Diverse in setting and broad in range, these award-winning stories all turn, in some way, on the passing of the rural Southwest Texas way of life and its stamp on those who leave there.Ranging from bare-bones narratives to magical realism and ever lush in regional particulars, the stories all center on a sense of place. Sharing a point of origin and a journey, their characters weave in and out of the stories, looking for new starts-for answers-and seeing the world through dry eyes. They explore exotic Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, and a dig site in Peru and make a voyage of discovery down the...

Siren Songs from the Heart of Austin does new and vibrant things with narrative. Magical realism adds its rainbow colors to the twenty-two first person pieces that interweave to tell the story of a group of people living in Austin, Texas. The six main narrative threads overlap and entwine around the idea of love in its myriad forms. Aqua Vitae Cafe, in turn of the millennium Austin, is the central connection-although the settings range from Austin to New Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras. And through it all, the Prophet Mudcat sings his siren songs, trying to usher in the Age of Aquarius by...