ISLE PAGES
New releases by Hawaii authors

"Kimo -- A Collection of Short Stories" by Kimo Hollinger (Anoai Press. $14.95)

"'O Au No Keia -- Voices From Hawaii's Mahu and Transgender Communities" by Andrew Matzner (Xlibris, $18.69)

Reviewed by Burl Burlingame
bburlingame@starbulletin.com

Anoai continues to rule the rather specialized niche of surfing literature, and this slim volume of memories by surfing legend and Fire Department captain Hollinger is no exception. Hollinger has a casual style of expression that reads like a letter from a friend, and this is leavened by a quirky sense of humor. The Hollinger family was surfing Waikiki in the redwood log days, and there's a photo section in the back to prove it.

Matzner, a cross-dresser himself, is fascinated by gender diversity in Pacific cultures and has assembled here several first-person accounts of what it's like to grow up in Hawaii either gay or transgender, or both. Apparently, we're more tolerant than most other cultures, but still less than some others.

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