Paradise Valley
Inspired by actual events, several Amish families — finding new state laws impossible to live under because they undermined their faith and way of life — set off in 1922 to begin a new life in Mexico. read more
Temples of the Mist: Mayan 6th Sun
Uncle Aiden, Aunt Bette, Caleana and her brother fly back to identify the body of their father, and while there Aunt Bette takes the children to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Aunt Bette places in Caleana's hand "a beautiful amulet of green jade and crystals around a circle. In the middle of the circle was an ancient Mayan woman with a serpent on her head, and jaguar ears and claws." It had been found at the crash site and it was believed to be Caleana's mother's. read more
Sweet Spot: A novel about Mazatlan Carnival, Dirty Politics, and Baseball
The story is set during seven spectacular days of Carnival in Mazatlán, the second largest Carnival in the world. A lot happens during those seven days, including scandal, murder, amoral politics, drug lords searching for our protagonist "Mundo," and bed time with a desirable young revolutionary, the amoral Mijares.
Sweet Spot is incredible. Linton Robinson should be catapulted to the top of the pile of contemporary authors. Why didn't this novel win the National Book Award or the Pulitzer Prize? read more
Drink One to Me, Christian Bennett by Vicki Allen
How about a romance novel set in Mexico? And complete with a beautiful young girl who is of course headstrong and independent; and a bad man who is handsome and powerful and in fact a legendary drug lord; and his equally handsome but not quite-so-bad assistant.
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The Painter's Wife, a short story
When Marianne Ferrucci first learned that her husband was seriously ill from a mysterious viral infection, she went out on the second floor balcony of their house in northern Mexico, gazed up at the sk...
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American novelist Charles Fleming Embree set his first novel at Lake Chapala
Strange, but true. Charles Embree's A dream of a throne, the story of a Mexican revolt, is based on the story of the Lake Chapala area during the 19th century.
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The Sanchez Ghost
A tale of haunted guilt set in Mexico City and in the mind of the haunted protagonist, Pablo.
. . . Omar gazed at the rifle trained at his chest, and no presentiment crossed his brow. He knew it was Pablo's gun; he had gone pheasant hunting with him and his old man in the past among the gullies of hills of valleys extending to the great volcano of Popocatépetl. . . .
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Heart's Desire, a short story
Life had never been so good.
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The Captain's Hat
A hat like that could take a man anywhere that people recognized the strength of a working man, the slowly-earned benefit of labor and the wisdom such labor produced.
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Beautifully Arranged
In the United States those who live on the streets are called homeless, but Martín had a home.
When I moved to La Ribera, a small pueblo just north of Cabo San Lucas in Baj...
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The Calling
The money kept rolling in because those who saw the boy went away in a state of euphoria. When they returned to their homes, ranches, they would tell their friends and family all about the boy Jesus, t...
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Suspicious stranger visits a rural tacos al vapor stand
The other day Deovijilda Lara, who owns a tacos al vapor stand in a nearby pueblo Mercado Municipal, was regaling me with tales of her family's Christmas last year. These mostly had to do with comicall...
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Sacred Lake Poems by Bill Frayer
Available from the author
Life in Mexico observed by someone who is bursting with affection for his new country.
I have reviewed a lot of fiction and non-fiction books for Mexico Connect, but I...
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Banano's Bar
When paradise turns to hell... A chilling tale set in a hot environment
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Three Tamales for the Señor Part One
As Michael stepped off the bus at the edge of Refugio de María, he felt clean, enthusiastic, like a boy on a new adventure. He threw the straps of the large green pack over one shoulder and bega...
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An Olmec Homerun, a short story
When Ramon handed the ball to me, I was pleased to find it was latex, not some synthetic material. It was probably very old, made from raw rubber. This one did not have a human skull inside.
As I hand...
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The Line/La Línea
"A story filled with sex, violence, and drugs, even love, a story of treachery, where only power and money ultimately are valued."
Author Belden Butterfield was born in Argentina, educat...
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Bienvenidos a San Blas, a short story
How did Robert Mulligan find himself, in August, in a Mexican jungle, running a small flat-bottomed boat up a sleepy little river into the steamy interior, pointing out tiny alligators to the wives of ...
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Frida - A Novel By Barbara Mujica
Throughout the novel, we see the forceful character of Frida displaying itself
The largest Frida Kahlo exhibit ever has just ended in Mexico City. Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of her b...
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No Country For Old Men By Cormac Mccarthy
Cormac McCarthy is best known for his Border Trilogy, three novels set along the Texas-Mexico border, the first of which, All the Pretty Horses, is set almost entirely in Mexico, south of the Te...
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A Reasonably Comfortable Circle in Hell
The loss of the old shoes was not much. But the loss of the cross was something else...
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Queen of the South by Arturo Perez Reverte
The story line concerns a young Mexican girl, Teresa Mendoza, 23 years old, who is in love with a Chicano Cessna pilot who flies cocaine and hashish from Colombia to locations in Texas. It's a dangerous trade to be in and Teresa's lover, Güero Dávila, is well aware of the risks, not only from drug enforcement agents but also from rival narcotraficantes. With the former, the risks are imprisonment. With the latter, the penalty is death should one lose a shipment or not play the game the way the bosses want it played.
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The Salvation of La Purisima by T. M. Spooner
The two cultures - Mexican and U.S. - come together in a thoughtful way in this interesting novel, which is set in both countries. The story concerns a group of Mexican illegal immigrants who travel north in May each year to work in the cherry orchards in northern Michigan. They are from the village of La Purísima in Michoacán. It's a community inhabited solely by elderly people and women and children during the picking season when all the men head north on what has become their annual rite of passage. It's perhaps more than that.
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Music & Dance In Mexico
MUSIC
The music of Mexico provides a rich tapestry of rhythm, tone, and variety. Its roots are based on a compelling history of disparate influences.
From the music of the Mariachi, the Corri...
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When Time Was Young
The Malecon in Puerto Vallarta
Photo by Brent Cassie
When Time Was Young
A short story by James Bailey© Jim Bailey 2006 -
It was not, of course, as he ...
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