I’ve a new story out in PANK as part of their #LatinxLit Celebration called “Creature Feature.” It’s another in my series of fictionalized memoir pieces.

Here is an excerpt:

My cousin came from Puerto Rico and killed our dog.

That summer of 1972, our dog Barbie had been acting bizarre. My sister had named the dog after her doll. She had curly white hair (the dog, not my sister) with those brown-red streaks under her eyes that some dogs get. I was seven, and Barbie was my best friend.

She used to wake me every morning by licking my face. She sat by me whenever I watched TV and listened whenever I wanted to talk about comic books.

But Barbie hadn’t been waking me anymore. She no longer ran to me when I called. She wouldn’t eat. She growled for no reason.

You can read the rest here (or listen to me read it): https://pankmagazine.com/2020/07/30/latinxlit-rnarvaez/

You can read the previous part of the series, “Nuyoricans Go Home,” here: https://www.latinoliteratures.org/archives/313