“Word Is Bone is a cinematic novel set outside LA at Y2K … These memorable characters, the pacing of the plot, and the language itself will have you turning pages to keep up with the movie playing in your mind's eye. It's VERY cool, and if you like literary fiction, crime, or noir … read this book.”
—Mary Kay McBrayer, America’s First Female Serial Killer and BookRiot editor
Read “Fat Tuesday” in Both Sides: An Anthology of Border Noir
"In this timely volume, readers will find rage as well as hope and, occasionally, a dash of spirit-lifting poetry.” —Publishers Weekly
"Sometimes-sad, sometimes-infuriating, but always-illuminating...This gratifying and sometimes wryly funny read stands on its own, but it’s also worth recommending as an #ownvoices alternative to Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt." —Booklist
Cover Art by Matthew Revert
LATEST NOVEL
Praise for Word Is Bone
Winner of the International Latino Book Award
“Christopher Rosales’ writing in Word Is Bone is so vibrant and dirty with street-level intimacy like a lot of hip-hop: think Kendrick Lamar’s Money Trees and Domino’s Getto Jam. These are stories from the stoops, laundromats, canals and alleyways, that show how a community weaves narrative webs to understand their own truths. So, ‘here we go, here we go as the tune starts to bloom.’”
“If all stories are really either about someone leaving town or someone getting to town, then Word Is Bone is, pretty much, all stories, but in a way that’s so particular to SoCal and the nineties that you’ll find yourself looking down at your own feet, expecting them to be wrapped in June’s cowboy boots.”
“Word Is Bone is a cinematic novel set outside LA at Y2K … These memorable characters, the pacing of the plot, and the language itself will have you turning pages to keep up with the movie playing in your mind’s eye. It’s VERY cool, and if you like literary fiction, crime, or noir … read this book.”
Volunteer Work and Community Engagement
with the California-Mexico Studies Center
Anthology of Dreams from An Impossible Journey
Winner - Gold
International Latino Book Award 2023
Best Academic Themed Book - College - Spanish
ABOUT
Christopher David Rosales
“Rosales reads like early Marquez meets Bel Canto, with a shade of noir thrown in...difficult moments are offered with a beautiful and satisfying lightness that makes them shimmer and resonate and remain with you for good.”
- Brian Evenson, author of A Collapse of Horses
