Starting September 5, 2013, and running through Halloween, The Monitor printed a nine-part series entitled “Creature Feature.” Published each Thursday, this column featured my retellings of creepy tales of ghosts, ghouls and cucuys from deep South Texas, with illustrations by a variety of local artists. On December 10, 2013, an ebook version of the series was released by AIM Media Texas. Including four additional stories, the collection is titled Creature Feature: 13 Frightening Folktales of the Rio Grande Valley.
Creature Feature by AIM Media Texas
Here are links to the on-line versions of the original stories (minus the amazing layouts made for the print newspaper).
- “The Big Bird” (illustrated by Marco Sánchez).
- “The Devil at Boccaccio 2000” (illustrated by Xavier Garza).
- “The Devil’s Lagoon” (illustrated by Marco Sánchez)
- “The Ghosts of Fort Brown” (illustrated by Christopher Hernández)
- “Damnation at Toluca Ranch” (illustrated by Carlos Ortega-Haas [ink] and Charlie Bowles [color])
- “The Witch Owls of Río Rico” (illustrated by Bianca Ríos)
- “La Llorona by the Canal” (illustrated by Nicol Bowles)
- “Los Duendes” (illustrated by Bianca Ríos)
- “El Cucu” (illustrated by José “Buddy Papas” Meléndez)