Mill Rats: When the boys got in trouble she always go them out but smuggling refugees is a whole new game. - Softcover

Fraire, Gabriel A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1481995421 ISBN 13: 9781481995429

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

Mill Rats is an easy read with a good storyline and interesting characters set against the background of the steel mills. There are very few books of any type about steel mills. And, not nearly enough books by and about Latinos.The big steel mills around Chicago are built on Lake Michigan and they all have their own docks. In 1978 five steel mill workers “mill rats” become involved with smuggling a political refugee out of communist Russia. The event grows into a modern day underground railway for escapees from behind the iron curtain until the mill rats discover they are in more trouble than they every imagined possible. When they try to stop, their lives are threatened. They have no choice but to find the toughest person they’d even known, Lena. She’d left The Region when she was sixteen after a knife fight found two girls seriously injured. Unwillingly, Lena returns to The Region to help her old friends attempt an escape from the Russian Mob, the police and enemies old and new.

About this title

About the Author

Gabriel A. Fraire was born in East Chicago, Indiana, in the part of town known as “The Harbor.” It was the Mexican barrio that was adjacent to the steel mills. Fraire grew up urban, ethnic and working class. All his family and friends were steel workers and he too spent several years working the steel mills. Fraire had his first short story published in 1973 and a year later his first non-fiction article. In 1974 he wrote his first novel: "Latino Jesse" an autobiographical fiction novel about growing up in a steel mill town, a Mexican-American and being neither Mexican nor American. In 1975 he began working as a journalist and in 1986 accepted the position as Editor of The Windsor Times, in Windsor, California. During this time he had his first book published: "Windsor the Birth of a City," a non-fiction record of how Windsor went from an unincorporated area to cityhood. This book was followed by: "I Remember Healdsburg," a collection of historic memories from residents of Healdsburg, Ca. and "Daddy I Need to Go Potty" a humorous look at the life of a dad with two young daughters, ages 2 and 6 written while his daughters were 2 and 6. After resigning his editor's job Fraire began working full-time as a graphic designer but continued to write and wrote two plays, with his brother John: "Who Will Dance With Pancho Villa" and "Cesar Died Today" both successfully produced in New York City. They also wrote the story and screenplay, "Stories of the Seasons" as part of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum Mexican American History Project. This was a planetarium presentation.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1481995421
• ISBN 13: 9781481995429
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 237