Chicano Frankenstein by Daniel A. Olivas (Paperback)

Fiction - Horror - Science Fiction - Hispanic & Latino

RELEASE DATE: 3/5/2024 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE )

A modern retelling of the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley classic that addresses issues of belonging and assimilation 

An unnamed paralegal, brought back to life through a controversial process, maneuvers through a near-future world that both needs and resents him. As the United States president spouts anti-reanimation rhetoric and giant pharmaceutical companies rake in profits, the man falls in love with lawyer Faustina Godínez. His world expands as he meets her network of family and friends, setting him on a course to discover his first-life history, which the reanimation process erased. With elements of science fiction, horror, political satire and romance, Chicano Frankenstein confronts our nation’s bigotries and the question of what it truly means to be human.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Daniel A. Olivas, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised near downtown Los Angeles. He is an award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry including, My Chicano Heart: New and Collected Stories of Love and Other Transgressions (University of Nevada Press, forthcoming), How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), and Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature through Essays and Interviews (San Diego State University Press). Widely anthologized, he has written on culture and literature for The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, Alta Journal, Jewish Journal, Zócalo, and The Guardian. He writes regularly for La Bloga, a site dedicated to Latinx literature and the arts. Olivas received his degree in English literature from Stanford University, and law degree from UCLA. By day, Olivas is an attorney and makes his home in Southern California with his wife (and law school sweetheart), Susan Formaker, who is an administrative law judge.

"An intriguing read."--Library Journal

"Clever political commentary."--Foreword Reviews

"Fascinating."--Publishers Weekly

"Captivating."--Daily Journal

"If you're looking for a reverberating literary experiment in a speedy read, Daniel Olivas's Chicano Frankenstein is the book for you. In this literary pastiche of timeless novels, beloved TV, and familiar political narratives, the love story of Faustina and the man will reanimate your deepest expectations of humanism into new understandings of monstrosity."--Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming

"In Daniel A. Olivas's alt-world political satire Chicano Frankenstein, we follow his reanimated main character, 'the man, ' in his search for identity in a world that is increasingly hostile to him and his kind. With its tongue firmly planted in its cheek, this important novel is at once frightening and humorous, and I found myself laughing out loud more than once as Olivas cleverly delivered his cautionary message, served with a basket of fresh baked pan dulce."--Orlando Ortega-Medina, author of The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants

"In the genre-bending tradition of Mary Shelley, Daniel Olivas's latest novel Chicano Frankenstein expertly stitches together gothic political satire, science fiction, and existential metafiction to expose the racist and classist hypocrisies that undergird the American political economy under tyrannical right-wing leaders."--Eileen M. Hunt, author of Artificial Life After Frankenstein

"In a near-future Pasadena, Daniel A. Olivas resurrects Mary Shelley's creation to glorious effect, making it clear who the monsters really are in a world where a cynical government sees resurrected humans as pawns to use, abuse, and discard. The real trick of this speculative political satire is that corruption and peril co-exist with compassion, humor, and large doses of Chicano joy. I loved every page-turning minute!"--Michelle Ruiz Keil, author of Summer in the City of Roses

"Haunting in its implications, astute in its observations about how polarized we've become around the simple question of what it means to be human, Daniel Olivas's Chicano Frankenstein is ultimately an empathetic exploration of the heart told in spare, but beautiful prose. Olivas is a master storyteller and this book is another of his triumphs!"--Rubén Degollado, author of The Family Izquierdo