Bøger af Yxta Maya Murray

Laura de León is a radar astronomer who studies Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs) such as threatening asteroids and comets at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. In Los Angeles in 2020, several crises are coalescing. The first strain of SARS-CoV-2 triggers the lockdowns, the city roils with protests of Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd and the police killing of Breonna Taylor, while the Bobcat Fire sweeps across the San Fernando Valley. In the midst of these emergencies, Laura is struggling to keep her family alive. Simultaneously, Laura is trying to write the history section of a Congressional report titled the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan. This report will advise Congress that it must develop a system to detect and deflect PHOs, and the section Laura is working on cites several historical meteorite impacts as proof that the Earth is now undefended against a significant impact event. A story about family, love, risk, and science, A History of Hazardous Objects contemplates how experiencing trauma and pain may help us secure a safer and more just world.

"In award-winning legal scholar and novelist Yxta Maya Murray's new novel, federal agent Reyna Rodriguez reports on real-life nuclear reactor meltdowns and accidents that occurred in 1959, 1964, and 1968 at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory"--

On September 27, 2018, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings concerning Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegations that then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in the mid-1980s. Advice and Consent is a play formed of interviews, found text, and transcripts, re-arranged, selected, and edited for poetic and provocative effect. The drama is designed as a thought experiment about power, pathos, tragedy, politics, gender, race, and truth. Accompanied by a score written by law professor and violinist Kathleen Kim, it may be either read or performed.

One look at the centuries-old document she receives from a mysterious stranger is all it takes to plunge Lola Sanchez--a brilliant bibliophile and owner of the Red Lion bookshop--into the adventure of an already adventurous lifetime. The ancient writings tell of a stolen fortune in Montezuma's gold--and of the thief's transformation from conquistatore to alchemist . . . to werewolf.Riches beyond imagining possibly await the stalwart globe-trotter who can solve the intricate riddles hidden in the artifact's crumbling pages. But a deadly curse is buried there as well. On a dangerous quest through the dark shadows of history, Lola and her dashing companion, Eric, will have to unravel the twisted strands of her own family's fantastical past--and stay a step ahead of the villainous treasure hunters who would eagerly kill for the secrets she possesses and the Aztec gold she seeks.

Sara Rosario Gonzáles is a restorer of rare books and manuscripts at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. When Sara restores a sixteenth-century manuscript about an Aztec princess enslaved by Cortés and sent to Europe to entertain the pope and Emperor Charles V, she doesn't realize the power of the tale she's about to immerse herself into.The princess, we find, is determined to avenge the slaughter of her people, and Sara is determined to prove that the book, which caused scandal when first published, was written by the Aztec princess herself, and not the European monk reputed to have penned it.Entwined within Sara's fascination of the manuscript is Sara's own life: the frustration over her inability to commit to Karl, the man who has loved her since high school; the haunting wisdom of her departed mother; and the stability of a father who sees the world in a way Sara does not, both pragmatically and unyieldingly.The Conquest is a beautifully written novel that offers both hope that true love does exist and that history, in all its complexity, is what drives us all toward tomorrow.

These stories magnify and make real the hidden dialogue of society. Readers are left to grapple with the implications and ramifications of the policies and attitudes pervasive in the United States today and question what it means for the future.

There is a legend of the New World that has endured for centuries: the strange, tragic tale of a King, a Witch . . . and a blue gem of intoxicating beauty said to grant extraordinary power to whoever possesses it. Archaeologist Juana Sanchez, convinced that she's discovered the key to unlocking the mystery of the fabled Queen Jade, ventures into the Central American jungle alonejust ahead of the relentless pounding fury of Hurricane Mitch. When the terrible storm is over, Juana is gone, and an ancient, long-buried jade mine has been uncovered in the mountains of Guatemala, giving new hope to all obsessed seekers of the legendary stone. But it is a different obsession that plunges Juana's daughterscholar and bookseller Lola Sanchezinto the remarkable adventure of a lifetime. For only by following the Queen Jade's perilous, cursed trail can Lola hope to find her vanished mother . . . if it isn't already too late.

Una hechizante historia de tesoros perdidos y peligros ineludibles?el segundo libro en una Serie Red Lion sobresalienteTodo lo que necesita Lola Sánchez?bibliófila brillante y dueña de la librería Red Lion?para lanzarse a la aventura de una ya aventurada vida, es una mirada a los documentos centenarios que recibe de un misterioso desconocido. Los antiguos escritos hablan del robo de una fortuna en oro de Montezuma?y de la transformación del ladrón de conquistador en alquimista . . . en hombre lobo.Al valiente trotamundos que pueda resolver los complicados acertijos ocultos en las páginas desmenuzadas del artefacto, posiblemente le aguardan tesoros más allá de la imaginación. Pero también se esconde una maldición mortal entre las páginas. En una peligrosa búsqueda a través de las oscuras sombras de la historia, Lola y su apuesto acompañante, Eric, deberán desenmarañar los hilos retorcidos del pasado familiar fantástico de Lola?y mantenerse un paso delante de los malvados cazadores de fortuna que no dudarán en matar por los secretos que posee Lola y por el oro azteca que ella busca.

Sara Rosario Gonzáles lleva una existencia relativamente tranquila, como restauradora de libros y manuscritos antiguos en el Getty Museum de Los Ángeles. Pero cuando se encuentra ante la tarea de restaurar un manuscrito del siglo XVI sobre una princesa azteca que fue esclavizada por Cortés y enviada a Europa para divertir al Papa y a Carlos V, no se da cuenta del poder que tiene la historia en la que está a punto de sumergirse.En el manuscrito, nos enteramos de que una vez llega a Europa, la princesa está empeñada en vengar la masacre de su pueblo. Sara, por su parte, busca comprobar que el libro -- cuya publicación causó gran escándalo -- fue en realidad escrito por la misma princesa azteca, y no por el monje europeo que es su presunto autor.La fascinación de Sara por el manuscrito se mezcla a los conflictos que debe afrontar en su propia vida. La frustración que le causa su incapacidad de comprometerse con Karl, el hombre que la ha amado desde la secundaria, el recuerdo de la sabiduría evocadora e inquietante de su madre difunta, y la aparente estabilidad de su padre, quien contrariamente a Sara, ve el mundo con pragmatismo y sin prejuicios.La Conquista es una novela única que nos da la esperanza de que el amor verdadero sí existe, y que la historia, en toda su complejidad, es la que nos impulsa hacia nuestro destino.

La Reina Jade—una piedra preciosa de gran belleza y que, se decía, otorgaba poder a quien la poseyera—era solo una leyenda maya que durante siglos había cautivado a exploradores y sabios que pisaban el Nuevo Mundo, como Beatriz de la Cueva, gobernadora de aquellas tierras en el siglo XVI, o el naturalista y viajero Alexander von Humboldt. Lola conoce bien el poder de seducción de este mito. Buscar la preciada gema azul ha sido la obsesión de su madre, una arqueóloga especialista en la cultura maya, y todo apunta a que su precipitado viaje a Guatemala, ahora devastada por el huracán Match, se debió a que finalmente logró descifrar el misterio de su paradero. Lo último que Lola sabe de su madre es que se adentró en la selva y desapareció. Si quiere encontrarla, deberá seguir sus pasos y descodificar las pistas ocultas en cartas, relatos antiguos y oscuros jeroglíficos, con la esperanza de que la conduzcan hasta la Reina Jade. Una perfecta combinación de aventura y misterio histórico, La Reina Jade cautivará la atención de sus lectores y los dejará embelesados hasta el final.