Fiction


Someday is Today

(a new play in development)

Manny Chavez never expects his work day to transform into an odyssey, but as Jesus comes to life and pleads for his freedom from the cross that is exactly what occurs.
What starts off as a routine day turns into a magical feast as Jesus engages Manny in provocative conversations punctuated with farcical dance numbers and songs that feel somber and raw, and at other times fresh and contagiously hopeful that humanity’s collective enlightenment is close at hand.
As the characters become immersed in their stories the viewer bears witness to the repositioning of historic religious figures, is called on to contemplate sexual mythologies, and rethink the nature of prayer, love, and forgiveness.

Poster Art by Betty LaDuke


Pig Behind the Bear

It’s 1971, one year after the killing of famed LA Times reporter, Rubén Salazar. A junior reporter, Alejandra Marisol, who works for the LA Times is asked to write a commemorative piece on Salazar in recognition of the one-year anniversary of his death. While doing work for the piece, Alejandra finds that she is embroiled in a murder mystery that appears to have ties to Rubén Salazar’s death.

Book Cover Art by Lalo Alcaraz.

Read more

The Water of Life Remains in the Dead

Set in 1971, this book picks up where the award winning novel, Pig Behind The Bear, ends. In this stand-alone sequel the reader will be treated to a fast paced drama told with grit and undercoated with humor.

Book Cover Art by Rafa Tarín.

Read more

Pan de Muerto

Melodic coos reached Gloria’s bed carried on the tail of a damp breeze. Pajarito Travieso Hermoso Mi Amor was awake and eager for a pre-dawn flight.

Read the full text

Awards

Maria has received multiple awards for her fiction writing.

Read about the awards