Monstrilio

Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City living in Brooklyn. He is the author of Monstrilio. His stories have appeared in Apartmento Magazine, Catapult, The Common, Passages North, Chicago Quarterly Review, and others. He holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan and is the current Writer in Residence at Fordham University. Gerardo has also been known to draw little creatures.

· “Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s dark, soulful magic puts me in mind of Kelly Link or Carmen Maria Machado (and further back, Mary Shelley). The horror of grief has rarely been so viscerally or movingly evoked.” Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself· “Monstrilio is unlike any other book I’ve read. Genuinelyscary at times, it moved me with its humanity, made me laugh, and ultimately,made me cry. Gerardo Sámano Córdova has written a stunning exploration ofgrief, belonging, and familial love in prose so beautiful you won’t want torush through it—even as you need to know what happens next.” Ana Reyes, authorof The House In The Pines · “An extraordinary act of imagination, an extended meditation that begins in grief, family, belonging, and moves past that, into a deeper discovery of the power of love— and the powerlessness of love, as well its strangeness. With Monstrilio, Sámano Córdova makes a remarkable, kaleidoscopic debut.” Alexander Chee, author of How To Write An Autobiographical Novel· “Simply exquisite. Easily one of my favorite reads this year.” SarahGailey, bestselling author of Just Like Home and The Echo Wife · “Haunting and often bleakly humorous, Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s Monstriliois a captivating tone poem of trauma, grief, and transformation. Córdova writeswith the lyrical precision of a master surrealist and creates an uncompromisingvision of literary horror that is so wholly unique and utterly his own.” EricLaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke · “In Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s spare, soulful, and singular Monstrilio,a mother’s grief turns monstrous, literally taking on a life of its own. Astender and terrifying as its titular character, Monstrilio is just aslikely to work its way into your heart as into your nightmares. Prepare tounhinge your jaw and devour it whole.” Maria Adelmman, author of Girls Of ACertain Age and How To Be Eaten · “Monstrilio is the monster story about grief I’ve beencraving. Bloody and full of longing, it gets under your skin and doesn’t letyou go. A thrilling and heartbreaking ride from Mexico City to NYC to Berlin,brilliantly capturing what it means to lose someone you love with ferocioustenderness. Gerardo Sámano Córdova is an international revelation and one ofthe boldest new voices writing today.” Akil Kumarasamy, author of Meet Us ByThe Roaring Sea and Half Gods · “An unearthly hybrid that’s part horror, part literary meditation ongrief, part wildly entertaining tale of an impossible being forced to live inthe shadow of the dead boy he replaced…Sámano Córdova has created anoutstanding debut; for all the ground being broken in genre-bending horror, hisis a distinctive, exciting new voice in fiction.” LA Times· “A Promethean fable about reconstruction,reinvention, and the occasional human-sized snack…Deciding who to root for inthis Kafkaesque myth may prove perplexing for readers, but there’s no doubtthere’s nothing quite like it.” Kirkus Reviews· “A magically unique approach to grief and loss that questions the very essence of what it is to be human.” Independent Book Review· “Sámano Córdova does a good job elucidating thecontours of grief and love. This creepy work of psychological horror givesreaders plenty to chew on.” Publishers Weekly· “Diving into family, loyalty, grief, and acceptance, Córdova examines the eternal question of nature vs. nurture with this stunning and horrifying debut novel.” This Is Horror· “Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s debut literary horror mix seems plucked straight out of a Guillermo del Toro film . . . a deeply wrought narrative that tackles grief with prose that is as beautiful as it is delightfully gory.” Observer