The Tower of the Antilles
Page 13
“[C]ompassionate and intriguing . . . Obejas plays out [the book’s] conflicts in measured, simple prose, allowing her descriptions of the mundane—houses, food, dominoes—to illuminate a setting filled with heartbreak, confusion, and decay . . . At her best, Obejas controls the mixture of humor and pathos that suffuse this poor community.” —Los Angeles Times
“Ruins is a beautifully written novel, a moving testament to the human spirit of an unlikely hero who remains unbroken even as the world collapses around him . . . A fine literary achievement, it’s Achy Obejas at her very best.” —El Paso Times
“[A] superb novel.” —Library Journal
“With the deft and evocative detail of a poet’s, Obejas’s prose is as illuminating and honest as her struggling protagonist.” —Publishers Weekly
Usnavy has always been a true believer. When the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959, he was just a young man and eagerly signed on for all of its promises. But as the years have passed, the sacrifices have outweighed the glories and he’s become increasingly isolated in his revolutionary zeal. His friends openly mock him, his wife dreams of owning a car totally outside their reach, and his beloved fourteen-year-old daughter haunts the coast of Havana, staring north.
In the summer of 1994, a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government allows Cubans to leave at will and on whatever will float. More than 100,000 flee—including Usnavy’s best friend. Things seem to brighten when he stumbles across what may or may not be a priceless Tiffany lamp that reveals a lost family secret and fuels his long repressed feelings . . . But now Usnavy is faced with a choice between love for his family and the Revolution that has shaped his entire life.
Ruins is available in paperback from our website and in bookstores everywhere. The e-book edition is available wherever e-books are sold.
Achy Obejas is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Ruins, Days of Awe, and three other books of fiction. She edited and translated (into English) the anthology Havana Noir, and has since translated Junot Díaz, Rita Indiana, Wendy Guerra, and many others. In 2014, she was awarded a USA Ford Fellowship for her writing and translation. Photo by Megan Bayles
Acknowledgments
My gratitude always to María Eugenia Alegría, Kalisha Buckhannon, Adrián Castro, Natalie Catasús, David Driscoll, Sarah Frank, Elise Johnson, Michelle Kirchner, Kim McGowan, Bayo Ojikutu, Patrick Reichard, Jane Saks, Humberto Sánchez, and Jasmine Wade.
Carolina de Robertis, a very wonderful writer and friend, generously read and edited this collection for me. Everything has benefited from her fine touch.
Cecilia Vaisman read a number of these stories, but she also missed a few. I’m thankful for the many years of encouragement and praise, for the words every artist needs to hear that she so generously offered. I wish I could have seen her face, heard her reactions, to the new stories. I wish we were at her kitchen table, in Chicago or Havana, talking about so many things. I miss her all the time, every single day.
No one, of course, has been more important to this project, and to all of my projects, than Megan Bayles. I’d be so adrift without her. A nod, too, to Ilan Bayles Obejas, because he’s the reason for everything now.
I’m forever grateful to USA Artists for my 2014 Ford Foundation Fellowship, which made my life one hundred times easier and helped me complete this book.
Lastly, and always, I’m in awe of Akashic’s beautiful and soulful team: Johnny, Johanna, Ibrahim, Aaron, Susannah, and the rest.
“The Cola of Oblivion” was first published in The Butter, edited by Roxane Gay, which was part of The Toast, March 2015.
“Kimberle” appeared in ACM 50: The Chicago Issue, edited by Jacob Knabb, December 2010; and in Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing, edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano, June 2011; in the original Spanish, it was included in Aguas y Otros Cuentos, published by Letras Cubanas in Cuba, July 2009; and in Cuentos, Literal Publishing, 2017.
“The Maldives” was first published in Prairie Schooner, Vol. 90, No. 1, Spring 2016.
“The Tower of the Antilles” appeared in the Cincinnati Romance Review, Vol. 40, Spring 2016; and in Otium, Vol. 2, No. 4, January 2006.
“Waters” was first published in The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction, edited by Naomi Holoch and Joan Nestle, June 1999.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.
Published by Akashic Books
©2017 by Achy Obejas
ISBN: 978-1-61775-539-2
eISBN-13: 978-1-61775-553-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953888
First printing
Akashic Books
Twitter: @AkashicBooks
Facebook: AkashicBooks
E-mail: info@akashicbooks.com
Website: www.akashicbooks.com
About Akashic Books
___________________
Thank you for purchasing this Akashic Books e-book.
Sign up to our email list to receive special offers, access to free e-book excerpts, and vendor-wide digital sales information. Follow this link to join our list, or browse online to www.akashicbooks.com. Free e-book excerpts are available for multiple platforms at www.akashicbooks.com/subject/digits-ebooks/
___________________
Akashic Books is an award-winning independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers. Akashic Books hosts additional imprints, including the Black Sheep for Young Readers, the Akashic Noir Series, the Akashic Drug Chronicles Series, the Akashic Urban Surreal Series, Infamous Books (curated by Albert "Prodigy" Johnson of Mob Deep, Kaylie Jones Books (curated by Kaylie Jones), the Edge of Sports (curated by David Zirin), Punk Planet Books, Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series, Open Lens, Chris Abani's Black Goat Poetry Series, and AkashiClassics: Renegade Reprint Series.
Our books are available from our website and at online and brick & mortar bookstores everywhere.
"As many in publishing struggle to find ways to improve on an increasingly outdated business model, independents such as Akashic—which are more nimble and less risk-averse than major publishing houses—are innovators to watch." —Los Angeles Times
"It's heartening that even as the dinosaurs of publishing are lurching toward extinction, nimble independent publishers like Akashic are producing high-quality, innovative content." —Portland Mercury
"Akashic fits in that very slight category of publishers, growing slimmer every day, whose colophon is a recommendation on its own." —Toronto Star
"Akashic is one of the most impressive of the newer small presses, in part because of editing and production values that rival and perhaps surpass the big houses. We're grateful to them . . ." —Denver Post
"Akashic serves as a prime example of the diversity that marks the small press movement." —Mystery Scene
"What's great about Akashic is its sense of adventure and its smart eclecticism . . . Anything carrying the logo comes with the guarantee that it's worth checking out." —Hartford Courant
"An excellent small press." —In These Times
"[Akashic] fully conveys the charms and possibilities of small press publishing . . . placing a priority on the quality of the books, rather than the possible marketing opportunities they offer."—Poets & Writers
"Akashic is the brainchild of the charismatic Johnny Temple, the bassist of the rock group Girls Against Boys. Temple set up Akashic to give attention to literary works that are ignored, as well as to prove that publishers don't have to exploit their writers." —IUniverse.com
E-mail: info@akashicbooks.com
Website: www.akashicbooks.com<
br />