Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya's Books

Serafina's Stories

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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This innovative novel combines Spanish folktales with Native American legends to create a captivating Southwestern version of The Arabian Nights. Like Scheherezade, who ensured her survival by telling her royal husband stories, the title character in Rudolfo Anaya’s creative retelling of The Arabian Nights must entertain the recently widowed governor with legends of Nueva Mexicana, or she and her fellow captives will die. With fresh snow covering the high peaks of Sangre de Cristo, a group of native dissidents prepare for revolt. In seventeenth-century Santa Fe, insurrection against a colony of the king of Spain is punishable by death. A Spaniard loyal to the governor names twelve conspirators. One of them is a young woman. Raised in a mission church, fifteen-year-old Serafina speaks excellent Spanish and knows many of her country’s traditional folktales. She and the governor strike a bargain: Each evening, she will tell him a cuento. If he likes it, he will release one prisoner the following day. The twelve tales recounted here mirror the struggle of a divided country. They include the social and political symbolism behind “Beauty and the Beast” and retell “Cinderella” as “Miranda’s Gift.” Interspersed with these timeless cuentos is the story of Serafina herself, and that of a people battling to preserve a vanishing way of life under the long shadow of the Inquisition.

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Page Count

167

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011791

ISBN 13

9781504011792

Jalamanta

A Message from the Desert

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Jalamanta

A Message from the Desert

By: Rudolfo Anaya

“A parable for our time. . . . We are in deep need of simple truths, of rediscovering our ancient teachings, and Jalamanta may provide that opportunity.” —The Washington Post Book World For thirty years, Fatimah has tended her herd of goats and waited for her lover to return. Amado was banished after leading a revolt against the cruel despots of their village—the Seventh City of the Fifth Sun. He followed the teachings of the wise men and women and roamed the desert in search of knowledge. When his exile finally ends, he returns transformed—no longer the innocent lover of Fatimah’s youth but a prophet named Jalamanta, or “he who strips away the veils that blind the soul.” He brings enlightenment, cures addictions, and can perform miracles. But Jalamanta’s enemies see him as a dangerous threat to the status quo and will use any means necessary to stop him. His deep wellspring of faith and compassion will not allow him to give up or give in—even as he faces the greatest betrayal of all. A searing indictment of tyranny, oppression, and human suffering, Jalamanta is about the age-old battle between good and evil that rages in every heart. It is also a tribute to the love that is the creative force of the universe—the light that can banish ignorance and fear and illuminate the darkest corners of the soul.

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130

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011783

ISBN 13

9781504011785

The Essays

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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The Essays

By: Rudolfo Anaya

Fifty-two essays exploring identity, literature, immigration, and politics by the American Book Award winner, one of the godfathers of Chicano literature. Best known for his novel Bless Me, Ultima, which established him as one of the founders of Chicano literature, Rudolfo Anaya displays his gift for storytelling and deep connection to the land and its history in The Essays. These intimate and contemplative essays explore censorship, immigration, urban development, the Southwest as a region, and personal identity. In “Aztlan: A Homeland Without Boundaries,” he discusses the reimagining of the modern Chicano community through ancient myth and legend; in “The Spirit of Place,” he explores the historical connection between literature and the earth. Some essays are autobiographical, some argumentative; all are passionate—and a must-read for Anaya fans and readers who crave a view of contemporary America through fresh eyes.

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304

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1480442852

ISBN 13

9781480442856

The Sonny Baca Novels

Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, and Jemez Spring

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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The Sonny Baca Novels

Zia Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, and Jemez Spring

By: Rudolfo Anaya

Four suspenseful southwestern mysteries featuring a Chicano PI in New Mexico, by the “extraordinary” author of Bless Me, Ultima (Los Angeles Times Book Review). These four novels starring detective Sonny Baca are set against the terrain of the American Southwest, blending its Spanish, Mexican, and Native American cultures. Zia Summer: Sonny Baca’s cousin Gloria is brutally slain, her body found drained of blood with a Zia sun sign—the symbol on the New Mexican flag—carved on her stomach. His quest to find her killer leads Baca across New Mexico’s diverse South Valley to an environmental compound and a terrifying brujo. Rio Grande Fall: A woman plummets to her death from a hot air balloon during Albuquerque’s famous Balloon Fiesta—and Baca recognizes it as no accident. Shaman Winter: Baca, confined to a wheelchair after a violent encounter, is haunted by chilling dreams, but has no choice but to go to work when the Santa Fe mayor’s teenage daughter disappears and the trail leads to a charismatic and dangerous shaman. Jemez Spring: A high-profile murder ignites a hotbed of political treachery and terrorist threats that take Baca to Los Alamos, pitting him against a formidable foe—and a nuclear bomb. Unrelentingly suspenseful, with vivid details of the physical and spiritual landscape of northern New Mexico, these mysteries are perfect for fans of Margaret Coel or James D. Doss and star “a fascinating hero” (Edmonton Journal).

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1095

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504041453

ISBN 13

9781504041454

Heart of Aztlan

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Heart of Aztlan

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

PEN Center West Award Winner: A novel of myth and migration set in a mid-twentieth–century New Mexico barrio, by the author of Bless Me, Ultima. Today is the day Benjie Chávez and his family will leave the town of Guadalupe behind. Far from the land of the eagle and the nopal, they travel west to find a new home of opportunity. But adapting to the big, impersonal city of Albuquerque is no easy task. As both life and death come to the barrio, a blind seer named Crispin arrives in the Chávezes’ world. At first everyone dismisses his stories about an elusive place called Aztlán as the ramblings of an old man. But gradually, they come to realize that he can see what they cannot. In earthy prose, American Book Award–winning author Rudolfo Anaya tells a spellbinding story of myth and migration, love and loss. Heart of Atzlán is a hopeful and heartbreaking novel about people in search of the shimmering mirage of a better life—and the land that keeps calling them back.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011775

ISBN 13

9781504011778

Tortuga

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Tortuga

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

American Book Award Winner: A novel of a New Mexico teenager’s journey of physical and spiritual recovery from the author of Bless Me, Ultima. When the story opens, the eponymous hero of Rudolfo Anaya’s novel is in an ambulance en route to a hospital for crippled children in the New Mexican desert. A poor boy from Albuquerque, sixteen-year-old Tortuga takes his name from the odd, turtle-shaped mountain that is rumored to possess miraculous curative powers. Tortuga is paralyzed, and not even his mother’s fervent prayers can heal him. But under the mountain’s watchful gaze, with the support of fellow patients, he begins the Herculean task of breaking out of his shell and becoming whole again. Drawn from personal experience and imbued with the phantasmagorical vision quests that distinguish Anaya’s work, Tortuga is a joyful, life-sustaining book about hope, faith, friendship, and love that celebrates the triumph of the human spirit in the physical world. “An extraordinary storyteller.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

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221

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011805

ISBN 13

9781504011808

My Land Sings

Stories from the Río Grande

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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My Land Sings

Stories from the Río Grande

By: Rudolfo Anaya

“Filled with ghosts, devils, and tricksters . . . This appealing volume will add diversity to folklore collections.” —Library Journal Rich in the folklore of his ancestors, Rudolfo Anaya’s tales will delight young readers from across the globe. In stories both original and passed down, this bestselling and American Book Award–winning author incorporates powerful themes of family, faith, and choosing the right path in life. In “Lupe and la Llorona,” a seventh grader searches for the legendary Llorona; in “The Shepherd Who Knew the Language of Animals,” a shepherd named Abel saves a snake and gains the ability to understand the language of animals; In “Dulcinea,” a fifteen-year-old dances with the Devil. Other tales feature coyotes, ravens, a woodcutter who tries to cheat death, the Virgin Mary, a golden carp, and a young Latino who seeks immortality. Deeply rooted in ancient mythological beliefs and based on the folklore and traditions of Mexican and Native American cuentistas, these accounts of enchantment are as beautiful and mysterious as the Rio Grande itself—and serve as a testament to the lost art of oral storytelling. This ebook features illustrations by Amy Córdova.

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121

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504021657

ISBN 13

9781504021654

Alburquerque

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Alburquerque

A Novel

By: Rudolfo Anaya

From the author of Bless Me, Ultima, a “wonderfully told and mesmerizing” novel of an adopted Mexican-American boxing champion’s quest for identity (New York Times). Abrán González always knew he was different. Called a coyote because of his fair skin, the kid from Barelas found escape through boxing and became one of the youngest Golden Gloves champs. But the arrival of a letter from a dying woman turns his entire life into a lie. The revelation that he was adopted makes him feel like an orphan and sends him on a quest to find his birth father. With the help of his girlfriend, Lucinda, and Joe, a Vietnam veteran, Abrán begins a journey that hurls him from the barrio into a world of greed and political corruption spearheaded by Abrán’s manager, Frank Dominic, a con artist running for mayor with visions of building El Dorado on the Rio Grande. Rich in spirituality, and taking its title from the original spelling of the city’s name, Alburquerque casts a light on the importance of ancestry while cutting across class and ethnic lines to tell a story of hope and displacement, love and regret, and the power of identity. “A touching love story woven into a tale of treachery, a microcosm of the social and economic dislocations squeezing the American Southwest.” —Publishers Weekly

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Page Count

230

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011767

ISBN 13

9781504011761

Zia Summer

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Zia Summer

By: Rudolfo Anaya

A Chicano PI hunts his cousin’s killer in “a compelling thriller [with] a deep-seated respect for the traditions of a people and a culture” (Booklist). The great-grandson of a legendary lawman and gunfighter, thirty-year-old Sonny Baca hopes he possesses even a tenth of El Bisabuelo’s courage. But instead of cleaning up New Mexico by hunting down dangerous desperadoes, the struggling PI looks for missing persons and deadbeat husbands. The game changes when his cousin Gloria—the first woman Sonny ever loved—is brutally slain. Her corpse is found drained of blood. A zia sun sign, the symbol on the New Mexican flag, is carved on her stomach. Gloria’s husband, Frank Dominic, a politician making a run for mayor of Albuquerque, has a powerful motive for murder. But Gloria wasn’t the first victim. A year earlier, another woman was slain in the exact same way. Is a serial killer on the loose? Or is this the handiwork of some satanic cult? Feeling his cousin’s spirit crying out for justice, Sonny and his girlfriend begin a search that takes them across New Mexico’s polluted South Valley to an environmental compound in the mountains. As Sonny moves closer to the truth, he uncovers a chilling connection between his past and a very real and present evil . . .

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Page Count

353

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011813

ISBN 13

9781504011815

Rio Grande Fall

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Rio Grande Fall

By: Rudolfo Anaya

A New Mexico PI tries to stop a cult leader’s murderous rampage in “a fascinating hybrid of detective story, adventure yarn, and shamanistic magic.” —Kirkus Reviews The world-famous International Balloon Fiesta of Albuquerque is one of the city’s most eagerly anticipated annual events and its biggest moneymaker. But when a woman plunges to her death from one of the balloons—foreshadowed by Sonny Baca’s vision of a body plummeting from the sky—Sonny’s sure it’s murder. The dead woman was the chief witness to testify against the cult implicated in the murder-for-hire of Sonny’s cousin Gloria, whose death still haunts him. In addition to motive, Sonny finds means and opportunity: a homeless family who saw someone push Veronica Worthy out of the hot-air balloon. Worthy was one of the four wives of Raven, leader of the sun cult, and a dangerous, shamanlike criminal who’s supposed to be dead. But the four black feathers found on the corpse are his calling card—clues to let Sonny know he’s alive and kicking. And his murder spree isn’t over. Now, led by his spirit guides, Sonny must race to stop a vengeful madman and save the woman he loves. From the American Book Award–winning author, this is “a completely entertaining mystery novel [that] offers two parallel lands of enchantment” (Booklist).

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Page Count

368

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011821

ISBN 13

9781504011822

Bless Me, Ultima

By: Rubén O. Martinez,Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya

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Bless Me, Ultima

By: Rubén O. Martinez,Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. CliffsNotes on Bless Me, Ultima brings to life a search for personal identity in the context of the social changes experienced by Chicanos in New Mexico during the 1940s. Anaya's story covers a two-year period at the close of World War II and centers on the experiences of a young, but serious boy who is attempting to make sense of the world around him and, at the same time, grappling with the opposing expectations of his parents. With this study guide, you'll enter the family life of young Antonio in the Pecos Valley. Insight into the background of author Rudolfo Anaya and a brief history of New Mexico will help illuminate the themes of the novel. Other features that help you study include Life and background of the author Character analyses of major players Chapter summaries and commentaries Critical essays Character genealogy chart Helpful maps Review questions and suggested essay topics Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure - you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

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Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822002493

ISBN 13

9780822002499

Serafina's Stories

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Serafina's Stories

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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167

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011791

ISBN 13

9781504011792

Aztlán

By: Rudolfo A. Anaya,Francisco A. Lomelí

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Aztlán

By: Rudolfo A. Anaya,Francisco A. Lomelí

Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland gathers articles published over a period of twenty years, offering in one volume the divergent ideological interpretations engendered within Chicano studies in relation to the legendary origin of the Aztecs."--Roberto Cantu, California State University

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268

Publisher

UNM Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0826312616

ISBN 13

9780826312617

Jemez Spring

By: Rudolfo Anaya

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Jemez Spring

By: Rudolfo Anaya

A high-profile murder thrusts a New Mexico PI into a hotbed of political treachery and terrorist threats: “Baca is a fascinating hero.” —Edmonton Journal Sonny Baca has learned to see beneath life’s observable reality and develop a new kind of sight. But the Chicano PI will need his most powerful guardian spirits when he’s called in to investigate the death of the governor of New Mexico. Before the murder, Sonny dreamed of a body floating in dark, swirling water. Not only was the governor drowned, but black feathers were found on his corpse. Sonny fears the killer is his old nemesis, Raven, the vicious cult leader responsible for the death of Sonny’s cousin and the near death of Sonny’s girlfriend. But the worst is yet to come: Someone has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, near Los Alamos. And it’s set to go off in a few hours. Is this the work of Raven? Or someone else? With Chica, his dreaming dog, Sonny delves into the world of the Jemez Pueblo tribe, which has made the mountain its sacred site. But the evil that men do could annihilate the land and a people struggling desperately for survival. Now Sonny must stop a killer before more innocent people die—if his own hunger for revenge doesn’t destroy him first.

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Page Count

273

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504011848

ISBN 13

9781504011846

Book's by Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya

Serafina's Stories

Serafina's Stories

Jalamanta

Jalamanta

The Essays

The Essays

The Sonny Baca Novels

The Sonny Baca Novels

Heart of Aztlan

Heart of Aztlan

Tortuga

Tortuga

My Land Sings

My Land Sings

Alburquerque

Alburquerque

Zia Summer

Zia Summer

Rio Grande Fall

Rio Grande Fall

Bless Me, Ultima

Bless Me, Ultima

Serafina's Stories

Serafina's Stories

Aztlán

Aztlán

Jemez Spring

Jemez Spring

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