Tortilla Moon and Other Tales of Love

Set in the borderlands of Sonora, Mexico and southern Arizona, Tortilla Moon and Other Tales of Love consists of 16 closely linked stories. The unifying character is Lety, whom we first meet as a pregnant fifteen-year old. Physical and cultural boundaries are crossed and recrossed as we follow her life and the lives of her family, friends and lovers, until the birth of her first grandchild. Tortilla Moon and Other Tales of Love, explores the values of the Mexican family, the ones that change as people move to El Norte and begin to assimilate, and the ones that transcend both time and place. Theses stories do not progress in an exact linear manner and each was written so that it could be read and appreciated apart from the others. When they are read in sequence, however, like a bird building a nest, one twig of information is added here, and another there. When the last twig is in place a larger theme and story is revealed. Although love in its various forms is in every story, forgiveness, revenge and redemption are also central themes. For your consideration is the first story of the collection, Tortilla Moon. For many years I taught English in Tucson's public schools where diversity was the respected rule. Daily I eavesdropped on the Spanglish spoken in the hallways. These overheard conversations and my experiences with my Mexican National and Mexican American students and their families informed my stories. Gabriela E. Morales assisted me with the Spanish and made certain that the voices of my characters and the stories told rang true.
About the Author: Although I write under the name G. Davies Jandrey, friends call me Gayle. I'm a retired educator, poet and writer of fiction. For five seasons I worked as a fire lookout in the Saguaro National Park and Chiricahua National Monument of southern Arizona. It was in these "sky islands" that I first learned to love the richness and diversity of southern Arizona that informs much of my poetry and prose. My short fiction has appeared in Calyx, Bilingual Review, Portland Review, The Berkeley Fiction Review and others. My debut novel, A Garden of Aloes, was published by The Permanent Press in 2008. Fireship Press published both Journey through an Arid Land in 2014 and A Small Saving Grace in 2016. My latest novel, Deep Breathing will be published by Fireship Press in the fall of 2018. I make my home with my husband, Fritz, Tito the dog and Goldie the cat in the desert outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Time spent coaching three lively third graders under the auspices of Literacy Connect's Reading Seed Program brings me great joy as does volunteering at Sister José Women's Center. I am a passionate, but not particularly gifted, gardener and Canasta player.