Dona Barbara tells the tale of an epic struggle between two cousins for a cast estate and ranch in the Venezuelan llano, or prairie ... Published in 1929 and all but forgotten by Anglophone readers, Dona Barbara is one of the first examples of magical realism, laying the groundwork for later authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa. In Venezuela, Doña Barbara is a beautiful and mysterious woman with a ferocious power over men--...

"Recurring blackouts envelop Caracas in an inescapable darkness that makes nightmares come true. Real and fictional characters, most of them are writers, exchange the role of narrator in this polyphonic novel. They recount contradictory versions of the plot, a series of femicides that began with the energy crisis. The central narrator is a psychiatrist who manipulates the accounts of his friend, an author writing a book titled The Night; and his patient,...

When Captain Kyle Mercer of the Army's elite Delta Force disappeared from his post in Afghanistan, a video released by his Taliban captors made international headlines. But circumstances were murky: Did Mercer desert before he was captured? Then a second video sent to Mercer's Army commanders leaves no doubt: the trained assassin and keeper of classified Army intelligence has willfully disappeared. When Mercer is spotted two years later in Caracas,...

"Alberto Barrera Tyszka's Patria o muerte is a thriller set at the time of Hugo Chávez's impending death and the frenzy that it sets off in Venezuela. The retired oncologist Miguel Sanabria lives on edge, and his skepticism about the diagnosis of Chávez's illness seems to put him at odds with the world around him, which is becoming increasingly combustible. Sanabria's extremist anti-Chávez wife threatens to act unwisely, and his nephew Vladimir...

Intending to protect his cattle, a Venezuelan cowboy tracks a jaguar, but is unable to kill it. Presents information about the jaguar, its habitat, and the relationship between it and humans.