The Consequences: Stories

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Shimmering writing depicting California's Central Valley, the first book in a decade from a virtuoso story writer.

These exquisite stories are mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns that surround Fresno. With an unflinching hand, Munoz depicts the Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers who put food on our tables but were regularly and ruthlessly rounded up by the migra, as well as the quotidian struggles and immense challenges faced by their families.

The messy and sometimes violent realities navigated by his characters-straight and gay, immigrant and American-born, young and old-are tempered by moments of surprising, tender care: Two young women meet on a bus to Los Angeles to retrieve the men they love who must find their way back from the border after being deported; a gay couple plans a housewarming party that reveals buried class tensions; a teenage mother slips out to a carnival where she encounters the father of her child; the foreman of a crew of fruit pickers finds a dead body and is subsequently-perhaps literally- haunted.

In The Consequences, obligation can shape, support, and sometimes derail us. It's a magnificent new book from a gifted writer at the height of his powers.

Each story reveals an entire life. Muoz is one of the best writers working in America. Susan Straight

Haunting, powerful, humble, precise, this collection shook my being. Sandra Cisneros

Manuel Muozs stories are melancholy, assured, and unforgettable. Colin Barrett

Author Bio

Manuel Muoz is the author of a novel, What You See in the Dark, and the short story collections Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, which was shortlisted for the Frank OConnor International Short Story Award. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He has been recognized with a Whiting Writers Award, three O. Henry Awards, and an appearance in Best American Short Stories.

A native of Dinuba, California, he currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.