Books in the Blue Light Books series

Love, tequila, sex, first periods, late nights, abuse, and heartache. The journey of a Latina girl to womanhood and then motherhood is brimming with transformative magic that heals even as it shatters.

How are our lives shaped by the difficult choices of our parents and even grandparents? How will our own choices direct the future for our children? Following generations of one family across nearly a century, each of Andrea Lewis's intertwined, engaging short stories evokes an intense sense of place and time, from New Orleans in 1895 to Grand Isle, Louisiana, during the hurricane of 1901 and on to London during the Olympic Games of 1948. The people in these ten vivid tales face tragedy and real-world catastrophic events-war, hurricanes, the Great Depression, racial tension-in their pursuit of love, family, and belonging. Each character struggles to discover and preserve his or her identity and dreams while grappling with the expectations of family and culture and trying to cope with loss. Some succeed, some compromise, and some fail, but all have a traceable impact on a story to come.

Equal parts funny, tragic, and wise, this striking short story collection teaches us how to live in a world as cruel as it is beautiful.

1) Acquiring editor considers this to be the strongest book yet in the Blue Light Books series. 2) This collection is filled with well-written and captivating stories of struggling artists in various aspects of their lives. 3) Co-publication with Indiana Review, a well-known literary journal, who will help to promote the book

-Will be promoted by Indiana Review. -Smith's sci-fi/fantasy/speculative fiction may find a wider audience than previous BLB winners. -Combines sci-fi with modern technology to make reality a fuzzy line