In This World of Ultraviolet Light

Raul Palma is author of A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens. He earned his PhD in English at the University of Nebraska, with a specialization in ethnic studies. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

• 1. All along the Hills2. Ropa Vieja3. Never through Miami4. The Roasting Box5. Stand Your Ground6. The Phone Thieves7. Immaculate Mulch8. ObsolescenceCredits

Through the lens of Cuban-American identity, In These Worlds of Ultraviolet Light explores the viciousness we often visit upon each other in times of duress, our fumbling attempts at connection, and the moments when love and cruelty become the same thing. The characters range from recent immigrants to Americans of Cuban descent struggling to find cultural grounding, to a worksite manager who can see her employees as nothing more than 'those Spanish-chirping little men.' But while the writing is thoughtful and bold in its interrogation of identity, this is fiction to steal the breath of any reader, from any background. There were passages that had me looking away from the page for a moment as I tried to let my heart catch up to what my brain was reading, and others that had me laughing aloud, at both the characters' wit and the author's daring. The writing is nuanced, charged, filled with turns so artfully constructed you can only surrender to each story and let it take you where it wants to go. This book, so full of the characters' pain, was a pleasure to read, and I offer my congratulations to the author not only on winning the Belton Prize, but on creating a remarkable collection of stories.- Anjali Sachdeva, Don Belton Prize judge, author of All the Names They Used for God The stories in this wonderful, vibrant collection made me homesick for the Miami so lovingly and hilariously rendered on its pages—a moving portrayal of a place worth mourning and celebrating.- Jennine Capó Crucet, author of My Time Among the Whites