en years after the publication of the acclaimed Cool Salsa, editor Lori Marie Carlson has brought together a stunning variety of Latino poets for a long-awaited follow-up. Established and familiar names are joined by many new young voices, and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos has written the Introduction.The poets collected here illuminate the difficulty of straddling cultures, languages, and identities. They celebrate food, family, love, and triumph. In English, Spanish, and poetic jumbles of both, they tell us who they are, where they are, and what their hopes are for the future....

Inspired by the life of a glamorous American heroine who divided her time between a lush Caribbean island and a New York lakeside retreat, and set against the vibrant backdrop of the 1920s and '30s, The Flamboyant evokes the romance of early aviation, particularly as it was experienced by women of that courageous generation.

Lenora Demarest -- the only daughter of a wealthy American doctor turned grapefruit plantation-owner -- is a complex ingenue whose sensibilities, ambitions, and desires are often contradictory. She yearns for love and cherishes traditional values, yet longs for independence and seeks to break away from the restrictions of Victorian norms. During the course of her unusual life, Lenora falls in love with George Hanson, a dashing aviator, and also befriends Amelia Earhart. In very different ways, these two individuals help to sharpen her self-understanding and set her on a path of exhilarating single-minded achievement.

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The ten stories that make up this collection are raw, original, and fresh. Although they are all about American Indians, they are as different from one another as they are from anything you've read before.

A supermarket checkout line, a rowboat on a freezing lake at dawn, a drunken dance in the gym, an ice hockey game on public-access TV. These are some of the backgrounds against which ten outstanding authors have created their memorable characters. Their work -- both poignant and funny, sarcastic and serious -- reminds us that the American Indian story is far from over -- it's being written every day.

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