatory cities in the world.
Jordan’s friends think that unless she changes everything about herself, neither she, nor her writing will be accepted by New York City’s literary Who’s Who. Averting the next professional setback, personal betrayal, and blow to her ego, Jordan takes off for her Midwest hometown. She might not like the suburb in which she grew up, nor does she believe she has anything in common with the people, but this town first spawned her big city dreams and so she believes she might just find a piece of herself still there. Soon enough, Jordan realizes that if she has any hope of understanding herself, she’s going to have to turn the page and start drafting a new beginning.
Class President
After a year of playing in the Washington Symphony Orchestra, Lizzy Kreen finally has a chance to take the spotlight. She’s up for a solo concerto position. Her only competition is Alice, the winsome non-Jewish beauty that’s caught the eye of everyone, including, Allen, the conductor.
As secure as Lizzy might be in her talent, she’s convinced she might lose everything she’s worked for professionally because of what she’s lacking in the looks department. After all, Sylvia’s played the beauty versus brains game before, losing friends and self-esteem in the process. The structured world of classical music begins to mirror the maddening high school experiences that Lizzy was so glad to leave behind. Allen is making his decision in a few short days. Will Lizzy be able to overcome her past? Or will she let what happened in high school cast a shadow over her future?
