"The first witch of the waters was born in Destruction. The moon named her Maria."

Set against the tropics and megacities of the Americas, Maria, Maria takes inspiration from wild creatures, tarot, and the porous borders between life and death. Motivated by love and its inverse, grief, the characters who inhabit these stories negotiate boldly with nature to cast their desired ends. As the enigmatic community college professor in "Brujeria for Beginners" reminds us: "There's always a price for conjuring in darkness. You won't always know what it is until payment is due." This commitment drives the disturbingly faithful widow in "Tijuca," who promises to bury her husband's head in the rich dirt of the jungle, and the sisters in "Moksha," who are tempted by a sleek obsidian dagger once held by a vampiric idol.

But magic isn't limited to the women who wield it. As Rubio so brilliantly elucidates, animals are powerful magicians too. Subversive pigeons and hungry jaguars are called upon in "Tunnels," and a lonely little girl runs free with a resurrected saber-toothed tiger in "Burial." A colorful catalog of gallery exhibits from animals in therapy is featured in "Art Show," including the Almost Philandering Fox, who longs after the red pelt of another, and the recently rehabilitated Paranoid Peacocks.

Brimming with sharp wit and ferocious female intuition, these stories bubble over into the titular novella, "Maria, Maria"-a tropigoth family drama set in a reimagined California rainforest that explores the legacies of three Marias, and possibly all Marias. Writing in prose so lush it threatens to creep off the page, Rubio emerges as an ineffable new voice in contemporary short fiction.

About the Author
Marytza Rubio has an MFA in creative writing: Latin America and was a Bread Loaf scholar. She is the founder of Makara Center for the Arts, a nonprofit library in her hometown of Santa Ana, California.

Reviews
"In Marytza K. Rubio's genre-defying debut collection of short stories, the characters-which span from women to animals to the moon-negotiate with nature, invoking Mexican American myths, mystics, and magic. Maria, Maria & Other Stories stretches across the Americas, reimagines the boundaries of reality and fiction, and expands upon the spaces between life and death." -- National Book Foundation announcement, 2022 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction
"[A] stunning debut . . . While most of the stories are set in Southern California, a few reach farther afield to Brazil and New Orleans while featuring primarily female protagonists-mothers, sisters, friends, aunts, and cousins-ferociously celebrating feminine power. Rubio confects her moving, disturbing, and intense stories in a variety of styles, voices, and tones, from dark parody to heart-wrenching, grotesque, and violent yet touching. Adorned with illustrations of powerful simplicity . . . Teens will be fascinated by these playful and intense stories featuring young women and girls." -- Sara Martinez, Booklist, starred review
"Rubio is an extravagant storyteller; her prose thrums with life, and her plots take hairpin turns. All of this is on full display in Maria, Maria . . . this is transporting work . . . Sprawling magical realistic stories with a moral bent." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Purveying characters (both women and animals) with otherwordly powers, Rubio steps across the thin border between life and a dangerous beyond . . . A vividly accomplished debut." -- Barbara Hoffert - Library Journal
"Mysticism and imagination run wild in Rubio's debut collection, which showcases glittering prose and a fearless approach to form and imagery . . . these 10 tales defy categorization and blur genre boundaries . . . Rubio's talent is evident, and there's such a range of tones and genres on offer that any reader will find at least something to enjoy." -- Publishers Weekly


Awards
Long-listed for National Book Award 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9781324090540
Author Marytza K. Rubio
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 384g
Dimensions(mm) 218mm * 147mm * 23mm