Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing

Description

As the U.S. Latino population grows rapidly, and as the LGBTQ Latino community becomes more visible and a more crucial part of our literary and artistic heritage, there is an increasing demand for literature that successfully highlights these diverse lives. Edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano, Ambientes is a revolutionary collection of fiction featuring stories by established authors as well as emerging voices that present a collective portrait of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience in America today. With a preface by Picano and an introduction by Lima that sets the stage for understanding Latino literary and cultural history, this is the first anthology to cross cultural and regional borders by offering a wide variety of urban, rural, East Coast, West Coast, and midwestern perspectives on Latina and Latino queers from different walks of life. Stories range from sensual pieces to comical romances and from inner- city dramas fueled by street language to portraits of gay domesticity, making this a much-needed collection for many different kinds of readers. The stories in this collection reflect a vibrant and creative community and redefine received notions of "gay" and "lesbian." “Ambientes is a timely contribution at this point in history during which demographic shifts are literally changing the face of America. The stories in Ambientes provide a significant model for GLBT Latinos in the U.S., giving them the tools to find their own voice by uncovering a community that has long been neglected and silenced.”—The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide November-December 2011 "With this collection, queer Latina/o writers claim their place in the variegated terrain of contemporary American fiction. Ranging from the erotic to the elegiac, the fantastic to the frighteningly real, these stories entertain our senses and challenge our notions of what it means to be a queer person of color." ––Israel Reyes, Dartmouth College Lázaro Lima is associate professor of Latino studies at Bryn Mawr College and author of The Latino Body: Crisis Identities in American Literary and Cultural Memory. Felice Picano is an accomplished author, editor, publisher, journalist, screenwriter, and playwright, and is one of the founders of the Violet Quill. Kimberle / Achy Obejas -- Pandoras Box / Arturo Arias -- Shorty / Daisy Hernandez -- Puti and the Gay Bandits of Hunts Point / Charles Rice-Gonzalez -- Porcupine Love / Tatiana De La Tierra -- Unequivocal Moon / Elias Miguel Munoz -- Dear Rodney / Emanuel Xavier -- This Desire for Queer Survival / Horacio N. Roque Ramirez -- La Fiesta de Los Linares / Janet Arelis Quezada -- Malverde / Myriam Gurba -- Aqui viene Johnny / Raquel Gutierrez -- Haunting Jose / Rigoberto Gonzalez -- Imitation of Selena / Ramon Garcia -- Magnetic Island Sueno Cronica / Susana Chavez-Silverman -- I Leave Tomorrow, I Come Back Yesterday / Uriel Quesada -- Six Days in St. Paul / Steven Cordova -- Arturo, Who Likes to Shave His Legs in the Snow / Lucy Marrero.