Rock Black: Ten Gibraltarian Stories

'Rock Black', M. G. Sanchez's critically acclaimed short story sequence, takes us back to the late 80s and early 90s - a time when large quantities of tobacco were being smuggled from Gibraltar into Spain, the British government was threatening the colony with direct rule, and the Spanish authorities were subjecting the Gibraltarians to a concerted campaign of political harassment. Within its pages we find an almost anthropological gallery of `types': reluctant tobacco smugglers, drunken English squaddies, small-town hedonists, Costa del Sol prostitutes, passing hippie travellers, as well as the constantly resurfacing figure of the jobless Gibraltarian teenager Peter Rodriguez. Described by Dr Rob Stanton (South University, Savannah, Georgia) as `a necessary corrective after a prolonged period of silence,' 'Rock Black' remains a powerful and original piece of fiction.

M. G. Sanchez was born in Gibraltar. He studied at the University of Leeds, where he obtained a PhD in English literature in 2004. For more information, please visit www.mgsanchez.net or www.facebook.com/mgsanchezwriter

Most helpful customer reviews

See all customer reviews...

Keep Calm and Mother On: 21 Stories from Mothers with

A mother goes through so much. Just when you think you've managed to get the world's most difficult tot to sleep through the night, he starts rejecting the bottle. As they get older, it's not about sleeping or feeding; it's about friends and values. And, how many of us feel like crushing our own skulls when we coach our children in their homework or when we have to force them to practise the piano? And let's not even talk about the dark teenage years, when your once-innocent and carefree babe, who loved to swirl around in pink dresses, now insists on wearing black only. But there's more from babe to teen to young adult to entering National Service and eventually getting married and having children of their own, Keep Calm and Mother On presents the full range of experiences a mother goes through. With contributions from 21 mums with children aged one to 21, some stories are bound to make you laugh out loud, while others may warm your heart and give you much food for thought. Through it all, the call of this book is to 'Keep Calm and Mother On'. They do grow up, and it is all worth it in the end!

Pauline Loh is an award-winning writer with more than 25 years of writing experience. She was a journalist with Singapore Press Holdings, editor of a family magazine and a corporate communications officer. After she resigned from full-time work to care for her three children, she wrote freelance for websites, magazines and corporations. As a book author, she has published 10 adult non-fiction books, two youth books and five children's storybooks. She is the winner of the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2009 and the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2012; her book Grandma's Eightieth Birthday was part of a kit that won Dr Toy's 100 Best Children's Products 2013. Pauline graduated from Singapore Chinese Girls' School, Raffles Junior College and National University of Singapore.

Most helpful customer reviews

See all customer reviews...

The Lucky Ones: African Refugees' Stories of Extraordinary Courage

The Lucky Ones: African Refugees' Stories of Extraordinary Courage by Anne Mahon

"Anne Mahon faithfully captures refugees' voices with raw authenticity, imprinting their lives onto our collective memory." -Lisa Shannon, author of A Thousdand Sisters and founder of Run for Congolese Women

"Canada has thousands of untold stories of the immigrant and refugee experience. Here is a well-selected and well-told sampling, gripping accounts of what it's like to overcome horrific obstacles and to live the dream." -Tom Denton, Director, Hospitality House Refugee Ministry

"Reading this book will help us bridge the gap with the refugees and will make us better Canadians as we appreciate our good fortune at the accident of birth. This is priority reading as we live in an increasingly complex Canadian society." - Art DeFehr, former representative of the UNHCR to Somalia

"The book's shocking first-hand accounts of survival will cause readers to bristle the next time they hear someone cast refugees as "fraudsters" or "just someone here to take our jobs." And reading about parents who were forced to run for the border without their children - let alone their passports - will cause people to question the government's dismissive terminology of bogus and illegal refugees." ? The Catalyst, Citizens for Public Justice Publication

In The Lucky Ones: African Refugees' Stories of Extraordinary Courage, Anne Mahon presents a collection of personal accounts of heartbreaking loss, extraordinary bravery, and the resilience needed to begin again in a new country. Candidly told in their own words, the subjects reveal the uplifting truth of their unbreakable human spirit. A wide assortment of men and women ranging in age from four to 73 represent a variety of African countries and backgrounds. Their compelling stories span from experiences in their African birth countries to their new home in Manitoba. These inspiring insights challenge assumptions and encourage understanding.  All author proceeds from the sale of this book will go to micro-lending opportunities and post-secondary scholarships for the African community of Manitoba.

Anne Mahon's interest in telling the stories of African refugees grew out of her dedicated commitment to Canada's newcomers. She has been involved in a variety of community organizations and was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor's Make a Difference Community Award for her volunteer service. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband and three children. This is her first book.

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
The True Cost of Freedom
By Monique Lewis
In Anne Mahon's The Lucky Ones, a young Somalian boy is kidnapped and chained in a garage for 18 months, an Ethiopian reporter is forced from his home after exposing his country's corrupt government, families are separated during widespread genocides, loved ones die in refugee camps, and in spite of it all, they are miraculously saved. Some call it luck, others call it a blessing from God.

The 17 refugees' stories are not just about hardship, war and injustice, but of the innate human desire to survive at any cost.

What impressed me the most was that even though these men, women and children witnessed death and destruction, these traumatic events did not stop them from wanting an education. Some immediately picked up their schooling as soon as they reached a refugee camp. All were desperate to give their children a strong foundation that they can survive on. In Africa, it's not the clothes on your back or the home you live in that makes you great, rather it is the education you have.

"My dad would always tell my siblings and me, `I have no wealth to give you, but I'm going to make sure that you are educated. That will stay with you wherever you go.'" -Efrem, pg. 94

Their stories were also full of love and courage that knew no boundaries. The Lucky Ones recounts heroic acts of love and compassion in a culture built on a deep sense of community and necessity to help others, even at the cost of one's own safety and well-being. Now living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, each of the refugees give back in their own way from sponsoring other refugees, and helping them adapt to their new Canadian home, to raising awareness about the unnerving experiences African refugees have suffered.

The Lucky Ones breaks all slanted and ignorant stereotypes about the African refugee imbued in Western culture. Since reading this book, I felt more compassion for my immigrant neighbors and I'm curious about who they are, where they are from and what they have lived through. A big part of me feels guilty for the privilege I was born with and a desire to give money or make donations, but the best gift of all is to listen, which creates understanding.

"If we don't courageously learn about each other, we will find ourselves in the position of master and slave. We might be scared to call it that, but let's call it by it's name. As refugees, we continuously risk losing our identity. When we come here, to this new country we call home, yes, we come needy and weak, but we do not want to stay stuck in dependency on others. We want to become fully mature Canadians and as human beings." -Anonymous, pg. 163

See all 1 customer reviews...

Switchbacks: True Stories from the Canadian Rockies

In Switchbacks, Sid Marty draws on his own memories and those of friends and former colleagues in relating a series of true mountain tales. Among his subjects are: the old guide who built a staircase up a cliff; the stranded snowshoer who was rescued between rounds of beer in a Banff tavern; the man who catered to hungry grizzlies; an opinionated packrat with a gift for larceny; and a horse named Candy whose heart was as big as a stove.

Along the way, Marty tries to answer the kind of questions that all of us must face some day. Do we really have to “grow up” and abandon adventure as well as youthful ideals? Can the mountains draw old friends back together, when politics and life styles have set them apart?

Sid Marty writes gracefully of the land he loves and lampoons a few bureaucrats whose policies sometimes threaten its integrity. His portraits of the people – and creatures – that make their lives in the mountains are affectionate and respectful. But, above all, this is a collection of engaging, surprising, funny, and superbly told true stories by a gifted writer.

“In prose as clear as the mountain air, Marty relates one marvellous story after another, drawing on his more than 25 years experience in the Rocky Mountains.”
–National Post

“Marty’s artistry is such that the stories in Switchbacks seem to have emerged from the mountains themselves.…Some chapters will have your adrenalin coursing and your heart pounding; one or two others may make you weep. All of them will thrill you with the concrete vitality of landscape and language.”
–Globe and Mail

In Switchbacks, Sid Marty draws on his own memories and those of friends and former colleagues in relating a series of true mountain tales. Among his subjects are: the old guide who built a staircase up a cliff; the stranded snowshoer who was rescued between rounds of beer in a Banff tavern; the man who catered to hungry grizzlies; an opinionated packrat with a gift for larceny; and a horse named Candy whose heart was as big as a stove.

Along the way, Marty tries to answer the kind of questions that all of us must face some day. Do we really have to ?grow up? and abandon adventure as well as youthful ideals? Can the mountains draw old friends back together, when politics and life styles have set them apart?

Sid Marty writes gracefully of the land he loves and lampoons a few bureaucrats whose policies sometimes threaten its integrity. His portraits of the people ? and creatures ? that make their lives in the mountains are affectionate and respectful. But, above all, this is a collection of engaging, surprising, funny, and superbly told true stories by a gifted writer.

“In prose as clear as the mountain air, Marty relates one marvellous story after another, drawing on his more than 25 years experience in the Rocky Mountains.”
–National Post

“Marty’s artistry is such that the stories in Switchbacks seem to have emerged from the mountains themselves.…Some chapters will have your adrenalin coursing and your heart pounding; one or two others may make you weep. All of them will thrill you with the concrete vitality of landscape and language.”
–Globe and Mail

Most helpful customer reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Good history of the Rockies
By Colin Van Tol
Once again, Sid Marty has produced another 'must read' about the beautiful Canadain Rockies. His first book "Men for the mountains" is still a classic adventure and environmental tale about the Rocky Mountain Parks, with this as it's somewhat continuation. It differs however in that it reads as more of a climbing/historical acount of the pioneers of the Lake Louise, Banff and Jasper areas rather than of the park system and how it is managed and sometimes mismanaged. For an Albertan and a frequent visitor of the Rocky mountain park system, this was a great book in that the names of the places I visit now have greater significance and meaning.
I give it only four stars instead of the five "Men for the mountains" received only because the narrative is less engaging and is more of a history lesson, but still a great mountain book.
"Leaning on the wind" is another great choice if you enjoyed either of these books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
My kind of Stories
By Linda Jo Hunter
A Canadian friend gave me a copy of this book to read and I enjoyed every bit of it. Even though I am not familiar with the area Sid Marty's stories take place in, I was glued to the book until I finished. The stories are so fantastic they could only be true and so entertaining I read many of them out loud to who ever was around at the time. Here is a small sample: "This woman had a terrible sunburn. She was lying naked in her tent, covered with cold cream, when a black bear walked through the tent door. The lady froze, played dead, and without much preamble, the black bear began to lick off the cold cream - all of it. Then he wandered off in search of dessert, leaving his victim uninjured, though emotionally debilitated - to say the least." Yup, that is just a small sample of the stories in the book, some of which made you laugh, some cry and some just downright bigger than life. The mountain descriptions were complete enough to get the picture, as well as the rescues and the helicopter techniques like being transported through the air from a sling under a helicopter for rescue purposes. Sid Marty's life experiences are lessons to us all from patrolling on horseback to recalling the history of climbers who went before him. If you like outdoor stories, or Marty's other books you will enjoy this one as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
Switchbacks: A Must Read
By Mel Rivers
I've just discovered Sid Martys' books this year. I'm finding all his books are spellbinding. What makes Switchbacks so remarkable is that the adventures recorded are true stories. I could not put this book down. If you love the great outdoors, if you love to learn more about the history of North American parks,in this case, the Canadian Rockies, this is a must read.

See all 5 customer reviews...