Islands Linked by Ocean

Book excerpt: Fiction. From the author of SISTA TONGUE come stories written with humor and compassion that give voice to characters who find themselves at crossroad moments where past informs present, young teach old, and love can mean holding on or letting go. In "The Steersman," a novice paddler shares her tempestuous yet life-affirming introduction to the tradition of outrigger canoe paddling: "... in the canoe, we were nameless. We were numbers, and when we weren't numbers, we were random expletives--scrub, donkey, idiot, stupid, jackass, lame ass, dumb ass...." In "Born Again Hawaiian," a young husband discovers how the personal impacts the political when his activist wife shows him how he must fight for what he loves most. And what happens when three local women take in the opera? "Dat suckah Pavarotti--he get um."