On "Somewhere the Desert Hides a Well" by Maria Deira (6846 words) ***

I like genre fiction that has an aura of simply being a regular, realistic story. Maybe it is a regular story with just one thing off, or it's a story that starts off realistic and takes a sudden turn to the weird. Deira's story is of the latter variety. What I like about such stories is that they're easier to identify with. They're still about human beings doing human things, except that this one thing . . . and you know what else? Real life goes on, even as the weird multiplies.

In Deira's story, students returning from an academic bowl somehow end up being discovered passed out in a van in a field. No one knows what happened, but foul play from the team's coach is suspected. It's a tale of mystery straight out of the X-files. Read it here at Giga Noto Saurus.

On "This Is Me American Style" by Maria Deira (1598 words) ****

Deira calls up a Mexican man here--one who wants, on some level, not to be Mexican, not to be the person he is, wants not to be working in an office, not to be lonely. I'm reminded a little of Oscar Zeta Acosta here if Acosta hadn't decided to become part of the brown revolution, if instead he'd climbed into himself and tried to be Anglo and failed to succeeded. This man wars against himself, which makes his battle against others all the more hopeless. Read the story here at Word Riot.