Captain Chicano Draws a Line in the American Sand

Captain Chicano is out to save the country! White supremacy is on the rise and he is the only one capable of beating it with a secret weapon. Love. But will it work? His own life isn’t so great, beset by superhero insecurities and Chicano doubts. What is a Chicano superhero supposed to do? How is he supposed to act? Luckily, he and the narrator, engaged on his own quest to write a gothic account of America, of its present crisis of democracy and demographics, team up, and create a bigger mess, and a better time together. Luckily for them both, Edgar Allan Poe is interested in the project, and makes a series of haunting appearances, sad and comical and serious, to help the tale along. But will the nation really be saved from its own demons and survive the extremism in the air? The answer is surprising and poignant.

Stephen D. Gutierrez is the author of three collections of short stories and essays, and winner of an American Book Award. His work has appeared in North American Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, Chicago Quarterly Review, Hunger Mountain Review, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, CutBank, and numerous anthologies. Two of his essays have earned Notable Essay citations, most recently in Best American Essays 2022. Originally from City of Commerce, a small working-class city in Southeast Los Angeles County, he taught for many years at California State University East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he still makes his home.