Work
Novels
Monstrilio
2024 Balcones Fiction Prize
Finalist VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
An NPR Books We Love 2023
An Elle Our Favorite Books of 2023
A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Horror and Best Debut Novel
A Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2023
A Book Riot Best Books of 2023
A Shondaland Best Debut Novel of 2023
A The Observer Best Books of 2023
A Huffpost Best Books We Read in 2023
A Powell's Best Books of Horror 2023
After her son dies, Magos carves out a small piece of his lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her decaying childhood home in Mexico City. But despite her best efforts to turn the monster into a man, Monstrilio's innate impulses threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life.
A meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Córdova's ambitious debut spans the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, offering an uncanny and precise portrait of being human.
“At once heartbreaking and unapologetically strange, this is a cross-cultural, syncretic, folksy, razor-sharp narrative about the horrors of grief and the eternal debate over nature versus nurture. . . . It is at once dark and tender, at times bleak, but balanced with humor that borders on slapstick . . . an outstanding debut; for all the ground being broken in genre-bending horror, his is a distinctive, exciting new voice in fiction.”—Gabino Iglesias, Los Angeles Times
Short Stories
- "Jeremy" in Barrelhouse, 2024
- "Motel" in Apartamento Magazine, 2023
- "The Tremendous One" in Catapult, 2023
- "Iceberg, Mine" in The Common, 2022
- "Forgotten" / "City" / "Church" in Passages North, 2022
- "Fluffschatten" in Ninth Letter, 2021
- "Boss" in Passages North, 2021
- "Pencil Werewolf" in Chicago Quarterly Review, 2019
Articles & Miscellanea
- "On Dia de Muertos, the Dead Return To Eat Us" in Simply Recipes, 2023
- "HORROR DOES A BODY GOOD, OR, THE STORY OF MY TEETH" in CrimeReads, 2023
- "Review: How to Order the Universe by Maria Jose Ferrada" in The Common, 2022
Short Films
Events
- 10.23.24 Conversation and Q&A as you are | Washington D.C. | 7 pm
- 10.29.24 Author Talk Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library | Washington D.C. | 6 pm
News
- Monstrilio Best Book of 2023
NPR / Elle / Goodreads / Barnes & Noble / Book Riot / Shondaland / The Observer / Huffpost / Powell's / Crimereads - Monstrilio coming to the UK!
- 9.1.24 World Literature Today The Beauty of Debuts
- 5.30.24 Bomb Interview: Yeji Y. Ham by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
- Books are Magic (Podcast) The Books are Magic Podcast
- 1.29.24 Electric Lit 8 Novels About Women’s Invisible Labor
- 1.26.24 Books Are Magic Paperback Launch! with Adam Dalva
- 1.22.24 f(r)iction An Interview with Gerardo Sámano Córdova
- 12.12.23 Lit Hub Best Book Covers of 2023
- 10.27.23 Them Meet the Next Generation of Queer Horror Authors
- 10.27.23 Shondaland 9 Books to Keep You Up This Halloween
- 10.13.23 Boston Globe Latinx horror authors are a new force in the genre
- 10.03.23 Observer 10 Must-Read Latinx Horror Books
- 9.29.23 Goodreads Readers' Top 66 Horror Novels of the Past Three Years
- 9.17.23 Barnes & Noble 25 Best and Scariest Horror Books Ever
- Keep the Channel Open (Podcast) Episode 145: Gerardo Sámano Córdova
- The Common Magazine (Podcast) Gerardo Sámano Córdova on “Iceberg, Mine”
- 6.6.23 Barnes & Noble The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
- 6.2.23 Book Riot The 25 Best Horror Books of 2023
- 6.1.23 Electric Lit 10 Queer Horror Books Coming Out in 2023
- 5.15.23 Goodreads Add These Recent 4-Star Gems to Your Beach Bag
- Literati At Home with Literati: Gerardo Sámano Córdova & Kelly Link
- This Queer Book Saved My Life! (Podcast) 7 Minutes in Book Heaven: meet Gerardo Sámano Córdova and his new novel Monstrilio
- Fire the Canon (Podcast) Monstrilio: A Conversation with Debut Author Gerardo Sámano Córdova
- 3.9.23 LA Times Monstrilio Review "How a Mexican-born debut novelist created a beautiful monster"
- 3.9.23 Largehearted Boy Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s Playlist for His Novel Monstrilio
- 3.3.23 Letterboxd The Horror Films That Influenced Monstrilio
- Monstrilio a Most Anticipated Book of 2023
Elle / Lit Hub / CrimeReads / The Millions / Electric Lit / Goodreads / B&N - 11.30.22 "Church" nominated for Best Microfiction by Passages North
- 10.4.22 Lit Hub Cover reveal: See the cover for Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s Monstrilio
About
Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City living in Brooklyn. He's currently Writer in Residence at Fordham University. He got his MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. He has studied at Bread Loaf as a work/study scholar (2019) and fellow (2023) and at the Tin House Summer Workshop (2019). He's currently working on a second novel.
(Also been known to draw little creatures.)
Say hi!
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