The Essence of Az

About the Book

History behind the story of Az The making of the story, began as a thought, an idea or you could say possibly it came out of my first musical CD, entitled Nacimiento, as a concept. Out of this recording came a development of a musical style, termed Slang. The love for my culture, friends and family was encapsulated in the recording. Which to this date is my driving beacon to continue. The musicians and loved ones who saw it develop, then became an awakening dream for me. A mirror of a story was unveiled with a reflection of the surroundings and culture were told. A musical trek, but also a story of odds within a surrealistic society, that triggered the writing. In the art work I was influenced by my grandson Jacob, after my first drawing the Dragosaur or the beast that was suppose to be the only true native to the land. Since then my drawings have flourished out of me with a vengence. As I completed the story it took a spin for reasons I’m still trying to understand. The following attributes to the story are true and they became visible as the chapters were completed, without my knowledge. So with this in mind I became more committed in completing the book, it became that much more intriguing. The story in its earlier days, was told to several confident friends, which flourished me with support. Viren and Dixie, thank you. Part of the story was created through my illustrations, that gave a new life to the story. There were times I felt guided by some spiritual source. One example was in Chapter One: when I typed the story in computer form. A paragraph that stood out was that of my grandparents names, “Jesus” and “Luz”. Translating these names from Spanish to English you get “Gods Light”. Needless to say, tears of joy and remembrance overwhelmed me. With this message in mind, it took the story to another level. I became more focused and felt a completion level was my course. Ironically the first chapter is an actual account of my early years, sort of like a mini-bio. Then gathering insight information on how to layout the beginning became the start. In Chapter Three the farmer character, was seen as maybe Cesar Chavez, a great latino persona, which I can relate to. It gave it an empowerment to people, with a cause. He was first called Juan, because I felt that was a good common name as I stumbled upon a poem by Corky Gonzalez called “I am Juaquin/Yo soy Joaquin”. Thus knowing my middle name is Joaquin, this gave it more validity to the spirit and direction of the story. As far as the gangster hoodlum “Bote”. The name in ‘slang’ signifies jail or translated from Spanish to English “The Can”. This suedo name became perfect for someone who had lost his heart, to the cruel world of gang life. The name and character “Gink” was intentionally spelled backwards. The “i” and the “n” flipped from the word “king” backwards. Plan was to make him king of the land and hand him the keys to Magical City of Ezmeralda, this would happen somewhere towards the end. When we talk about the name “Gink” and why this name. Originally he was supposed to be a misfit, outcast of the existing society. He was suppose to be someone different from the social and cultural makeup. He’s nick name came from the Citizen’s, who mocked and ridiculed him. These Citizen’s had a different agenda to their destinies and the “Gink” struggled to identify himself with them and his surroundings. One day I was playing scrabble on the computer when I stumbled across the word “gink”, and began to look it up in the dictionary. It means: [Slang] a man or boy, esp. one who is regarded as odd. I was floored by the definition of the name without realizing what I had just created. The other characters in the story are the sorcerer “Wal” or “Law” spelled backwards and “Knab” the “Bank”. Maybe for subconscious reasons that could relate to societies rights and wrongs, rich verses poor, good verses evil, death verses life or darkness v

About the Author

Ruben Joaquin Burciaga was raised in the Southwest, between El Paso and Las Cruces. Graduate of Gadsden High School, married his high school sweetheart, relocated to California, then to Chicago for a drafting design career. Later settling in Southern California to hone his musical, artistic and writing skills. In 1999 he released his debut record Cafe/Nacimiento. He placed quarter finalist in the 11th Annual Writer’s Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition, November 15, 2004. Was a nominee for the Orange County Music Awards in 2004 and 2005. November 2007 he released his latest record Azla/Slang.