Author Manuel Muñoz has been recognized as one of the most important literary voices of and for the Mexican-American communities in California’s Central Valley. His short story collections focus on giving a voice to those who are often ignored. His stories have a gentle yet harshly realistic quality to them and help to humanize the stories of everyday life for Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.
Northwestern and TriQuarterly Books have announced the June 15 reprinting of author Manuel Muñoz’s three books, Zigzagger, The Faith Healer of Olive Street, and What You See in the Dark. Here we will share what you can expect from Muñoz’s new and improved collection and why the reprinting of his stories is more important than ever.
Printing and Reprinting
Muñoz’s first book, Zigzagger, a collection of short stories, was first published by Northwestern and TriQuarterly Books in 2003, with his other titles following. However, Muñoz did not see real success with his novels until The Consequences, his latest collection of short stories, published in 2022. A year later, Muñoz was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, an award that aims to acknowledge creative individuals who take risks in their imaginative thinking and in addressing societal problems. Muñoz was awarded for “depicting with empathy and nuance the Mexican-American communities of California’s Central Valley.”
After his books, The Faith Healer of Olive Street, a collection of short stories, and What You See in the Dark, a novel, went out of print, Muñoz described the success he found with The Consequences as his lucky break. The interest in his backlist was reignited by the attention given to him by the MacArthur Fellowship. Now, all four of his books will be back in print.
The Consequences
The Consequences is a collection of short stories mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns surrounding Fresno, California. Muñoz depicts the real and sometimes ruthless lives of Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers. Stories of all kinds of families torn apart again and again by the cyclical deportations of fieldworkers, stories that highlight sexuality and gender, and stories of the consequences of every decision that gets made. All of his characters are shockingly realistic and emotional in ways that can touch the hearts of everyone. His stories are delicate and soft yet heart-wrenching, spanning many different perspectives and personalities.
Zigzagger
Zigzagger is Muñoz’s strong debut collection of short stories that shows a different side of Mexican-American communities. The stories highlight the physical struggles of the environment, coupled with the little-known personal struggles of the everyday people who call California’s Central Valley home. It highlights themes found in most of Muñoz’s work, including family, sexuality, belonging, loneliness, and loss. This new version will include a foreword by fellow writer Helena María Viramontes
The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue
Muñoz’s second collection of short stories, The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, once again gives a voice to the voiceless communities of California’s Central Valley; these include narratives of family, grief, masculinity, and fatherhood. Muñoz weaves his stories with a gentle empathy that humanizes this cast of recurring characters as they strive to overcome each challenge thrown in their way. A foreword by writer Cherríe Moraga will be featured in the reprinted version.
What You See in the Dark
In Muñoz’s debut novel, What You See in the Dark, readers see a different side of the author as he brings us a story fit for old Hollywood set in 1950s Bakersfield, California. The story follows Teresa, an aspiring singer who meets Dan Watson, the man she believes will help her dreams come true. Teresa and Dan become the talk of the town until a famous actress and director from Hollywood come to film Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the two stories become eerily intertwined. The reprinted version will be accompanied by a foreword from film critic Charles Taylor.
Muñoz’s dedicated focus on telling the diverse and endless stories of the Mexican-American communities with succinct clarity deserves to be recognized. There is no better time for his stories to come back to the public, as right now, there has never been more of a need to humanize the everyday lives of the people like those found in Muñoz’s stories. Muñoz reminds us all that no matter who you are or where you come from, whether Mexican or American, immigrant or citizen, male or female, gay or straight, old or young, we all have a story to be told and that there is so much more to everyone’s story than what meets the eye.
For more stories on the little-known lives of immigrants, click here.
Find these books and more on our Hispanic/Latinx Recommendations bookshelf on Bookshop.org
