the last couple of weeks, I’ve been talking to folks about why preorders matter, especially for debut authors, so I made a quick lil infographic
also do it because: it is so sexy, you can flirt with your local bookseller, you support small businesses where every purchase matters, superiority complex, proves you’re in the know, gives you something to talk about to both enemies and lovers, guarantees a first edition, helps ensure more books like mine (short stories! latinx! weird! nerdy!) get published, retail therapy, shows me I’m loved, serotonin boost for you, me, my editor, my agent, etc., did I mention it’s so sexy?
basically, if you’re gonna buy a book anyway, preorder it!!
❤️🔥🥭 COVER REVEAL 🥭❤️🔥
August 6th, 2024. Pre-order link in my bio.
Thank you to @mariajesuscontreras for illustrating the cover of my dreams, and to the team at @marinerbooks for making this weird and wonderful book possible.
A note on the title: After reading and loving @_joseolivarez ’s Mexican Heaven poems, I wrote a story about migrants in heaven. Then, @indyasfinch read it and said the first line should be the collection title’s. I’m grateful that this project is covered with the fingerprints of so many incredible thinkers and writers I admire.
There aren’t words for how it feels to see my name—my family’s name!—on a book. This was a dream once, and now it’s here. I can’t wait for you all to read.
From my publisher:
Blazing with heart, humor, and inimitable style, THERE IS A RIO GRANDE IN HEAVEN subverts everything we think we know about migration and its consequences, capturing what it means to take up a new life—whether willfully or forced—with piercing and brilliant clarity. A gifted new storyteller and trailblazing stylist, Reyes not only transports to other worlds but alerts us to the heartache and injustice of our own.
unreal…I’m publishing my debut with @marinerbooks ! 😭🇸🇻💫 this would have been impossible without everyone who has offered their support in large and small ways. thank you, thank you, thank you.
the most exciting unboxing video of my life 🥹
finished copies of THERE IS A RIO GRANDE IN HEAVEN are here! they are beautiful. I cannot wait for you all to read. in bookstores on August 6th.
47 days until my book publishes! if you want a preview, you can pick up a copy of @bombmag , who’ve published two of the alternate histories that run throughout the book.
here are some pictures of me with the magazine. long live print!
“It is a fact the color of your skin matters. It is a fact Crazy Eddie’s prices are insane. It is a fact that four colors—red, black, green and white—placed next to each other in any form are strictly forbidden by the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories.” — Félix González-Torres (1988)
Jamel’s feedback was crucial for finishing my book. here’s what he, very generously, had to say about THERE IS A RIO GRANDE IN HEAVEN:
“Ruben Reyes Jr. has announced himself here in impressive fashion. This wonderful debut collection displays a virtuosic fictional range, often in the realm of what some would call the speculative, but in any case the depth of emotion, the insight into the lives of immigrants, and the potency and warmth of the writing in each story will leave you saying, This is real. This is true. When you read There is a Rio Grande in Heaven, your mind will be sent in many thrilling directions, and it will be powerfully deepened.” — Jamel Brinkley, author of Witness and A Lucky Man, finalist for the National Book Award
one more story from the collection to celebrate the end of national short story month! this is one of my favorites. it is about cyborgs, upward social mobility, and how easily some Latinx folks turn on their own community 🤖
THERE IS A RIO GRANDE IN HEAVEN is in bookstores August 6th— I hope you’ll get a copy for you and your favorite self-made man
another excerpt from my book for national short story month! this one is about perreo, celebrity obsession, Kafka, and reggaeton 🕺🏽🎤
if you’re in nyc & want to hear more from me (uh oh), I’m reading tonight at 7pm @limousinereadings !!
(also, is it time for a haircut? I think it might be)
