(A Novel-in-Progress, 2022)
Nell Narváez is accustomed to being stared at. She was born with the kind of face that inspires diagnosis rather than admiration, and for her entire childhood, normalcy seems like a pipe dream. But when her years of surgeries are finally complete, she is transformed into not just normal, but an "exotically" beautiful teenager. The stares she receives take on a new character--one that she doesn't like. Empowered by a self-educated knowledge of revolutionary politics and disability theory, she goes on a crusade to find the surgeon who will return her to the way she was born to look.
Paulie Penáguilas is the most American Guatemalan you'd ever hope to meet, which is still not American enough for his Long Island town. And he's in love with Nell, who is in love with her own reflection. When he's diagnosed with early-onset macular degeneration, it spells certain death for his complicated relationship with Nell, who can't imagine being unseen by the one person whose stares she'd actually welcome.
Just days after the United States elects its first Black president, a group of White kids from Nell and Paulie's high school (and a deeply confused Dominican) murder a man on the streets of their hometown because he is Latino. Like all the other Latinos in Patchogue, Nell and Paulie are unsurprised, but shaken, and resolve to put their personal drama aside to help themselves and their community heal.
A cyborg feminist reimagining of Benito Pérez Galdós' Marianela set in modern day suburbia, Not for Nothing tells the story of the place the American Dream went to die from four perspectives:
Inspired by the hate crime that put a Long Island town on the map, Not for Nothing is an exploration of what happens when issues of identity come before issues of humanity.
Paulie Penáguilas is the most American Guatemalan you'd ever hope to meet, which is still not American enough for his Long Island town. And he's in love with Nell, who is in love with her own reflection. When he's diagnosed with early-onset macular degeneration, it spells certain death for his complicated relationship with Nell, who can't imagine being unseen by the one person whose stares she'd actually welcome.
Just days after the United States elects its first Black president, a group of White kids from Nell and Paulie's high school (and a deeply confused Dominican) murder a man on the streets of their hometown because he is Latino. Like all the other Latinos in Patchogue, Nell and Paulie are unsurprised, but shaken, and resolve to put their personal drama aside to help themselves and their community heal.
A cyborg feminist reimagining of Benito Pérez Galdós' Marianela set in modern day suburbia, Not for Nothing tells the story of the place the American Dream went to die from four perspectives:
- Nell Narváez, a foster kid who's had more surgeries than birthdays
- The grandmother she's never met, on the cusp of leaving rural Puerto Rico for New York in the 1950s
- A very sentient Long Island Expressway, and
- The doomed animal who will become the Montauk Monster
Inspired by the hate crime that put a Long Island town on the map, Not for Nothing is an exploration of what happens when issues of identity come before issues of humanity.
(A Novel)
Eminent Domain is the story of Shiri Shapiro’s fall from grace in the romance insurance industry -- a fall that becomes a jump.
In the not-too-distant future, climate change has done exactly what it's supposed to do. Coastal cities around the world are devastated, and the need for action goes from urgent to inescapable. A shocked United States reacts with a series of bizarre shifts in federal policy -- all borders are open, all drugs are legal, and all marriages are outlawed -- in an attempt to eliminate the contentious social issues of the day and refocus the nation's resources where they belong: on battling runaway warming.
Suddenly finding themselves without purpose, marriage counselors and divorce lawyers find a loophole in the ban on marriage by selling insurance policies on romantic relationships. Neo-noir heroine Shiri Shapiro is a catastrophe adjuster in Albany, New York who handles the toughest romance claims. Backed by an arsenal of pseudoscience and vaping THC, she arrives at the scene of a breakup to determine who hurts more and who gets the money.
Shiri's reputation is unparalleled until she takes Van, a younger, smarter, and more skeptical colleague, under her wing. When a neurologically complicated customer attempts to defraud her, Shiri must reassess her profession and its place in the world. In a country governed by top-down decisions, she must determine whose jurisdiction to follow. In the post-industrial shell of the once-great capital of New York, Shiri must determine who has a right to whose heart.
In the not-too-distant future, climate change has done exactly what it's supposed to do. Coastal cities around the world are devastated, and the need for action goes from urgent to inescapable. A shocked United States reacts with a series of bizarre shifts in federal policy -- all borders are open, all drugs are legal, and all marriages are outlawed -- in an attempt to eliminate the contentious social issues of the day and refocus the nation's resources where they belong: on battling runaway warming.
Suddenly finding themselves without purpose, marriage counselors and divorce lawyers find a loophole in the ban on marriage by selling insurance policies on romantic relationships. Neo-noir heroine Shiri Shapiro is a catastrophe adjuster in Albany, New York who handles the toughest romance claims. Backed by an arsenal of pseudoscience and vaping THC, she arrives at the scene of a breakup to determine who hurts more and who gets the money.
Shiri's reputation is unparalleled until she takes Van, a younger, smarter, and more skeptical colleague, under her wing. When a neurologically complicated customer attempts to defraud her, Shiri must reassess her profession and its place in the world. In a country governed by top-down decisions, she must determine whose jurisdiction to follow. In the post-industrial shell of the once-great capital of New York, Shiri must determine who has a right to whose heart.
The Pedestrians (2014 Novella)
|
"I was looking at his back. As he was already in the process of walking away, he muttered something insincere about the inevitability of our meeting in the future, one of those mechanisms we use to avoid goodbye. It wasn’t so much over his shoulder as downward, a phlegmatic emission which, had I been lucky, could have bounced off the sidewalk and back to me. I can’t even remember what language it was in." |
|
2011 was the year that broke the record for gun-related homicides on the island of Puerto Rico. It was also the year that Angie fell in love with Sal. Against the backdrop of a national drama of hyper-sensationalized murder rates, The Pedestrians explores how the illusion of ever-present violence does (and doesn't) affect the choices of a pair of young lovers living in the oppressive heat.
Published in serial format by Novella-T, September 2014.
Published in serial format by Novella-T, September 2014.