The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station

The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station is a collection of interconnected short stories about the coming of age of a young boy. Each story is a chapter in the life of its main character, a young boy named Josh, that take place in a small, unnamed Texas town. The author surrounds Josh with colorful and charismatic characters whose own stories come to life in each chapter. In the gothic “La Tormenta” a wife’s infidelity sparks macabre bloodshed. In “Old Dan’s Lament” the life of a reclusive, bookish ranch hand who was maimed in the Korean War becomes grotesquely immediate. During “Homecoming,” the actions of the football game are narrated from the perspective of one who has an in-depth knowledge of the game. Realistic, plain-spoken dialogue drives the characters and action in these stories. Intimate understandings of the settings are evident in the depth of the descriptions and the emotional content of each story. The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station is a lovingly rendered portrait of Texas.