Sharks in an Inland Sea

A collection of short fiction and essays from Lehua Parker.

Giant, slumbering old ones biding their time in ancent and forgotten seas. Ancient (and modern) Hawaiian gods. Young girls who are much less helpless than they seem. Sharks come in many forms, and not all of them are obvious.

These thirty-one compelling stories, whether fiction, creative non-fiction, or essays, will make you think. Join a werewolf on her first hunt, a young woman reconnecting with her roots and perhaps finding romance along the way, guardians of traditions and beliefs, an unexpected ghost story, an islander learning how to find her way far from the ocean, and more. You'll want to read these tales again and again!

Contents:

• "Swimming with the Sharks" (foreword) by Joe Monson
• "Introduction: Traffic and Mascara"
• "Tourists"
• "Bridges"
• "Hawaiian on the Inside" (essay)
• "Red"
• "The Champion"
• "Cardinal Alignment" (poem)
• "Found"
• "Ho'oloa'a" (in Pidgin Hawaiian English)
• "Voices"
• "Aunty Mitzy's Helpers"
• "This Once Was a Sea"
• "Doors"
• "Brothers"
• "Rell's Kiss"
• "Tatau"
• "Infestation"
• "Maverick's"
• "Nana'ue"
• "Close Encounters"
• "In the Twenty and Fourth Year of the Judges"
• "Gamble"
• "Nightwalker" (creative non-fiction)
• "Balcony House Hat Trick" (creative non-fiction)
• "Persona Non Grata"
• "Hepatitis Sea" (creative non-fiction)
• "Resister"
• "We Need Hawaiian Kine Voices" (essay)
• "'Alika and Arnold"
• "Liz's Closet"
• "The Sandwich"
• "Akela in the Park"
• Hawaiian and Pidgin English Glossary