Valleyesque: Stories

Valleyesque by Fernando A. Flores is a book of short stories that are psychedelic, satirical, and surreal. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “No one captures the border–its history and imagination, its danger, contradiction, and redemption–like Fernando A. Flores, whose stories reimagine and reinterpret the region's existence with peerless style. In his immersive, uncanny borderland, things are never what they seem: a world where the sun is both rising and setting, and where conniving possums efficiently take over an entire town and rewrite its history. The stories in Valleyesque dance between the fantastical and the hyperreal with dexterous, often hilarious flair. Swinging between satire and surrealism, grief and joy, Valleyesque is a boundary- and border-pushing collection from a one-of-a-kind stylist and voice. With the visceral imagination that made his debut novel, Tears of the Trufflepig, a cult classic, Flores brings his vision of the border to life–and beyond.”

Flores' follow-up to his surreal novel Tears of the Trufflepig is the short story collection Valleyesque. These stories are all surreal, trippy, and some are quite funny. Sort of a mashup of Márquez, Burroughs, and Bukowski (these are high level comparisons), trying to pin down Flores' actual style is difficult as it is wholly unique: the ultimate compliment for a writer. Many of the stories take place in the small towns of the Rio Grande Valley, but some are also set in what seems like Austin, Texas. The stories are filled with beautiful similes and metaphors which often transform into the actual settings of the stories; Flores does this beautifully and seamlessly. Some of my favorite stories are: The Science Fair Protest, Nocturne from a World Concave, The 29th of April, Nostradamus Baby, Ropa Usada, and my favorite You Got It, Take It Away. These stories are highly imaginative and utterly entertaining, my favorite book of Flores' so far. If there is one negative of this book, then it is that it is too short. I could have lived in the world of these stories a little longer.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.