BOOKS

A Cool Indian Name: Fictions

In a striking first collection of stories, Brent van Staalduinen leads the reader through tales that echo with loss and redemption, discovery and fear, tumult and victory. Where three young children create a Christmas in July for their bedridden mother, a military wife tries to help her son answer life’s toughest questions, a homeless man convicts an entire church congregation of their prejudices, and a baby cries in the midnight hold of a smuggling ship. A boy discovers the magic in Union Station while a terminally ill girl finds magic in laughter. From the title piece, “A Cool Indian Name,” which explores the dark remnants of abuse in a residential school and the limits of friendship, to “Buddy’s Mirror,” where a medic sent on an ill-fated peacekeeping mission is forced to ask how far he will go to protect those under his care, van Staalduinen’s fictions force us into difficult places and situations and, afterwards, demand we account for ourselves.

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Finding December: Christmas Tales

A collection of six holiday stories that carry the reader to new places in search of a perfect December. In "Finding December," a lonely traveler in a strange and foreign city discovers a bit of humanity; in “Our Own Voices,” a family faces a first Christmas after unspeakable tragedy; in "To Love Everyone," a cantankerous man tries to find an argument at the local church, but discovers a greater narrative at play; a young boy discovers that even great people are humans too in "A Command Performance"; in “Next Door,” even private neighbors can shine for each other at the holidays; and "Tupperware and a Christmas Star" finds Joseph on Mary's doorstep for a first Christmas date.

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Make Fire in the Desert: 1427 Days 
to unredecipher Kuwait

Kuwait is a study in contrasts. Through stories, essays, poetry, and photographs, Make Fire in the Desert attempts to interpret that contrast through the eyes of a foreigner who had 1427 days to unredecipher Kuwait.

Perched atop the Arabian Gulf and pinched between its stubborn siblings Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait often finds that it can’t quite rise above family squabbles to make its voice heard. Recent history has brought Kuwait’s fires to the edge of the world’s consciousness, from sabotaged oil wells after the Gulf War to a war smoldering next door. Lines on modern maps give it political shape, although tribes and families truly define its spread across the desert. Its history as a country is brief, and its youth often finds itself at odds with the length and breadth of its Arabian history. Oil wealth, also a young reality, provides the opportunity to import all things new and shiny, allowing lifestyles and appearances which are embraced by some, yet derided by others. 

A common verb one hears translated from Arabic to English is “make,” a concept which seems to encompass every action and intent; in addition to creating, making serves myriad purposes and meanings, from wanting to being to needing. In the souks, one hears, “I will make special price for you.” On the dusty gaps between buildings which serve as playgrounds, the children “make soccer.” In front of the government buildings, in times of unrest, the youth “make protest.”

Kuwait, ever proud, ever flawed, ever misunderstood, is quietly making fire in its desert for its citizens and the world to see.

Make Fire in the Desert is available at Amazon. If you are experiencing financial hardship, a free .pdf of the book is available below.

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Make Fire in the Desert
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