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Book: “Loteria” by Cynthia Pelayo
Publishing Info: Agora Books, February 2023
Where Did I Get This Book: I received a print copy at ALAAC23.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance. It is similar to our American bingo. However, in Loteria instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images.
There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief – with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires and werewolves and many of these legends existed in the Americas long before their European counterparts.
Many of these stories have been passed over time throughout the Americas, and many have been passed via word of mouth, just like the tales the Brothers Grimm collected. These are indeed fairy tales, but with a much more terrible little slant. Published by Burial Day Books.
Review: Thank you to Agora Books and Cynthia Pelayo for handing out copies of this book at ALAAC23!
There were many highlights of being at the ALA Annual Conference, but one of my most anticipated moments was going to see Cynthia Pelayo speak on a panel about thriller novels. I greatly enjoyed Pelayo’s novel “Children of Chicago”, and after the panel she was kind enough to be signing copies of the sequel “The Shoemaker’s Magician” (look for that one in the future!), as well as her short stories collection “Loteria”. I was happy to get both of them, and was very interested in the concept of “Loteria”. Lotería is a Mexican game involving 54 cards with different images and themes, and Pelayo put together a short story collection that takes inspiration from each of the cards. I mean really, HOW COOL. So I hopped on in, not sure of what to expect, but that ended up being a good thing.
Normally I would do my usual ‘pick the best three stories to talk about then talk about the collection as a whole’, but I feel like that’s a little trickier to do for “Loteria”, as there are more than fifty tales in this book. The stories range from flash fiction to poetry to more short story length tales, and the way that Pelayo connects them to each card while putting unique and original twists on them is really, really neat to see. I did have a few that really stood out, such as “The Woman/La Dama”, which is a La Llorona story involving two tourists who see a strange woman while on vacation, or “Death/La Muerte”, about a man who witnesses a strange funeral procession and is approached by a figure in black. I also really liked “The Hand/El Mano”, which goes into vampires and the legend of the Tlahuelpuchi. I really liked seeing what supernatural elements and twists she would bring to her various stories, and while some were familiar to me there were plenty that I wasn’t as familiar with.
And then there are the stories that are of more human horrors, whether it’s “The Mermaid/La Sirena” with stories of human trafficking, or “The Water Pitcher/El Cantarito”, a story about border patrol agents who have no remorse for the way they help facilitate the pain and suffering of migrants hoping to make a better life in the U.S. The very real human suffering that is found on these pages make for chilling tales, made all the more disturbing and upsetting because you know that there aren’t merely stories of myth, legend, and scary story sharing, but actual things that happen to real people. Pelayo isn’t afraid to be brutal and to make the reader see the brutality up close.
The themes and stories span various sub genres of horror and thriller, and while some are stronger than others, overall it’s a pretty well rounded collection. I also love how Pelayo has centered the Latine experience, as all of these tales take inspiration from Latin American folklore, urban legends, mythologies, and cultures. She also has poetry and verse in this collection, and while I am not as into poetry as other people may be, I do like seeing the versatility at hand here and how she connects it to her themes at hand.
If you want a primer for what Cynthia Pelayo can bring to the horror and thriller table, “Loteria” would be a good collection to pick up and explore!
Rating 7: A mixed collection of dark fantasy and horror tales with a creative hook, “Loteria” is a way for rising star Cynthia Pelayo to show her range across many stories, formats, and sub genres.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Loteria” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Great Reads for Halloween”.
The Library Ladies 