Sáenz's moving collection of short stories hinges on the intergenerational clientele of the titular borderland watering hole just south of the U.S.-Mexican divide on Avenida Juárez. In "The Rule Maker," a bilingual boy raised by his single mother in Juarez reflects on his childhood, being abandoned by his mother, and how he wound up across the border in El Paso with his previously estranged American father. Years later, before the boy departs for Georgetown University, he and his father grab their passports and head south for a drink "where your mother and I used to go." In "Sometimes the Rain," newly minted high school friends Ernesto and Brian drive down for a night out at the Kentucky Club and discover a bond neither of them expected, but one that would change them forever. As a prose stylist, Sáenz tends toward the melodramatic, but there's much to enjoy in these gritty, heartfelt stories. (Oct.)

"Sáenz's moving collection of short stories hinges on the intergenerational clientele of the titular borderland watering hole just south of the U.S.-Mexican divide on Avenida Juárez. . . There's much to enjoy in these gritty, heartfelt stories." — Publishers Weekly

"Sàenz writes prose that is tender, occasionally fierce, and always engaging. Read every word of his stories lest you miss some clever twist, some subtle irony, some gentle nuance of poetic imagery that he has labored to create." — Booklist

Stonewall Book Award Honor - American Library Association (ALA)

Lambda Literary Award Winner - Lambda Literary
PEN America Literary Awards Winner - PEN America
Southwest Book Awards Winner - Border Regional Library Association