{"id":5998,"date":"2016-08-14T10:33:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T14:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5998"},"modified":"2024-01-22T19:31:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T00:31:01","slug":"salsa-nocturna-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5998","title":{"rendered":"Salsa Nocturna: Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Salsa Nocturna: Stories<\/a><\/em> (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is a collection of stories set in the same world as the Bone Street Rumba series, and although some of the stories were about Carlos, there are other stories as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cTenderfoot\u201d
\n\u201cSalsa Nocturna\u201d
\n\u201cSkin Like Porcelain Death\u201d
\n\u201cThe Collector\u201d
\n\u201cGraveyard Waltz\u201d
\n\u201cProtected Entity\u201d
\n\u201cMagdalena\u201d
\n\u201cRed Feather & Bone\u201d
\n\u201cThe Passing\u201d
\n\u201cTall Walkin\u2019 Death\u201d
\n\u201cLove is a Fucking River\u201d
\n\u201cForgive Me My Tangents\u201d
\n\u201cPhantom Overload\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTenderfoot\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hindus believe that elephants used to be able to fly,\u201d Victor informs me. \u201cUntil one of them fell out of tree onto a great meditating sage and he cursed away their wings.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhoopee,\u201d Jenny says. \u201cI know how to Google too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Checking on a possible link to a phantom pachyderm.\u201d I feel stupid saying that, but it sounds better than \u2018ghost elephant.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSalsa Nocturna\u201d<\/p>\n

If I walk onto a playground, and I swear to you I\u2019m never the instigator, it\u2019s like some memo goes out: Drop whatever game you\u2019re playing and come chase the fat guy. Family events and holidays? Forget it. I don\u2019t really mind because I hate small talk, and if there\u2019s one thing about kids, they give it to you straight: \u201cT\u00edo Gordo, why you so big?\u201d <\/p>\n

And I get real serious looking. \u201cBecause I eat so many children,\u201d I say. <\/p>\n

Then they run off screaming and, usually, I give chase until I start wheezing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am not delicate. But if you were to watch me in slow-mo, you would then understand that, really, I am a panther. A slow, overweight panther, perhaps, but still, there is a fluidity to me \u2013 a certain poise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSkin Like Porcelain Death\u201d<\/p>\n

You never know what you\u2019re gonna get when you call in the Council of the Dead. They might come in all heavy, spirit blades a-rattling or they might not come at all. Usually it\u2019s whatever would be least helpful in the given situation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cGraveyard Waltz\u201d<\/p>\n

it never sounded right \u2013 those tiny headphones and even though it\u2019s supposed to be higher caliber, you can imagine what becoming so many zeros and ones does to a song.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cProtected Entity\u201d<\/p>\n

This part of Harlem\u2019s mostly white now. Homeless black guys wander aimlessly, pretending they didn\u2019t get the memo to clear the fuck out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI have a great respect for African and African-American culture. I teach Pan-African history at Columbia. I\u2019ve written several books on Nigerian culture and the Caribbean Diaspora. I\u2019ve spent three of the past seven years doing field-work on one end of the continent or the other. I wasn\u2019t about to move into some hood, but I feel comfortable around black people. So here I am. I asked permission from the block council before buying the place, and frankly they were quite impressed with my extensive knowledge of pre-Colombian civilizations.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s kill him,\u201d Riley says in my ear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMagdalena\u201d<\/p>\n

He says every soul is like a tiny shard of glass that reflects God. He says when you\u2019re dead, you\u2019re just a soul, and the reflection is even stronger, not muddled by all that flesh and blood and living people shit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe Collector\u201d<\/p>\n

He says every soul is like a tiny shard of glass that reflects God. He says when you\u2019re dead, you\u2019re just a soul, and the reflection is even stronger, not muddled by all that flesh and blood and living people shit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRed Feather & Bone\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet the fuck out of the way you scrawny hipsters!\u201d Riley screams out the window. \u201cTell \u2018em, Gordo, I don\u2019t think they heard me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201c\u00a1Comiendo mierda y gastando zapatos!\u201d Gordo yells. <\/p>\n

Riley eyes him suspiciously. \u201cDid you say what I said?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBasically,\u201d Gordo chuckles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s still the wrong century for two brown men to be driving a pickup truck with mysteriously tarped cargo towards lower Manhattan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe Passing\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Simp\u00e1tico\u2019 is the best word for him. It means \u2018nice\u2019 in English, but nice is such a pathetic word. Nice. It just lives and dies in one breath. Simp\u00e1tico is a whole story unto itself. It has panache.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTall Walkin\u2019 Death\u201d<\/p>\n

The man just vomits phrases with total disregard for their meaning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201c\u2018Bout time some of our people be gun-totin\u2019 psycho nerds too.\u201d Krys looks like she\u2019s somewhere between flattered and irritated. <\/p>\n

\u201cListen,\u201d I say, \u201cI\u2019m glad you\u2019re all happy now that we have a fully armed teenager on our side, but we got some shit to figure out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLove is a Fucking River\u201d<\/p>\n

She just bawled in my arms for what seemed like hours and that little frail body of hers kept shuddering and heaving and I thought she might just crumble like a little crispy leaf at any second, but she seemed so strong to me in that very moment, too, because what man, for all our strength and awesomeness, can really be that vulnerable? You know? What man can really be strong enough to fall apart?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cForgive Me My Tangents\u201d<\/p>\n

A child\u2019s excitement is its own force of nature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(A) scar isn\u2019t about the injury, it\u2019s about the healing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPhantom Overload\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing marginalizes marginalized people like a dead white guy talking sympathetically.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Crossed Genres Publications<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salsa Nocturna: Stories (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is a collection of stories set in the same world as the Bone Street Rumba series, and although some of the stories were about Carlos, there are other stories as well. \u201cTenderfoot\u201d \u201cSalsa Nocturna\u201d \u201cSkin Like Porcelain Death\u201d \u201cThe Collector\u201d \u201cGraveyard Waltz\u201d \u201cProtected Entity\u201d \u201cMagdalena\u201d \u201cRed Feather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,18,2,48,44,16,34,20],"tags":[139,138,737,140],"class_list":["post-5998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-anthology","category-fantasy","category-female","category-hispanic","category-supernatural","category-urban-fantasy","category-young-adult","tag-bone-street-rumba","tag-daniel-jose-older","tag-ghosts","tag-shadowshaper-cypher"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1yK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11743,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11743","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":0},"title":"Salsa Nocturna: Stories, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"March 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna: Stories, Audio Edition (2012\/2014) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older, narrated by Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is a collection of stories set in his Bone Street Rumba world. \u201cTenderfoot\u201d published in The Innsmouth Free Press (2011) \u201cSalsa Nocturna\u201d published in Strange Horizons (2010) \u201cSkin Like Porcelain Death\u201d \u201cThe Collector\u201d published in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8965,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8965","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":1},"title":"Salsa Nocturna: A Bone Street Rumba Collection","author":"Michelle","date":"March 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna: A Bone Street Rumba Collection (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older I was feeling out of sorts and unsure what I was in the mood to read, so I decided to re-read Salsa Nocturna since I knew I'd enjoy it. \u201cTenderfoot\u201d published in The Innsmouth Free Press (2011) \u201cSalsa Nocturna\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6225,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6225","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":2},"title":"Salsa Nocturna, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna, Audible Version (2012\/2014) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older, read by the author As with his Bone Street Rumba novels, Daniel Jose Older reads his own work, and it's totally great! This short story collection was published before Half-Resurrection Blues and features not just Carlos and Riley, but one of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"salsa_nocturna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24922,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24922","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":3},"title":"Salsa Nocturna, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna, Audiobook (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older narrated by Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older (Bone Street Rumba #2.5) Nothing marginalizes marginalized people like a dead white guy talking sympathetically. A child\u2019s excitement is its own force of nature. \u2018Simp\u00e1tico\u2019 is the best word for him. It means \u2018nice\u2019 in English, but nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Salsa Nocturna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8735","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":4},"title":"Battle Hill Bolero","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Battle Hill Bolero (2017) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is the sequel to both Midnight Taxi Tango and Salsa Nocturna. You don't have to have read Salsa Nocturna for this, but you really really should. Events have come to a head, and Riley and Cyrus and many other ghosts are in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Battle-Hill-Bolero.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5276,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5276","url_meta":{"origin":5998,"position":5},"title":"Salsa Nocturna","author":"Michelle","date":"June 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is a collection of intertwined short stories. It doesn't seem quite so at the beginning, but they are are all more than just set in the same world. The characters are ghosts and ghost hunters and those who can see the dead, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}