Life is full of challenges, and how we react to them determines who we really are. In these short stories, different people face unique challenges that are not always what they seem.
A Native American ignores his culture, and his ancestors inflict a hallucination upon him.
Two deer hunters find themselves scrambling after a hunting accident goes terribly wrong.
A woman looking for love on the internet goes on the craziest date of her life.
A father tries desperately to improve his spiritual relationship with his teenage son on the Las Vegas Strip—when someone unexpected shows up.
These, and many more. Will they reconcile their fears (and weaknesses) and rise to meet life’s challenges?
Elan knew three tongues—English, the language of weather, and his native tribal language—but the only one that helped him anymore was silence. He could feel it within himself, rising like a river after rain, slowly over the rocks and dirt of his spirit. One day, it would crash through the levy of his mouth and spill forth into nothingness. It would be . . . convenient. This way, when people like Miss Coragem asked him to speak about himself—about his culture—he would just cast his eyes skyward and let the waterfall of silence gushing from his mouth be his answer.
He hopped into his pickup and sped through the school lot, through the grassy suburbs and onto the Pacific highway that wound through the forest. The trees whished by and made it easy to forget about Miss Coragem and the children, but harder to forget about the reservation. Why had he left? Hell, he still hadn’t sorted that out for himself yet. He had no connection to this land, even though it was just three hours east of the res. No more could he ask the forests of his homeland for answers to life’s abstract problems; these trees were not the trees of his country, and this was not the land of his ancestors. He didn’t know if he could ever go back there. All he knew was that he’d take this winding road back to the city, back to the restaurant, where he would wash dishes, and at eleven o’clock, when the last plates and ramekins sparkled on the rack and the last waitress had hung up her apron, he’d ride into the country, throw himself on the hood of his pickup, gaze up at the mackerel sky, and try to figure out his life.
He was deep into the woods when a group of birches sprung up before him, blocking his path. He crashed into them, and ravens fluttered out of the bark and swept everything black until the world was like night.
| Language | Status |
|---|---|
|
Portuguese
|
Already translated.
Translated by Makoto Yamamoto
|
|
|
Author review: Makoto was great to work with. I enjoyed the process and seeing the final product. Great communicator as well. |
|
Spanish
|
Already translated.
Translated by Vanesa Tifni
|
|
|
Author review: Vanesa was an absolute pleasure to work with. She was prompt, the translation was great, she was responsive and always willing to go above and beyond. I would happily recommend her for future projects. |
