Latin Magical Realism

If an inanimate object could give you what you are missing in your life, would you keep it or throw it away? What if the item revealed magical worlds, fabulous opportunities, and a chance to change everything in your world? When a young woman named Annie, who lives in Washington State, discovers a camera that can come into her dreams and take photographs, it forever changes her life and those after her who possess it.

This magical realist short tale was inspired by the Latin American myth of El Sombrerón, the nighttime guardian of peace and justice. El Sombrerón arrives in a sleepy town to find that a young girl has stolen a golden necklace. El Sombrerón must convince the girl to return the necklace so she can avoid El Sombrerón’s justice…and before the sun rises.

Larimar Cintrón works hard at three things: her job as brand manager for Beacon Café, a New York based corporate bakery chain; taking care of her parents and her abuela; and hiding that she’s a ciguapa—a mythical creature of Dominican folklore with long, straight hair and backwards-facing feet. Larimar may only be a ciguapa on full moons, but she feels like an outsider in her family the rest of the month too. Her love of ’90s punk rock music and style further sets her apart.