How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press)

During the pandemic and in the wake of his father’s death, Daniel A. Olivas set upon the task of reviewing almost 25 years’ worth of his short stories that had been published in various collections or as parts of novels. Our strange times seemed to call for this type of introspection and examination. He found that many of his narratives fell within the world of magic, fairy tales, fables, and dystopian futures. This review also revealed that many of his fictions confronted—either directly or obliquely—questions of morality, justice, and self-determination while being deeply steeped in Chicano and Mexican culture. Olivas decided to choose his favorite tales from the many scores of stories that populated his published works. He added to the mix two recent stories—one dystopian, the other magical—both of which confront the last administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. The result is How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories. Though his books have been taught in colleges and high schools across the country for over two decades, this collection brings together some of his most unforgettable strange tales that will be enjoyed, again, by his fans, and anew for readers who have not, as yet, experienced Olivas’s distinct—and very Chicano—fiction. A literary critic once called Olivas a “literary marvel.” These stories, collectively, offer ample support for this declaration.

Danial A. Olivas, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised near downtown Los Angeles. He is an award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry. Widely anthologized, Olivas has written on culture and literature for The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, BOMB, Jewish Journal, High Country News, and The Guardian. He writes regularly for La Bloga, a site dedicated to Latinx literature and the arts. By day, Olivas is an attorney and makes his home in Southern California.

Lorinda Toledo is a mestiza feminist from New Mexico who has lived in Los Angeles for over a decade. Her novel-in-progress was named first runner-up for the 2019 James Jones First Novel Fellowship. Her short fiction has been published in the Mississippi Review, The Normal School, and elsewhere. Lorinda earned a doctorate in Literature with Creative Dissertation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2019, where her work was supported by a Black Mountain Institute PhD Fellowship and other awards. Her MFA is in fiction and creative nonfiction from Antioch University Los Angeles. Previously, she was fiction editor at Witness literary magazine. Currently, she teaches writing at Antioch University Los Angeles, and is a writing coach and editor. Learn more at lorindatoledo.com.

Praise for How to Date a Flying Mexican -

“Daniel Olivas loves to tell stories and his writing reflects that joy. Every story is told with a wink and a smile, encouraging you to follow along for the ride. His humor not only brings levity to matters of life, death, and human treachery, but it is also a stylistic choice that Olivas has mastered. These stories aren’t so much about the interiority of its characters, but about the mythical, magical mundanity of our lives—Olivas’s style perfectly expresses this contradiction.”   —Maceo Montoya, associate professor of Chicano/a Studies, University of California, Davis, and author of Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces

“Olivas has the voice of both an ancient and modern storyteller. He is very deft and sure with language. The stories make a significant contribute to the Latinx community and beyond.” —David Kranes, professor emeritus of English, University of Utah, and author of Keno Runner, Abracadabra, and Performance Art: Stories

“From gritty realism to mythic and sci-fi speculative, Olivas dishes up an exquisite feast of short fictions filled to the brim with small and outsized everyday struggles—and failures. Through it all, we feel the mischievous wink and wry smile twinkle of an author whose . . . skills clear new space for us to breathe again in the richness of Latinx ways of life.” —Frederick Luis Aldama, award winning author and Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at University of Texas, Austin 

“This kinetic new collection of stories is exuberant and poignant, filled with the homegrown details of Latinx life as well as a kind of cheerful, saucy magic.” —Yxta Maya Murray, law professor, Loyola Law School and author of The World Doesn’t Work that Way, but It Could: Stories

Skylit: How to Date a Flying Mexican by Daniel A. Olivas, with Lorinda Toledo