#BlogTour Mestiza Blood by V. Castro

It is an absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Mestiza Blood by V. Castro.

About the Author

Violet Castro is a Mexican American writer originally from Texas now residing in the UK with her family. When not caring for her three children, she dedicates her time to writing. Follow @vlatinalondon on Twitter, @vlatinalondon on Instagram

About the book

From the lauded author of The Queen of the Cicadas (which picked up starred reviews from PW, Kirkus and Booklist who called her "a dynamic and innovative voice") comes a short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions focused on the Chicana experience. 

V.Castro weaves urban legend, folklore, life experience and heartache in this personal journey beginning in south Texas: a bar where a devil dances the night away; a street fight in a neighborhood that may not have been a fight after all; a vengeful chola at the beginning of the apocalypse; mind swapping in the not so far future; satan who falls and finds herself in a brothel in Amsterdam; the keys to Mictlan given to a woman after she dies during a pandemic. 

The collection finishes with two longer tales: The Final Porn Star is a twist on the final girl trope and slasher, with a creature from Mexican folklore; and Truck Stop is an erotic horror romance with two hearts: a video store and a truck stop.

Review

I find with short stories that it is often quite hard to pick a few to review, especially when they are all equally compelling. These are all stories that stand out from the crowd - each one of them thought provoking.

From the dead with a hunger for vengeance, the world of flesh reduced to commodity, the devil and a simple night out on the town.

Castro is bold, brash and a force to be reckoned with. Her inner rage, although one could argue that it is less inner and more in your face, and emotions collide with her creative energy to create powerful stories. Stories born from fact, truth, folklore, myth, fiction and the dark recesses of her imagination. 

Her novel Queen of the Cicidas is slightly tempered in comparison to the often brutally frank, crude ventures into the world of death, vengeance, reflection and a violence on a variety of levels, in these stories.

This an author to watch, a scribe with a unique style of storytelling, and said stories are infused with the pain and reality of life. The cruelty of humanity laid bare for all to experience. No secrets, just a following of absolute truth, which can be tumultuous and deadly at times. 

Buy Mestiza Blood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com. At Flame Tree Press.

#BlogTour The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro

My turn on the BlogTour The Queen of the Cicadas by V. Castro.

About the Author

Violet Castro is a Mexican American writer originally from Texas now residing in the UK with her family. When not caring for her three children, she dedicates her time to writing. Follow @vlatinalondon on Twitter,  @vlatinalondon on Instagram

About the book

2018 - Belinda Alvarez has returned to Texas for the wedding of her best friend Veronica. The farm is the site of the urban legend, La Reina de Las Chicharras - The Queen of The Cicadas.

In 1950s south Texas a farm worker - Milagros from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, is murdered. Her death is ignored by the town, but not the Aztec goddess of death, Mictecacíhuatl. The goddess hears the dying cries of Milagros and creates a plan for both to be physically reborn by feeding on vengeance and worship. Belinda and the new owner of the farmhouse - Hector, find themselves immersed in the legend and realize it is part of their fate as well.

Review

Folklore, mysticism, myth and magical realism are combined with this undercurrent of horror, of evil lurking in the shadows. A presence always listening, sometimes reacting and always knowing. Seeping under through the slits in the doors and hovering in the corner.

The murder scene is particularly gruesome, perhaps because the visualisation and description of the event is so exact that is conjures up the kind of mental images you aren't likely to forget. You can feel it burn, hear her mental screams of anguish and you can even feel her meld into her surroundings. The pain summons the ancient power that flows through her veins.

Belinda is almost obsessed with the story of Milagros. She is determined to lay her and the legend to rest. A murder that has become a myth unto itself, but Belinda as no idea what she is really dealing with. She is stirring the waters and doesn't realise how much truth and horror is connected to the tragedy of the young farm worker.

I would love to read something by Castro with strong political, historical, feminism or cultural vibes. Those elements are already partly there but are drowned out by the fear, the chaos and the darkness. That doesn't mean it is any less of a good read, but there is so much more waiting to be heard beyond the genre of horror.

It's an engrossing read with its gruesome moments and it certainly manages to raise the hairs on the back of one's neck.

Buy The Queen of the Cicadas at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Flame Tree Press pub date 22 Jun. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.