Vampires of El Norte
The spark of the Mexican-American War has not yet roared into full conflagration, but tensions are high along disputed Texas boundaries. Nena, daughter of a Mexican rancher, finds her home threatened by Anglos looking to expand from the North. She and her childhood friend, Néstor, are inseparable, even though her parents consider him below her station. When Nena is attacked by a half-seen creature, Néstor believes her dead and blames himself. He flees north, becoming a vaquero who drowns his pain in liquor, women, and the endless range. Years later, when the Mexicans and Texans begin fighting in earnest, Néstor travels home to protect Nena’s father’s land, and is astounded to discover Nena alive. Meanwhile, Nena has been training as a curandera, not only to treat battlefield wounds, but also to heal the increasing number of mysterious susto cases – a fatal malaise afflicting those bitten by the creatures that attacked Nena as a child. Can she and Néstor survive war, vampires, and their own misunderstandings to rekindle their closeness?
In this Western horror mash-up, Cañas approaches the Texas border clash through a Mexican lens: there are two types of “monsters” – eyeless, blood-sucking creatures and Anglos, represented by the Rinches (Texas Rangers). It is the Anglo vampires who are soulless, while Cañas takes pains to humanize the creatures. These are not the typical sophisticated vampires masquerading as humans, but rather iterations of Spanish folkloric boogeymen such as El Cucuy. The choice to present them sympathetically, while understandable given the novel’s message, does rob the storyline of some innate tension and horror. The setting is well-realized and, combined with the folkloric elements and Mexican-American conflict, results in a refreshing read from a growing subgenre: colonial Gothic/Western horror. I look forward to more offerings in this… vein.
