Episode 240 with Marcela Fuentes, Author of Malas, and Master of Epic Family Sagas and Resonant Profundity

Notes and Links to Marcela Fuentes’ Work

 

   For Episode 240, Pete welcomes Marcela Fuentes, and the two discuss, among other topics, her childhood in borderland Texas, her experiences with bilingualism, formative and transformative reading, the greatness and timelessness of Selena, seeds for Malas in fairy tales and the title’s multilayered meanings, working in flashback and flashforward to illuminate racism and Texas/borderland histories, and salient themes in her collection like toxic masculinity, the burdens and triumphs of motherhood, grief, trauma, addiction, and ideas of fractured and reworked families.

 

   Marcela Fuentes is a Pushcart Prize-winning fiction writer and essayist. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was the 2016-2017 James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Indiana Review, The Rumpus, Texas Highways Magazine, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. Her work has been anthologized in New Stories from the Southwest, Best of the Web, and Flash Fiction International. Her story, “The Observable World” appeared in the Pushcart Prizes XLVII : Best of the Small Presses 2023 Edition. She was born and raised in Del Rio, Texas.

   Her debut novel MALAS is the Good Morning America Book Club pick for June 2024. Coming soon, the story collection MY HEART HAS MORE ROOMS THAN A WHOREHOUSE, from Viking Books.

Buy Malas 

 

Marcela's Website

 

Marcela’s Appearance on Good Morning America

 

At about 2:00, Marcela describes her “surreal” experience being on Good Morning America

At about 4:10, Marcela discusses her early relationship with the written word and Spanish and English-speaking 

At about 10:10, Sandra Cisneros, Yo Soy Joaquin, and Helena Maria Viramontes, are cited as formative and transformative writing and writers

At about 12:00, Pete recounts a surreal interaction with the wonderful Helena Maria Viramontes

At about 13:00, Marcla shouts out Vanessa Chan and Rufi Thorpe as contemporaries who thrill and inspire

At about 14:05, Marcela responds to Pete’s questions about seeds for the book-shout out Edward Carey!

At about 18:05, The two reflect on the book’s opening and a resonant first line

At about 20:55, Marcela gives background on Caimanes and the barrio where Pilar and José Alfredo, the first main characters, live, and why they like and hate it

At about 23:00, Uh, oh-the curse is discussed, as well as Pilar’s feelings at eight months pregnant  

At about 24:35, Marcela talks about what she envisioned for Pilar, especially her backstory

At about 28:20, Ideas of suspicions and insecurities involving José Alfredo on Pilar’s part are discussed

At about 30:10, Pete and Marcela discuss Anglo/Mexican-American relations and the ways in which racism affected the hospital visit where Pilar is to give birth

At about 31:25, Marcela describes what it was like to write such a wrenching scene as the one in the hospital

At about 33:45, Pilar’s “dull anger” and the ways in which José Alfredo doesn’t show up for her 

At about 34:40, Lulu Munoz is characterized, as she is introduced in a flashforward scene, and Marcela expands upon her character and her relationship with her “boss man” father 

At about 38:10, Pete points out page 60’s use of “mala,” and Marcela expands on the word’s attendant meanings, especially with regard to the book

At about 40:00, Julio (Lulu’s father) and his bad behavior is discussed

At about 40:40, The two discuss some friends in Lulu’s friend group and the “messiness” of the night where Lulu’s beloved grandma dies and the chaos of the funeral

At about 41:55, Pete wonders about Pilar’s mindset and the ways in which Marcela envisioned her emotional state, as the book returned to 1951

At about 46:45, While discussing Lulu’s band and music likes, Marcela fangirls about Selena and talks about her personal connections to the great one 

At about 49:40, The chaotic quinceañera set for Lulu and its attendant drama is discussed 

At about 50:50, Pete compliments the 1970s scenes and the ways in which Marcela writes about this “adjacent history” of civil rights fights in Texas; Marcela gives background on real-life parallels and histories

At about 54:40, Marcela talks about exciting future projects, including her story collection 

At about 56:50, Marcela highlights places to buy her book and gives out contact information and tour information 

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    Please tune in for Episode 241 with Antonio Lopez, who is a poetician working at the intersections of poetry and politics to fight for social change. His 2021 collection, Gentefication, was named one of the "Ten Notable Latino Books of 2021” by NBC. Antonio is a former Marshall Scholar and current Mayor of East Palo Alto. CA.

   The episode will go live on July 2. 

   Lastly, please go to ceasefiretoday.com, which features 10+ actions to help bring about Ceasefire in Gaza.