Sergio Troncoso: Works

Novels

From This Wicked Patch of Dust: Pilar and Cuauhtemoc Martinez and their four children begin life in the shantytown of Ysleta on the United States-Mexico border. They struggle to stay together despite cultural clashes, different religions, and politics after September 11, 2001. Download PDF of First Chapter.

The Nature of Truth: Helmut Sanchez is a young researcher in the employ of renowned Yale professor Werner Hopfgartner. By chance, Helmut discovers a letter written decades ago by his boss mocking guilt over the Holocaust. Appalled, Helmut digs into the scholar's life and travels to Austria and Italy to uncover evidence of Hopfgartner’s hateful past. Read online excerpt from revised 2014 edition.

Short Stories

“Rosary on the Border” (excerpt), Literary Hub, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son.

“Eternal Return”, Yale Review, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son.

“Library Island”, Michigan Quarterly Review, A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son.

“A Rock Trying To Be a Stone” (PDF), The Last Tortilla and Other Stories. “Una Piedra Tratando de Volverse Roca”, Spanish translation published in Tierra Adentro: Cuentario.

“Day of the Dead” (PDF), The Last Tortilla and Other Stories.

“Angie Luna” (PDF), The Last Tortilla and Other Stories. “Angie Luna,” Spanish translation.

“The Snake”, The Last Tortilla and Other Stories.

“Espiritu Santo,” The Last Tortilla and Other Stories.

Essays

“Dust to Dust: A mother’s hope binds her family in Ysleta,” Texas Highways Magazine.

“Living between worlds, Mexican American writers reveal a universal experience,” Houston Chronicle.