>Complete Backlist/ Short Stories

>>Pláticas de mi barrio

ISBN: 0-927534-82-7
120 pp. | paper only | $12.00 

stories by Carlos Ponce-Melendez

This collection of imaginatively retold stories based on interviews conducted by the author with elderly Mexican Americans from Texas reflects the sentiments, attitudes, and values of this culture and highlights the diversity of the Chicano community. Regionalisms abound in these stories, for which a glossary is included. In "The Haunted House," spirits of the dead influence the thoughts and actions of the living, who must find a way to rid the house of their frightening presence. "Doña Bilingüe" illustrates the nature of code-switching in her delightfully gossipy description of everyone she knows. In "Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo," Doña Mercedes metes out her advice in a very straightforward, no-punches-pulled fashion, much to the surprise of her listeners.