The Borderland

By Steven E. De La Pena

THE BORDERLAND - A place of power, a land of shadows, where lost souls, almas perdidas, are controlled by a "Brujo", or Mexican sorcerer. The Borderland, Steven De La Pea's startling first novel, is a powerful psychological thriller laced with sorcery, accented by cultural antagonism, and fueled by the clash of dynamic personalities over three generations in a Mexican-American family. Blending Urban Myth and Magical Realism, it spans eighteen years, from 1958 to 1976, and explores the ethos of two multi-cultural cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco, through the eyes of a Mexican-American boy as he grows to adulthood. It weaves the childhood of this boy into the formidable adult who comes to terms with the awesome supernatural powers he has inherited. After the sudden death of his mother, ten-year-old Adam De La Cruz's father abandons him and his older sister, Maria, with their grandmother in the teeming Mexican immigrant section of East Los Angeles known as the barrio. As the school year ends and the summer of 1958 begins, Adam makes a shocking discovery: he is from a family of powerful sorcerers, Mexican brujos. His grandmother, known as Doa de la Cruz, or just Nana, is a bruja, and Curandera, or Healing Woman. Her ancestors, going back generations, have always been the matriarchs and protectors of their family, their neighborhood and their people. The revelations continue as Adam witnesses evidence of this power in his sister and, later, himself. Scandalous family secrets are revealed, filling Maria with bitterness and anger and pushing her to use her new-found powers to punish all those around her. As the summer wanes, Adam watches in horror as that power - called El Regalo, or The Gift - tears his family apart. Betrayed and terrorized, Adam eventually flees. Thirteen years later Adam surfaces in San Francisco , wasted on drugs, only an angry bitter shell. He has little or no memory of his childhood, and attempts to remember summon only blinding headaches and blackouts. His future is bleak, his life defined by drugs and a series of dead end jobs. And, perhaps his life would have ended that way, but for the faith and friendship of three people. Freddy Calma, a recovering addict and Vietnam veteran, sees something in this young man worthy of redemption. Sun Kim, a Korean martial arts master and sorcerer, gives Adam the skills to rebuild himself. And a beautiful, young Chinese woman, Adrian, his fated lover, inspires him to pursue his past and his future. Sun Kim, through his own formidable powers, reveals to Adam that his sister has been using her sorcery to attack and destroy him over the past 13 years. Through Master Kim's training, Freddy's friendship and Adrian's love, Adam realizes he must return to L.A. to confront the father who abandoned him, and battle his sister for control of the power that is his birthright. In Los Angeles everything goes disastrously off-track as Maria's attacks intensify. She pushes him to the edge of sanity with brutal psychic assaults and, with the help of their father, she mixes truth and lies while revealing more appalling family secrets. Again, Adam must gather the resources of others to help him build his power, defend himself, and prepare for the confrontation that will decide not just his own fate, but that of his people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1494992205
• ISBN13: 9781494992200
• Release Date: April 2014
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.4" x 5.5"