{"title":"Ruben Reyes Jr.","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"there-is-a-rio-grande-in-heaven-stories","title":"There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLonglisted for the PEN\/Faulkner Award • Finalist for The Story Prize • Finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction • Finalist for the California Book Award • Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the New American Voices Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Ruben Reyes Jr. is a wonder.\" — Héctor Tobar\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn electrifying debut speculative fiction story collection about Central American identity that spans past, present, and future worlds to reveal what happens when your life is no longer your own.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn ordinary man wakes one morning to discover he’s a famous reggaetón star. An aging abuela slowly morphs into a marionette puppet. A struggling academic discovers the horrifying cost of becoming a Self-Made Man.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThere Is a Rio Grande in Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e, Ruben Reyes Jr. conjures strange, dreamlike, and surreal worlds to explore what we would do if we woke up one morning and our lives were unrecognizable. Boundaries between the past, present, and future are blurred. Menacing technology and unchecked bureaucracy cut through everyday life with uncanny dread. The characters, from mango farmers to popstars to ex-guerilla fighters to cyborgs, are forced to make uncomfortable choices—choices that not only mean life or death, but might also allow them to be heard in a world set on silencing the voices of Central Americans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlazing with heart, humor, and inimitable style, \u003ci\u003eThere Is a Rio Grande in Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e subverts everything we think we know about migration and its consequences, capturing what it means to take up a new life—whether willfully or forced—with piercing and brilliant clarity. A gifted new storyteller and trailblazing stylist, Reyes not only transports to other worlds but alerts us to the heartache and injustice of our own.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ruben Reyes Jr.","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":53497224692003,"sku":"9780063336308","price":15.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":53149971087651,"sku":"9780063336278","price":22.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/2258\/5123\/files\/9780063336278.jpg?v=1741147579"},{"product_id":"archive-of-unknown-universes-a-novel-1","title":"Archive of Unknown Universes: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the critically acclaimed author of \u003cem\u003eThere Is a Rio Grande in Heaven\u003c\/em\u003e, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war—a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Beautiful.\" \u003c\/strong\u003e—\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eLA Times\u003c\/em\u003e, A Must-Read Book for Summer \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Luminous.\" —\u003cem\u003ePeople\u003c\/em\u003e, A Best Book of July \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCambridge, 2018.\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eAna and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHavana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRuben Reyes Jr.’s debut novel is an epic, genre-bending journey through inverted worlds—one where war ends with a peace treaty, and one where it ends with a decisive victory by the Salvadoran government. What unfolds is a stunning story of displacement and belonging, of loss and love. It’s both a daring imagining of what might have been and a powerful reckoning of our past.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ruben Reyes Jr.","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":54595526983971,"sku":"9780063336353","price":15.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":54959112257827,"sku":"9780063336315","price":22.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/2258\/5123\/files\/9780063336353.jpg?v=1766124716"}],"url":"https:\/\/epicreads.com\/collections\/ruben-reyes-jr.oembed","provider":"Epic Reads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}