Bolívar was no democrat

A critical analysis of Simón Bolívar's concepts of "liberty" and "people" demonstrates that he was no democrat in modern terms. Written for a contest on the 200th anniversary of his birth (1983), until now this essay has circulated only privately among Latin American historians.
Liberty&People

Mermaids

My first publication in Scribd, to try it out. If you are interested in Latin America and its literature, you may enjoy this essay. Mermaids and Other Fetishes: Images of Latin America

Do-it-yourself, please

This is happening at lots of small (and probably not so small) presses: too few sales to take on new works. Maybe their advice in the second graph is right, and maybe it's the only way to go.

Marion Boyars Publishers are not accepting submissions for new titles at the moment. This may change in the New Year, 2010, but we have decided to wind down our publishing schedule for the time being, so please do not inundate us with manuscripts by email or post, as we will not be able to look at your work or respond.

If you are looking for a good publisher, we suggest that you head for a respected independent bookshop, or a quality chain bookseller, and find a book similar to the one you have in mind. If you are really original in your thinking, you can publish yourself, and send review copies to the main literary bloggers. We can assure you that good books do not go unnoticed in this world, and eventually, your work will find readers.

Fox lore

I collect odd bits like this, for easily guessed reasons: Kitsune Books

Sometimes I wonder why and how great-grandfather Adam Fuchs (who migrated to Indiana from Darmstadt-Hesse shortly after the American civil war) came by our bestial surname. Did an earlier ancestor smell bad, like a fox? Or have red hair? Or -- as I would prefer to believe -- was he (or she) especially crafty or magical, like the kitsune?

Illustration from Kobold Quarterly