BOOKS
PAGE TURNERS
A look at recently published works by UCR faculty, staff, and alumni
“Eight Very Bad Nights”
Edited by Tod Goldberg
Soho Crime
October 2024, 304 pages
“Eight Very Bad Nights” offers a collection of funny, gritty, and poignant Hanukkah capers from 11 authors, including stories from Goldberg and fellow UCR faculty members David Ulin, Gabino Iglesias, Ivy Pochoda, and UCR alum Liska Jacobs.
Goldberg is a professor of creative writing and director of the UCR Palm Desert low-residency MFA program.
“Across a Bridge of Fire”
By Scott Allen
Stillwater River Publications
March 2024, 273 pages
In “Across a Bridge of Fire,” Allen recounts his stunning true story of catastrophic childhood injury, teenage restlessness, and his ultimate journey to helping refugees and displaced survivors of the Cambodian genocide in the wake of the Vietnam War.
Allen is a professor emeritus in the UCR School of Medicine.
“The Deading”
By Nicholas Belardes, MFA ’23
Erewhon Books
July 2024, 304 pages
In a small fishing town, a mysterious infection emerges from the depths of the ocean, causing the death of the town’s residents — only for them to rise again. “The Deading” explores the disintegration of society, horror of survival, and solace found through connections with nature.
Belardes earned an MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts.
“Bones Worth Breaking”
By David Martinez, MFA ’17
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
April 2024, 400 pages
“Bones Worth Breaking” is a portrait of an unbreakable bond between two brothers robbed of the chance to grow old together, and a reckoning with the global forces that let many poor young men of color fall through the cracks.
Martinez earned an MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts.
“The Marvelous Ones”
By Randol Contreras
University of California Pres
April 2024, 344 pages
Based on Contreras’ field research, “The Marvelous Ones” offers an intimate portrait of aging LA gang members as they struggle to find meaning in the face of addiction, violent trauma, and a rapidly changing East Los Angeles.
Schalla received a bachelor’s degree in biology.
“Dancing Mestizo Modernisms”
By José Luis Reynoso
Oxford University Press
December 2023, 292 pages
Drawing from archival research and theories of race, dance, and performance studies, “Dancing Mestizo Modernisms” analyzes how national and international dancers contributed to developing Mexico’s cultural politics and notions of the nation at different historical moments.
Reynoso is an assistant professor of critical dance studies.
Return to UCR Magazine: Fall 2024