Transitions: Twenty-Four Bilingual Short Stories

Why write? I believe there is an inborn tendency in every individual to be creative, and being creative is an essential part of my life; it has always been.

I came to America from Spain when I was in my mid-thirties and can testify that the process of absorption of the language and culture-that is, adaptation-is gradual and prolonged. If one is born and raised in a country and then moves to another, an appropriate adaptation requires not only that one acquires the new language but also integrates the two cultures. From a pragmatic point of view, however, popular culture, including language, dominates the daily social activity of a country. The acknowledgment of this reality, along with encouragement from my American wife, determined that I switch languages and write in English.

The majority of the stories in this collection are mainstream fiction, and the characters reflect some autobiographical, albeit fictionalized, and transitional phases in life. As a character in one of the stories ("Never Too Late") says, 'Nobody's completely alone in life, ' and writing a book, any book, cannot be entirely done in solitude; the writer needs feedback ...

Jose L Recio was born and raised in Spain, where he studied medicine and began a career in neurological sciences. When he was in his mid-thirties, he joined the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA on an International Fellowship. Personal circumstances induced him to make a change in career orientation; he became an American Board Certified Psychiatrist. He has practiced in Southern and Northern California. More recently, he has developed an interest in creative writing. His short stories had appeared in Adelaide Literary Magazine, Los Acentos Review, The Literary Nest, and With Painted Words Magazine, among others. He and his wife currently live in Los Angeles.