El Chapo or El Checo? Distant Cousin scoops the news again. Twice!

Fans of the Distant Cousin books already know the series has anticipated many recent and surprising events in the world today, in politics, medicine, athletics and more. (There are EIGHT examples here.) Now, in quick succession, there are two more.

In Distant Cousin: Santa Muerte, Earth's favorite extraterrestrial Ana Darcy Méndez and her daughter run into one El Checo, a notorious drug kingpin, in northern Mexico. Let's only say that their encounter turned out a little differently than the one that put the real El Chapo in the news five months after the book was published.

The second item is also from the news of the last few days: progress in the fight against river blindness, a nasty disease the World Health Organization calls a "neglected tropical disease." The lack of treatment was noted in Distant Cousin: Repatriation in 2006, chapter 32, in which Ana cannot understand why the people of Earth don't do more to fight it. Now, at last, they have. About time!

The Distant Cousin stories do NOT try to predict the future. Their genre has always been difficult to define. They take place on Earth in the present day with only humans (including Ana, the extraterrestrial), and the occasional cat or horse. They have been called character-driven western Chicano action/adventure romance sci-fi stories. Whatever they might be, they are also fun!

Meet Ana, the extraterrestrial!

Share the fun!

Share even more fun!

Get pumped for the series!

Time for some Mexican folk masks!

Everyone loves a good mask. We learn in childhood that a mask ignites our imagination. A mask allows us to pretend, to experiment with different identities, to become something other than we are. Adults use masks too, for disguise or to perform or entertain.

Ana Darcy Méndez, hailing from the planet Thomo but now living on Earth, in New Mexico (as detailed in Distant Cousin), remembers masks from her childhood. Some of those masks demonstrate the Thoman people's cultural memories of animals on Earth, still recognizable after several thousand years of separation. Others are devoted to animals from the planet Thomo. Both types retain considerable totemic power.

This may explain why Ana is so fascinated with the imagination and creativity seen in Mexican folk masks. She has a small number hanging in her house, but she has friends and acquaintances who actually collect them. Fortunately for us, those friends have allowed us to present a representative sampling here. You may come to realize why someone from another planet would find them fascinating! Click any to enlarge.

                   

MORE!

Textile art: Arpilleras!  Molas! Clothing! Dolls!

Ceramics

Painting

El dia de los Muertos

Meet the fascinating extraterrestrial Ana Darcy!

"Thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. After B. reads them I'm thinking of starting from the beginning again."

Incredible Mexican pottery from Mata Ortiz!

Mata Ortiz, a town in northern Chihuahua, Mexico (MAP), is justly famous for its world-class ceramic art. Mata Ortiz also happens to be a venue in Distant Cousin: Recirculation. Novels being what they are, photographs are seldom present, but the work of the artists in Mata Ortiz deserves to be more widely known than it is now--that is, mainly by collectors, art galleries, and cognoscenti.

Our extraterrestrial friend Ana Darcy Méndez lives in southern New Mexico, only about 150 miles from Mata Ortiz, and thanks to her in-laws knows it well. She is not a collector but a friend of a friend has collected pieces from Mata Ortiz for years. Here is a representative sample. The small ones below are called "seed pots." (Click any to enlarge; click the X to return.)

What does Mata Ortiz look like?

What do readers say about Distant Cousin: Recirculation?

What other Latin American art does Ana love?

(includes arpilleras, molas, and clothing)

Mexican folk masks

Why would an extraterrestrial love Latin American art? Meet her!

"I love the Distant Cousin characters, they feel like family to me, I am interested in their lives, I worry about them, and I just adore them.  I think I've said this about each book, but I think [Recirculation] is my favorite!  Highly recommended!"

Ana finds a treasury of molas and Mexican art!

You might expect that the first human extraterrestrial woman to return to her home planet (Earth) would be a collector, and that she would be delighted by all the novel things to be found around her and want to keep a selection with her at all times.

If you'd expect that you would be wrong. Ana Darcy does indeed love much of Earth's surprising bounty, but such is her personality that she prefers living simply, and having around her only the most utilitarian, necessary objects for daily life. She loves museums, however, and loves visiting other people who are collectors--which is why she was so delighted to meet the friend of a friend who collects Mexican art, something Ana feels a spiritual connection to.

We have already presented some of the arpilleras, molas, murals, paintings, clothing, and sculpture that Ana has enjoyed to date. Below is a preview of some of the Mexican folk art (and some slightly more formal art) in the collection of her friend's friend. (Click any to enlarge; click the X to return.)

The total collection is astounding. In the near future we will present more of these delightful, imaginative artworks.

Molas! See the mermaid?

Clothing (huipil):

Masks:

Ceramics:

Ana discovers El dia de los muertos

Mexican folk masks

Textile art: Clothing  Arpilleras  Molas

Spanish dichos  (proverbs)

Meet Ana Darcy!

"What a nice surprise Distant Cousin was - quite unique.  It has humor, moves along at a pleasant pace, and the main characters have realistic flaws and faults that I could identify with.  ...I found myself smiling the entire time I was reading it.  There is a subtle wisdom and numerous life philosophies throughout this book.  To sum it up: good story - thoughtful, comfortable, and fun!"

More textile sculpture: Mexican dolls!

Ana found these stunning handmade Mexican folk dolls at a friend's home and fell in love with them immediately. The one on the right is eight inches (20 cm) tall. Two have tiny babies slung on their backs!

Ana says the people on Thomo, her home planet, have nothing resembling a "toy industry," and mothers (and grandmothers) tend to make dolls and toys for their youngsters. Some Thoman clothing, she says, even resembles the Mexican styles seen here. (Click to enlarge.) 

She admits regretting that she had nothing this precious for her own daughter, but she's going to try to collect some now. It's never too late!

See much more of the textile art of Earth Ana has enjoyed below. You will notice that most of it is Latin in nature, from Central and South America. That's because Ana lives in a Mexican-American household in New Mexico. She would welcome reader suggestions for more textile folk art from other parts of the world!

Wearable textile folk art 

Arpilleras: "painting" with textile sculpture

Molas: Panamanian fabric "paintings"

Mexican-American dichos (proverbs)

Mexican folk masks

Ana discovers El dia de los muertos (all souls' day)

Figurines for El dia de lost muertos

And now, meet Ana Darcy!

"Está espectacular...solo esta semana terminé el libro de Ana Darcy [Distant Cousin]...muy bueno...Es de esos libros que uno empieza y no quiere parar.... ¡Mil gracias!"

Wearable art from Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico!

We have mentioned elsewhere that the people on Ana Darcy Méndez's home planet, Thomo, are fond of decoration and the arts. In a forthcoming post we will show some samples of ancient art originating from the historical area on Earth her people are believed to have come from. 

We have also mentioned that Ana has been taken by the arts on Earth, and particularly by textile art. (See below for examples of arpilleras (textile sculptures) and molas (amazing fabric creations from the Kuna people of Panama). 

Now we have some examples of wearable art from Mexico, Guatemala, and Ecuador. We could not ask Ana to send photographs of her own clothing, but friends of hers have very kindly allowed us to present some examples of theirs, with our very grateful thanks. 

It's easy to see why Ana would love these creations. They are colorful, immensely creative, beautifully human, lively, unique, and not least important, comfortable to wear! 

Note: these photos are generously sized. Click any to enlarge!

Above, a huípil from Guatemala. Below, nine items from Mexico.

A jacket from Mexico (one of Ana's very favorites):

Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico (left to right):

Guatemala, Mexico, Guatemala (each photo):

Molas, from Panama: part 1, part 2

Arpilleras from Ecuador & Peru, part 1, part 2, part 3

The art of Claudia Quintero

Mexican dolls: handmade folk art!

Meet the fascinating woman from the planet Thomo who loves all this art.

Investigate Ana's innovative recipes and favorite poems, too, in the column on the right, and also her ideas on education, aliens on Earth (ahem), her favorite shoes, photographs from sites of her adventures, and much more!

Distant Cousin: Recirculation (DC5): Maps

Two of the locations in Distant Cousin: Recirculation (DC5) (click to enlarge):

What do readers say?

And THEN what do they say?

Meet the extraterrestrial, Ana Darcy!

Distant Cousin: Recirculation (Amazon, paperback)

Distant Cousin: Recirculation (Amazon, Kindle edition)

Distant Cousin: Recirculation: Photos

Photos of pottery from Mata Ortiz

Distant Cousin: Recirculation: Excerpt