I have two new books out.
Or more precisely, Crossroad press has just released one brand-new collection of short stories, “Untranslatable“, and is republishing my novel “Midnight at Spanish Gardens.”
Both are already out in e-books; the paperback versions are coming soon.
Midnight at Spanish Gardens asks difficult questions. What if you had married someone else? Taken that job? Been born a man? if you were given a chance to live a different life, would you take it?
Five friends meet in the cafe where they had celebrated their college graduation 20 years before. They reminisce – and reveal long-held and disturbing secrets about their dysfunctional lives.
Each friend in turn is given a startling choice by an enigmatic bartender named Ariel — a chance to live a different life knowing that later they will have to decide which one they will continue to live.
Each in turn passes through a portal and into lives beyond their dreams — or nightmares.
Four of them return to their original lives.
One does not.
A couple of comments from reviewers:
“There is insight and reflection with a dose of inspiration in this work that will keep you thinking. It would make great read for a book club.” ~ Leslie Wright, Blogcritics
“And then there’s the ending. I found it haunting. I still think about it.” ~ M.J. Place
The new book, Untranslatable, is a collection of stories that build bridges between people and cultures.
Some concepts require paragraphs to explain in English, but sometimes only a single word in other languages.
There are times when it is impossible to have a direct translation of something, to understand an idea at once simple to one mind and unutterably impenetrable to another. Stories can guide people through a literal journey into another language, another culture, another mind.
The 14 stories in this book are bridges made of words—crossing into language landscapes of Japan, of Sweden, of France, of Portugal, of Tierra del Fuego—glimpses into the worldview and the mindset of cultures different enough from our own to produce a single word that encompasses a world of concepts.
Stories that translate the untranslatable.
“I love Alma Alexander’s writing. Reading one of her stories is like having a beautiful and intense conversation that you walk away from realizing that you’ve learned something you didn’t know about yourself.” – Leigh Grossman, author of The Green Lion and The Lost Daughters, creator of “Sense of Wonder”
And remember, Christmas is coming. If books are on your shopping list (how could they not be?!)
Pick up these two books now, before you forget.
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