Table of Contents (not final order) Luci'a Abdo', Second-Hand Pachuca Maria Isabel Aguirre, Today, you walk along a narrow path Ana Gloria A'lvarez Pedrajo, The Mediator Liliana V. Blum, Pink Lemonade Agusti'n Cadena, Murillo Park Ana Clavel, Warning and Three Messages in the Same Parcel Yussel Dardo'n, A Pile of Bland Deserts O'scar de la Borbolla, Wittgenstein's Umbrellas Beatriz Escalante, Luck Has Its Limits Bruno Estan~ol, The Infamous Juan Manuel Iliana Estan~ol, In Waiting Claudia Guille'n, The Drip Mo'nica Lavi'n, Trompe l'oeil Eduardo Mendoza, The Pin Queta Navago'mez, Rebellious Ame'lie Olaiz, Amalgam Donaji' Olmedo, The Stone Edme'e Pardo, 1965 Jesu's Rami'rez Bermu'dez, The Last Witness to Creation Carmen Rioja, The Na'hual Offering Rene' Roquet, Returning to Night Guillermo Samperio, Mister Strogoff Alberto Chimal, Variation on a Theme of Coleridge Mauricio Montiel Figueiras, Photophobia Pepe Rojo, The President without Organs Esther M. Garcia, Mannequin Bernardo Ferna'ndez, Lions Horacio Senti'es Madrid, The Transformist Karen Chacek, The Hour of the Fireflies Herna'n Lara Zavala, Hunting Iguanas Gerardo Sifuentes, Future Perfect Amparo Da'vila, The Guest Gabriela Damia'n Miravete, Nereid Future Jose' Luis Za'rate, Wolves

Reviews

"By turns creepy, self-consciously literary, and engagingly inventive, these 34 stories selected by translator-scholar Jimenez Mayo and writer-critic Brown offer some excellent and ghastly surprises... These are punchy, ghoulish selections by south-of-the-border writers unafraid of the dark." --Publishers Weekly "Encompassing a definition of fantasy that includes the extraterrestrial, the supernatural, the macabre, and the spectral, these stories are set in unusual locales and deal with bizarre characters. All are very short (some just two pages), and most offer a surprise twist at the end, though occasionally the only reaction these endings may elicit from the reader is "Huh?" The universal scope of the themes transcends the Mexican provenance; for example, one detects an apocalyptic influence in Liliana V. Blum's "Pink Lemonade," and Argentine Julio Cortazar's "Bestiary" influences Bernardo Fernandez's "Lions." Most of the volume's 34 authors, half of whom are women, are relatively unknown to American readers, and for many of them, publication in this anthology represents their first exposure to an English-reading audience. The translations, several of which were done by the editors, convey the individuality, if not idiosyncrasies, of these tales. VERDICT This collection will appeal mostly to fans of fantasy and sf and, to a lesser degree, those interested in contemporary Mexican literature." --Library Journal "Langorous, edgy, sumptuously beautiful by turns, Three Messages expands our understanding of contemporary Mexican literary production, collapsing high-low boundaries and pre-established ideas about national identity." --Debra Castillo, Emerson Hinchliff Professor of Spanish Literature, Cornell University