“April Vázquez’s story collection Scapegoats opens with the epigraph contra mundum, an allusion to St. Athanasius’ stand “against the world” for the divinity of Christ. This declaration should not, however, lead you to believe these stories are going to be superficial affirmations, a kind of preaching to the choir. The characters in these stories struggle in liminal spaces—between being remembered and forgotten, between Mexico and el norte, between the reason and science of colonizers and the magic of Indigenous peoples, between factual certainty and mystery, between being alive and being dead. There are no easy resolutions here, but there are gripping stories that will leave you with plenty to think about long after you’ve read them.”
-from the Afterword by Vic Sizemore, author of the novel God of River Mud (winner of the 2025 Tennessee Book Award)
“In these keenly perceptive, vividly realized stories, April Vázquez overturns too-easy perceptions and rejects facile categorizations to find the humanity, and still more the capax Dei, at the heart of every person. A delight to read.”
-Katy Carl, author, As Earth Without Water and Fragile Objects
April Vázquez grew up in the Christ-haunted mountains and foothills of Appalachia before spending a decade in Guanajuato, Mexico. She currently lives in northern Delaware.