Arellano curses the names

New book:
Curse the Names by Robert Arellano
Mystery/Fiction
Trade Paperback l 200 pages | $15.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-61775-030-4

If any of my novels ever get published, my favorite publisher will either be whoever published my first book or whoever published my latest. In the meantime, Akashic Books out of NY keeps making me wish I had more time to read. I love their slogan: "reverse-gentrification of the literary world," resonating with chords of Euro lit, instead of the egocentric thing we call American. Plus, nobody likes the gentry in us, except the gentry.

Anyway, La Bloga has featured some of Akashic's best, like Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach & Ricardo Cortes, and Like Son (here and here). Since we're just getting review copies of Robert Arellano's new book, below is a preview from the publisher. It reminds of Rudy Anaya's Sonny Baca battling the Raven, which makes me wonder if Arellano was influenced any by Anaya. Maybe we can ask in a future interview.

From the publisher:
"Robert Arellano, author of the Edgar-nominated crime novel Havana Lunar, returns with another spine-tingling noir from Akashic Books.

"High on a mesa in the mountains of New Mexico, a small town hides a dreadful secret. On a morning very soon there will be an accident that triggers a terrible chain reaction, and the world we know will be wiped out.

"James Oberhelm, a reporter at Los Alamos National Laboratory, already sees the devastation, like the skin torn off a moment that is yet to be. He believes he can prevent an apocalypse, but first James must escape the devices of a sensuous young blood tech, a lecherous old hippie, a predator in a waking nightmare, and a forsaken adobe house high away in the Sangre de Cristo mountains whose dark history entwines them all. A massive bomb is ticking beneath the sands of the Southwest, and time is running out to send a warning. James has to find a way to pass along the message--even if it ruins him."

Robert Arellano is the author of the Edgar-nominated noir Havana Lunar and two earlier novels, all published by Akashic Books. Writing as Eddy Arellano, he collaborated with three artists on the graphic novel Dead in Desemboque from Soft Skull Press, and as Bobby Rabyd he created the Web's first interactive novel, Sunshine '69. He lived for seven years in the small mountain town of Dixon, New Mexico, and he now teaches in the College of Arts & Sciences at Southern Oregon University.

Reviews:
"In this unsettling mix of noir and paranormal obsession . . . Arellano displays a sly, Hitchcockian touch." – Publishers Weekly

"Arellano pulls off the not-inconsiderable feat of making the disintegration of his hero more compelling than the end of the world as we know it." – Kirkus Reviews

"Readers, fasten your seat belts for this one. Arellano's novel is a dizzying Thompsonian concoction of noir crime thriller and alternately nightmarish and comic surreal psychodrama, spiced up with a heaping handful of local northern New Mexico flavor. A noir novel short enough to read on a two-hour airplane ride and sufficiently satisfying to make you feel glad you read it." – Albuquerque Journal

Events for Robert Arellano & Curse the Names:
Mon., March 19, 7:00pm
St. Mark's Bookshop, 31 Third Ave., NY, NY
Akashic All-Stars event featuring Robert Arellano, Bernice L. McFadden, Eliza Factor and Sterling Watson

Tues., March 20, 7:00pm
Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St., Brookline, MA
Akashic All-Stars event featuring Robert Arellano, Bernice L. McFadden, Eliza Factor and Sterling Watson

Thurs., March 22, 7:00pm
Books on the Square, 471 Angell St., Providence, RI
Akashic All-Stars event featuring Robert Arellano, Eliza Factor and Sterling Watson