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Popcorn 4 Dinner : Traff’kd @ Midnight

(Palomitas Para Cena : Traficado en la Madrugada)

Sixteen-year-old Julio Guerrero just wants to be himself—whoever that is. If only his evangelical parents would let him figure it out on his own instead of imposing their ridiculous beliefs.

Ever since he can remember Julio has been expected to stifle his likes, his preferences, and his desires in favor of rigid gender roles and Biblical expectations. His only refuge has been summer vacations with his Tío Teo’s family in the boiling little pueblo of Calderitas, México.

When Julio’s search history rats him out his parents do the unthinkable and put him on a plane to a state where conversion therapy is still legal; enrolling him in a sketchy program called The Adam & Eve Restorative Camp for Sexually Deviant Youth. Still, nothing they do can break his spirit. Not even an exorcism. Not even life on the streets with nothing to eat but stale popcorn for dinner.

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A note on language: Very loosely speaking, this novel is written in Spanglish. The first draft was more so—volleying back and forth between the two languages at about a 70/30, maybe even a 60/40, split. Unfortunately, this was untenable for most of my readers who are by and far monolingual English speakers. Entonces, Spanish is limited to dialogue, to the words that HAVE TO BE in Spanish (I’ll go into this more in my first post), and to words whose English equivalent is so similar that the meaning is obvious. Translations will be provided for dialogue and as needed. Spanish will always be in italics for ease of pronunciation.

A note on serialization: You will receive individual chapters from the novel as they are written at the time of the newsletter. These chapters will not come in order and they will change somewhat with the final product in order to make the novel cohesive. However, each chapter will be self-standing so it doesn’t matter if you join late in the serialization. Everyone who is subscribed at the time of publication will receive a Smashwords coupon for a free download of the final novel.

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a novel. in pieces

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Riya Anne Polcastro is an author, photographer, and wannabe vagabond. She lives in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys taking photos of dead things.