[Review of] Sabine R. Ulibarri. El Condor and Other Stories

This volume continues in the same vein as Governor Glu Glu, but Ulibarri here delves even more deeply into the world of fantasy. Many of the eleven stories in El Condor are like sugar-coated medicine: the sweetness prepares the reader for the lesson which comes in the form of a moral at the end. The Man Who Didn\u27t Eat, for example, is a tale of the scientific creation of a man who is vegetable Frankenstein\u27s monster, with parts taken from many plants. The creature in Ulibarri\u27s story is benevolent; as a result of his superhuman effort to save his neighbors from a plague to which he is immune, he misses his nutritional injection and dies. Ulibarri concludes with his lesson: No one ever knew, neither in the lay world nor in the scientific world, that a living miracle had lived among us. We do not know how to recognize the miracles that surround us. In A Man Who Forgot, the author presents a self-conscious story about a man who remembers only what is good. The moral here is, how beautiful life would be if we could erase from our memory all that is ugly, and remember only the beautiful and the good

[Review of] Gary Soto. Baseball in April and Other Stories

Gary Soto\u27s previous prose collections (Living Up the Street: Narrative Recollections -- 1985, Small Faces -- 1986, and Lesser Evils: Ten Quartets -- 1988) all contained stories about growing up, but this latest book focuses exclusively on the trials and tribulations of children and young teenagers. The eleven sketches in Baseball in April range in subject from broken Barbie dolls to championship marble tournaments, and all reveal a compassionate, understanding insight as well as the deft handiwork of a fine writer. For those who do not understand Spanish, the author has supplied a short appendix with translations of words and expressions. Artist Barry Root\u27s dust jacket depicting a red pickup full of boys and baseball gear is a splendid one that invites the reader to delve into the volume

[Review of] Americo Paredes. The Hammon and the Beam and Other Stories

Américo Paredes is a seminal figure in Mexican-American studies. Professor Emeritus of English and Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin, he is best known for his work in folklore, principally With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and lts Hero. But after a distinguished career as teacher and scholar, he has turned in recent years to literature (mostly written years ago), with the publication of a novel (George Washington Gomez) in 1990 and a collection of poetry (Between Two Worlds) in 1991. The present accumulation of seventeen stories, combined with Paredes’ novel and poetry, provide a clear and comprehesive [comprehensive] literary view of Mexican-American life in Texas and elsewhere during the first half of the twentieth century. An excellent introduction by Ramon Saldivar presents a much-needed history of south Texas and the recurrent ”border troubles” so that the reader can better comprehend the socio-cultural milieu which gave birth to the stories. In Saldivar’s words, Paredes\u27 collection represents brilliantly ”the difficult dialectic between a Mexican past and an American future for the Texas Mexicans living on the border at the margin of modernity and modernization”(xvi). Saldivar also includes information about the author and the histories of many of the selections -- where they were written, dates of composition, circumstances, etc. Most appear in print for the first time in a colorful and attractive volume with cover desigh [design] by Mark Pinon

[Review of] Beatriz Rivera. African Passions and Other Stories

In recent years there have been many novels, collections of short stories, and editions of poetry published by Mexican-Americans, but the works by Cuban-Americans have not been as plentiful. African Passions, the first published collection by Beatriz Rivera, is a promising but not altogether satisfying contribution to the corpus of Cuban-American writing. It is sometimes brilliant and imaginative, sometimes not very inspiring, with eight stories (several of which are interrelated) ranging from the humorous and well-conceived to the rather tedious

[Review of] Gary Soto. Who Will Know Us?

Gary Soto is one of America\u27s finest poets, a writer whose previous collections (The Elements of San Joaquin -- 1977, The Tale of Sunlight -- 1978, Father Is a Pillow Tied to a Broom -- 1980, Where Sparrows Work Hard -- 1981, and Black Hair -- 1985) have received wide critical acclaim, not only from Chicano critics but from others as well. In this latest volume Soto again demonstrates that he is an accomplished literary craftsman with a great deal to say. The forty-one poems are presented in three untitled sections and range from pensive reflections on old age and death to poetic accounts of seemingly trival [trivial] daily activities. Chronicle Books, in its first foray into the field of poetry, is to be congratulated for this handsome volume, printed on fine paper and with a lovely cover illustrated by Scott Sawyer

Solidification of APC residues using PFA

A pulverised fuel ash (pfa) classed as a waste due to high loss on ignition (LoI) was blended with waste alkali and used to solidify air pollution control (APC) residue from a waste incinerator. The resultant samples were tested for compressive strength and characterised using thermogravimmetric analysis (TGA). The effects of various variables including; l/s ratio, APC content, curing temperature and alkalinity of the liquid phase were examined. Results showed that a lower l/s gave higher compressive strength, analogous to that seen for cement mixes. Curing at slightly elevated temperatures were necessary for setting of the mixes within 7 days. An alkaline liquid fraction increased early age strength. The %(w/w) APC content showed no clear correlation with compressive strength results, but some APC was necessary for the mix to set. Resulys suggest the optimum APC content for compressive strength and solidification may be between 10-20%

Factorial Design Applied to Waste Immobilisation in Geopolymer-based Systems

Concentrated alkali, ground glass and air pollution control residues were mixed in various proportions and cured for up to 28 days. These blocks were tested in strength and analysed by thermal gravimetric analysis to assess the success of the geopolymerisation process. A Taguchi factorial design approach was then adopted to investigate the effects of different variables upon the strength development of these blocks