In Latin American folklore, it isn’t always monsters and ghosts, it’s the spiritual inheritance that guides our beliefs of the unknown. Some of the monsters turn out to be human, and many of the ghosts that haunt us live in our memories and thoughts. What I find most fascinating about folklore is the discovery of generational patterns and themes that tie these ancient stories to our modern world.
When I first started writing These Vengeful Wishes I scoured folk legends for a villain, but what I really needed was the heart of my story. I found it in the fearful visage of the Nicaraguan legend, La Cegua. A deadly demon who lures cheating men into the woods with her beauty only to then petrify them by revealing her skeletal horse face. On the surface, she’s a vindictive spirit with an unsatiable appetite for death. Her myriad origin stories relegated her to either a threat to unfaithful men or a warning to young girls. I loved exploring La Cegua’s long-forgotten humanity as I placed her in the modern world—a small town in Central Florida—and held up a mirror for my main character, a lonely teen, to see herself reflected in.
From the haunting to the hopeful, here are eight books that place their folk legends in the modern world and let loose chaos.
V. Castro, The Haunting of Alejandra
Starting off strong with the infamous folk demon of Mexican lore, La Llorona, V. Castro’s The Haunting of Alejandra takes a modern, devastating spin on this terrifying legend. Struggling with a loss of identity amid being a mother and wife, Alejandra spirals into depression, leaving her susceptible to the preying spirit of the Weeping Woman. As the ghostly figure in white appears more and more, enticing Alejandra with dark, life-threatening thoughts, Alejandra is desperate for a lifeline. After seeking out a therapist, she’s encouraged to take a deep dive into her family history, uncovering the tragic thread that has tied the haunting of la Llorona to all the women in her family in a generational curse. A stark and powerful story that delves into autonomy and cultural continuity.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Certain Dark Things
I have yet to read a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book that fails to leave me in awe. Moreno-Garcia displays her folkloric mastery in Certain Dark Things, a self-proclaimed “violent neo-noir” that takes Aztec legends with a penchant for blood sucking creatures and drops them in the dark, gritty streets of an alternate, modern-day Mexico City. In this world, vampires and humans live side-by-side, except in Mexico City where human gangs reign and rival vampire species are denied entry. One such species, the Necros, are European vampires with an ability to control humans and poison other vampires. Atl, a native Mexican vampire with bird wings, infiltrates Mexico City after coming under threat. There she meets a young human named Domingo where the two of them navigate the dangers of the city and the impending violence of rival vampires. A unique flavor of vampire in a culturally rich setting!
Gabino Iglesias, House of Bone and Rain
I remember listening to the audiobook of this one just as a hurricane was approaching Florida. I resonated to another degree with the impending doom and spine-chilling suspense that permeates Iglesias’s House of Bone and Rain. Chaos quickly erupts after one of the members of a tight-knit group of friends loses their mother to a brutal gang strike. Mostly following the perspective of Gabe, the epitome of a ride-or-die, the friend group goes off on a murder spree when they vow vengeance on the gang leader who killed their friend’s mom. Apart from the devastating Hurricane Maria wreaking havoc in Puerto Rico, the friend group slowly begin getting picked off one by one and there’s something otherworldly and sinister about the gang they’re facing. Mysticism and tales of evil beings washed ashore by the hurricane thread into the narrative as the boys seeking revenge work to survive. Just when you think they’re way over their heads, it gets so much worse.
Gina María Balibrera, The Volcano Daughters
Ripe with Salvadorian myths, The Volcano Daughters follows the distinct journeys of two sisters who escaped their pueblo’s genocide as young girls. Through evocative descriptions and immersive prose, the narrative touches on heavy themes that create an emotional and empathetic experience as the girls grow up. Believing each other to have died in the massacre, the sisters each face hardships and injustices with one another but definitely not alone. They are guided throughout their lives by ghostly storytellers made up of their murdered friends. Ultimately a story of hope amid the real atrocities of El Salvador’s history.
J.D. Yanez, La Reina
Someone mentioned this is for horror/thriller fans of Tiffany D. Jackson, and I was immediately sold. Along with fantastic cover and description! A fantastic spin on the Mexican folktale of El Sombrerón, Yanez’s La Reina drops us in a desert heaping with monsters and past wounds. Based in the 90s, veteran, Raina, was forced into early retirement then left with no other option but to return back to her small town in the Sonoran Desert. Once there, she reunites with old friends who all work together to drive away the dark forces threatening their lives.
YA Books
Natalia Sylvester, Breathe and Count Back from Ten
I can never resist a mermaid story, not since Splash and Disney’s The Thirteenth Year graced our television screens. A feel good, coming-of-age tale with refreshing disability representation is what you’ll get in Natalia Sylvester’s Breathe and Count Back from Ten. Soon-to-be senior, Verónica, is a Peruvian-American with hip dysplasia who decides to spend the summer working towards becoming a performance mermaid. Verónica is out to prove she’s got what it takes to join the ranks of Mermaid Cove (based on the Florida Weeki Wachee mermaid show) all while falling hard for her new neighbor, yet another obstacle her strict parents would never allow, if they knew. As the story culminates, the Peruvian mermaid folktale plays a starring role in Verónica’s grand finale.
Ann Davila Cardinal, Five Midnights
Mystery and folklore work so well together. Add in murder, friendships, and monsters and you’ve got yourself a winning combination. Cardinal’s Five Midnights, set in the lush backdrop of Puerto Rico, takes young adult horror on a Tour de Monsters. Lupe, a teen visiting her family on the island, quickly gets wrapped up in the mystery surrounding a series of grisly murders with a suspect that may not be human at all. She finds an unlikely sidekick in Javier as the two of them step into the world of monsters and villains.
Romina Garber, Lobizona
In Lobizona we take a deep dive into Argentinian folk legends that still affect the real world today, and it involves witches and werewolves. If you didn’t know the Argentinian law of Presidential Patronage, don’t worry, neither did I, but it’s a fascinating law that enables the seventh child of the same sex to solicit patronage from the Argentinian president. It’s a law with ties to an ancient legend that would sacrifice the seventh child of the same-sex as their siblings because they were believed to be destined to become either witches or werewolves. Garber tackles powerful themes of immigration and identity in Lobizona, following the narrative of Argentinian teen, Manu, as she flees from home to Miami, Florida outrunning her father’s crime-family. When her family comes under attack, Manu begins to unravel the secrets of her family’s past, leading her to question everything about herself.
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