I'm A Fool To Want You: Stories by Camila Sosa Villada

These dazzling stories from the internationally acclaimed author of Bad Girls erase the fine line between fantasy and reality, and establish her as an impressive literary voice.

In the 1990s, a woman makes a living as a rental girlfriend for gay men. In a Harlem den, a travesti gets to know none other than Billie Holiday. A group of rugby players haggle over the price of a night of sex, and in return they get what they deserve. Nuns, grandmothers, children, and dogs are never what they seem…

These 9 stories are inhabited by extravagant and profoundly human characters who face an ominous reality in ways as strange as themselves. I’m a Fool to Want You confirms that Camila Sosa Villada is one of the most powerful and original voices in contemporary literature. With her daring imagination, she can speak the language of a victim of the Mexican Inquisition, or create a dystopian universe where travestis take their revenge. With her unique style, Sosa Villada blends everyday life and magic, honoring the oral tradition with unparalleled fluency.

“Imaginative, captivating, and titillating… Centering on themes of gender, sex work, love, and justice, Villada continues to shine a light on lives so often hidden in the dark.” —Ms. Magazine

“A commanding voice emerges in…this striking collection.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Remarkable…[Villada’s] talent for capturing emotions on the page gives a powerful and compassionate voice to characters often trapped in exploitation and fear to be their true selves.” —Booklist

“Original and imaginatively wide-ranging.” —Electric Literature
 
“Brilliant…compelling…These stories serve as a poignant reminder: human dignity is as fundamental as it is fragile.” —Hypercritic

“Camila Sosa Villada is an international treasure, a visionary writer of astounding originality and power. With I’m a Fool to Want You, she delivers another masterpiece: stories that thrill, delight, and shake the very world as we know it with their art and ferocity, their grit and grace, their extraordinary range. Latin American literature, queer and trans literature, and all of literature will never be the same. A triumph, a wonder, and a joy to read.” —Caro De Robertis, author of The Palace of Eros and Cantoras

“Camila Sosa Villada’s I’m a Fool to Want You is one of my favorite short-story collections of all time. I can’t stop thinking about the world and characters: they haunt, provoke, excite the spirit—wow! I love this book so much!” —Angie Cruz, author of How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

“Camila Sosa Villada is such a beautiful writer! This book blazes, charms, disquiets, and breaks your heart—you’ll regret it if you don’t read it.” —Casey Plett, author of Little Fish and A Dream of a Woman

“Intoxicating stories that leave a deep impression. Filthy, ethical, sweetly quotidian, deviant, defiant, and dreamlike. A literature of the body and spirit. With her zeal for wild pleasures and bewildering humiliations, Camila Sosa Villada had me on a leash.” —Quiara Alegría Hudes, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and author of My Broken Language

“Stunning. A collection as bright and sparkling as the precious stones one character believes she can find at the heart of a pomegranate. Camila Sosa Villada spins tales of mythic revenge, of magics great and small, and of finally finding sanctuary—in a sibling’s bed, a homemade scone, a sudden jungle. Tenderly crafted and captivating, these stories offer a sanctuary in themselves.” —Morgan Thomas, author of Manywhere: Stories

“A breathtaking, remarkable collection of stories. The boundaries between what is real and what is fantastical collapse, providing a haunting series of characters whose presence lingers long after we’ve closed the book, forcing us to consider sex, desire, humor, justice, and dignity in a completely new way.” —Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park

“It is rare that I come across a book so alive as Camila Sosa Villada’s I’m a Fool to Want You, and the lives that populate this book are my favorite kinds: characters who’ve been cooked in interpersonal, familial, and systemic violences and come out glittering and dirty-mouthed, biting and hilarious and hungry-hearted, mean and stylish and full of love. This is a book about the worlds queer and trans people make for ourselves.” —Sam Cohen, author of Sarahland