Rick Skwiot's earthy, funny and self-effacing chronicle of his heathen days south of the border. With little money and few prospects the troubled freelance writer takes off to Mexico to find himself. Instead he discovers fast-living, amoral, yet spiritually grounded Mexicans who infect him with a soulful lust for life. Sexy, surreal, and darkly comic, Skwiot's vivid tale depicts his beneficent immersion into small-town Mexican life amid a group of quirky locals and oddball Anglophone expats. Along the way he paints an intimate and sympathetic portrait of Mexico and its people. Ultimately this sultry memoir seduces any reader who values honest reporting of a spiritual journey in which the author fi nds his deliverance through the senses.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Memoir of a Sensual Quest for Spiritual Healing

Travel

Skwiot, Rick

Mexico

Antaeus Books, Inc.

Hemingway First Novel Award winner. The sensual mystery of a son's compulsive search for his father's bones-a quest that draws him into an exotic Mexican underworld of sex, mysticism, drugs and sudden violence. Vibrant yet darkly poignant, this gritty tale exposes the simmering passions-fired by jealousy, vengeance, lust and greed-when Anglo and Hispanic cultures clash...Little love remains to be lost, seemingly, between cynical public relations man Nick Petrov and his stern, Old World, widower father. But when the eccentric emigre archeologist dies unexpectedly in a backwater Mexican town, the materialistic American son travels to retrieve his father's corpse. However, the secrets of the corrupt mountain pueblito of Escondido--and the seductive powers of a virgin witch--transform Nick's guilt-inspired journey into a quest for his own soul.As Nick seeks answers to his father's death, he bulls his way through a labyrinth of deception, forgery and tangled passions, all superimposed over his own bitter memories of his estrangement from his father. He enters a dark world of illegal trade in Indian artifacts, white witches, malevolent drug soldiers, and quick--and quixotic--death.This award-winning novel reveals the historic struggle of a man questing to understand the timeless ties between father and son, man and woman, life and death.

Death in Mexico

Award-winning novelist Rick Skwiot's critically acclaimed account of a rustically charming yet fateful childhood Christmas, with a family and a nation on the brink of unsettling change and loss of innocence. Christmas at Long Lake returns us to Christmas Day 1953 as seen through the eyes of a child. When the author, as a six-year-old, learns on Christmas Eve that his father's layoff at a steel mill threatens their country home, he works to save it.  Along the way we meet a cast of affecting characters: forbidding grandmothers, tribal country-kids, a destructive vacuum-cleaner salesman, and dutiful and affectionate parents who create an aura of hard yet unfailing love within the author's childhood environs. Skwiot takes us on a sensory and esthetic journey to frozen lakes, frosted fields, squawking jays, and the muted palette of gray Illinois winter afternoons, carrying us into a past of coal stoves, hand-pumps, and independence, as well as to the fragrant markets and redbrick alleys of a segregated St. Louis.Christmas at Long Lake manages to compress an era into 36 hours and 156 pages. It will likely be read with nostalgic recognition by the author's baby-boomer generation, with longing for simpler times by older Americans, and with some disbelief by younger readers who do not realize how much this nation has changed in 50 years.

Christmas at Long Lake - A Childhood Memory

Biographies & Memoirs

Memoirs

Noted British author, Rosalind Brackenbury, prize-winning short story writer, poet and well-reviewed novelist, steps back from her own writing to reveal her creative process. Her advice is rendered in a fluid, conversational tone, both accessible and memorable. THE NOVEL IN YOU is lush with classic examples, personal anecdotes, and accompanied by practical exercises for the serious novelist. It essentially hands over the keys that unlock the sought after components of inspiration, discipline, construction, and ultimately better writing.

The Novel In You: A novelist's guide to writing better fiction

Reference

Brackenbury, Rosalind

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

Hemingway reincarnate, Havana and hurricanes enliven this romantic island tale of love and redemption. In modern-day booze-soaked Key West, former best-selling author Con Martens finds himself down, out and in the bottom of a bottle. Stalked by a jealous lover and a propensity for trouble, Con needs an intervention. And intervention he gets in the form of the young Ernest Hemingway, an angel emissary sent from Writer's Heaven to help Con get back on track as a writer and a man. Blending past and present, the two young renegades forge a friendship as Con quests to recover his talent and integrity and find for himself a home. In Key West Story, we glimpse Key West life from the mangroves to the mansions, and a dark Havana, while spending quality time with Hemingway in his prime, hearing his timeless take on life, love and literature.

Key West Story - A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Literary

"Throw away your other books dealing with Hispanics in the workplace. This book is now the definitive guide. Following Jacob's practical advice will reduce turnover, increase productivity and ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect." --Michael L. Gooch, SPHR, Author of "Wingtips with Spurs" "Essential reading for every employer in the U.S. working with Spanish speaking employees. A couple hours reading can give you the knowledge that it took me 30 years to learn-the hard way. A must read for human resource managers." --Mark Smoky Heuston, HR Director, Dakota Provisions "Every chapter is filled with insights on how to get ahead of the curve and take a leadership position. If you don't read this book, then expect your company to miss some golden opportunities." --Willian J. Lawrence, Chairman, Bubbles Enterprises LTD.

Gringo's Guide to Hispanics in the Workplace

Monty, Jacob M.

Business

Immigration reform in the United States is imminent. If the proposals on the table haven't impacted your business yet, they will when law is passed. Forewarned is forearmed: "To be prepared is half the victory." The Gringos Guide to Immigration Reform for Employers was written to do just that-prepare employers for new requirements in compliance, documentation and employer-employee relations. This book will teach you how to counteract undue union pressure, revise or create company policies and procedures, comply with new Form I-9 changes, manage healthcare benefits under ObamaCare, and more, including essential bonus material helpful for others who need to be preparing for changes now! Authors Jacob M. Monty and Sarah D. Monty-Arnoni bring many years of experience as legal counsel to both employers and foreign nationals to the pages of this book.

The Gringo's Guide to Immigration Reform for Employers

Business & Money

Monty-Arnoni, Sarah D.

Management & Leadership

The employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act will be fully implemented by January 1, 2015. But right now, it's causing concern and anxiety for many business owners who say they don't understand how the new law works, or how they're going to pay for it. Business owners want to "do the right thing." Author and employment law attorney Mario K. Castillo has written an objective nuts and bolts business guide to give employers information about what they need to know, what they need to do now, and what they will need to do going forward. The Affordable Care Act is not an easy law for business owners to implement. But reading this book will bring them closer to understanding the decisions they need to make in setting up and complying with the employer mandate, as well as, a practical view of the potential penalties, pitfalls, and alternate routes. While the mandate has been delayed, it has not been cancelled. Business owners need to take advantage of the extra time to make sure they get it right in January 2015.

The Business Owner's Guide to the Employer Mandate: Affordable Advice for the Affordable Care ACT

Mario K Castillo

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