Fernando A. Flores Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Fernando A. Flores is a Mexican-American novelist best known for his literary fiction novels that combine vivid storytelling, cultural commentary, and surrealism. The author was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and was brought up in South Texas. His upbringing in the borderlands would come to have a very profound impact on his later literary fiction works. When Flores moved to Austin, Texas, as an adult, he got into the vibrant cultural scene in the city. He worked several jobs and held positions in the service industry even as he dedicated a lot of time to writing and reading. Due to his passion for literature, it would not be long before he became a notable figure in the literary community in Austin.
Growing up in South Texas, Fernando A. Flores loved to move back and forth across the border almost every weekend. Since his mother’s family lived very near to the border, they loved to go visit them almost every other Saturday. With that kind of upbringing, Flores became very connected to Mexican pop culture and, in extension, the entire Mexican culture. During this time, he got to experience how American culture was ubiquitous even across the Mexican border where his cousins were obsessed with it. Since he was living as an American, culture was one of the things that they could connect about. Visiting Reynosa, he thought it was a strange city that was a combination of many different things. It was more urban than his home in South Texas and everything was more concentrated as compared to the rural places he called home back in the US. During this time, Flores was an easy target for the mean boys he grew up with and therefore, he spent most of his time all alone reading. When he was not walking around the orchards or doing other mundane stuff, he could often be found reading works such as the Lord of the Flies.

It was while Fernando A. Flores was in high school as a junior that he got his first artistic impulse. It was at this time that he watched a special about a list of the hundred greatest movies of all time by the American Film Institute. The special conducted interviews with the directors and screenwriters and this got Flores interested in storytelling. He became obsessed about the movies and printed them out on a list, which he crossed out whenever he watched one. He was particularly intrigued by the story of screenwriter and director John Cassavetes, who was so passionate about telling his story that he was ready to go broke for years on end to finish a movie. He realized that he could find happiness even if he was broke as long as he used his time and money in the creation of something. Ultimately, he started reading about how to write screenplays, particularly from Syd Field’s famous book. He also read about Hollywood from books written by William Goldman, who also influenced him on his journey toward becoming a novelist.

Aside from his novel Tears of the Trufflepig, Flores has penned several other critically acclaimed works. For his commitment to literature, he has won several awards, including the 2018 Discovery Prize in Fiction by the Writers’ League of Texas and a grant from the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation. His works continue to maintain popularity with readers as they offer some profound perspectives into the complexities of human experience and cultural identity. Fernando A. Flores currently makes his home in Austin, Texas, and is one of the most influential figures in modern literary fiction, known for his rich, immersive worlds and the unique voice in his fiction.

Fernando A. Flores published his first novel, Tears of the Trufflepig, in 2019. The work is set in a dystopian world in which there are three border walls between the US and Mexico. The cartels have taken some scientists hostage and intend to force them to bring back to life bizarre extinct animals even as the world of organized crime is experiencing a high demand for the shrunken heads of the local Aranana tribe. Esteban Bellacosa is a South Texas freelancer who is a jack of all trades who sometimes works as a locator of construction equipment. He has had a very difficult life as he is a widower whose brother was kidnapped by the cartel, as he recently lost his daughter to famine. While he is investigating, he learns of a decadent underground dinner where he learns of a mythical animal known as a Trufflepig that has been brought to life by scientists working for the cartel. But things get very interesting when he is taken hostage by a corrupt border patrolman who takes him to the hostage scientists. He is hooked up to a Trufflepig in an experiment in which the scientists hope the animal will take on his subconscious.

In 2025, Fernando Flores published his second novel, Brother Bronte, which is quite the weird name for a book. The work takes its readers on a bizarre romp through a dystopian world that, in its disparity, tyranny, and dysfunction, feels a lot like our very own. The novel is set in Three Rivers, Texas, in 2038, where the formerly bustling town has become a surreal wasteland. Pablo Henry Crick, a tech industrialist, is the mayor who has forced most of the women in town to work at the Big Tex Fish Cannery as indentured laborers. The cannery makes a lot of money for Crick even as it poisons the air all over town. Scrounging a living from the barren landscape are Neftali and Prosperian, who secretly read the books of Jazzmin Monelle Rivas and particularly his last novel, Brother Bronte. But following a series of very brutal trcities visited upon the town’s resident by Crick and his men, Prosperina and Neftali have teamed up with three scheming triplets, a wounded begal tigress and a bunch of rebels to try to take back their city. In the process of coordinating their activities, they unlock the connection that their favorite author has to their city.