{"product_id":"basilio-boullosa-stars-in-the-fountain-of-highlandtown-9781936328222","title":"Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown","description":"\u003cp\u003eCommemorating the 20th anniversary of the publication of \u003cem\u003eThe Fountain of Highlandtown\u003c\/em\u003e, this new collection of fiction from a master storyteller continues to mine the lives of Americans we rarely hear about. In \u003cem\u003eBasilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown\u003c\/em\u003e, Rafael Alvarez returns to his main theme of exile, the heartbreak of leaving and being left behind set to the sound track of the Beatles, Dylan, and Zappa. From the East Baltimore immigrants stirring the old country back to life in deep-bellied pots and cast iron skillets to the lovers stroking the relics of lost romance, Alvarez's characters yearn for the lost and struggle mightily to make memory as tangible as flesh. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom National Book Award winner James McBride: \"Rafael Alvarez's talents--poetic deftness, tight dialogue, burning descriptive passages laid out with seeming ease--show why he was one of the gifted writers that turned \u003cem\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/em\u003e into the greatest show in television history. These are stories from the treasure chest of one of America's most talented scribes, and I am glad he shared them with us.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublished in 1997, \u003cem\u003eThe Fountain of Highlandtown \u003c\/em\u003eheralded the fiction debut of a ​City Desk reporter for the \u003cem\u003eBaltimore Sun\u003c\/em\u003e who wanted ​to tell stories that would carry no expiration date. ​A late-night rewrite man, Alvarez ​used the rest of his time documenting the folklore of ​his hometown's neighborhoods​. The practice imbue​d​ his short stories with a blue-collar ​honesty and kitchen-apron ​reality. Here is love in all of its pain and joy: love that ​Alvarez ​has for his city, ​that ​his characters have for ​one​ other, and that readers will have for these stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the back cover of that first book, ​Stuart Dybek--author of \u003cem\u003ePaper Lantern: Love Stories\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Coast of Chicago\u003c\/em\u003e--said, \"Rafael Alvarez's voice has already matured into a savvy, fleet prose style, and a pan-ethnic vision in which his allegiance, rather than to political correctness, is to integrity and vitality.\" ​It was twenty years ago today and the band is playing better than ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA lifelong Baltimorean, Alvarez began publishing poetry during the Ford Administration by rewriting the lyrics to Robin Trower songs. His early pieces appeared in the \u003cem\u003eNews-American\u003c\/em\u003e--a defunct afternoon paper for the city's working class--and \u003cem\u003eChicory\u003c\/em\u003e, a literary magazine published in Baltimore from 1966-to-1983. For twenty years, he worked as a City Desk reporter for the \u003cem\u003eBaltimore Sun\u003c\/em\u003e, specializing in the folklore of city neighborhoods. He quit the paper in 2001 to work as a laborer on cable ships and soon after began writing for HBO's police drama, \u003cem\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBasilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown\u003c\/em\u003e is Alvarez's fourth collection of fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Citylit Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/18\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781936328222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.02lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.75d","brand":"Rafael Alvarez","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38211693707445,"sku":"9781936328222","price":22.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_f57a2f13-f6cf-4fb1-90ae-21704643afe8.jpg?v=1610431584","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/basilio-boullosa-stars-in-the-fountain-of-highlandtown-9781936328222","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}