36: ‘Curtains of Rain’ Author Anel Flores Examines South Texas Environmental Racism in Queer Coming-of Age Story

Deceleration’s Marisol Cortez speaks with Anel Flores about their new novel Curtains of Rain/Cortinas de Lluvias (Jaded Ibis Press, 2025), a queer coming-of-age story that explores the intersections of homophobia and transphobia with environmental racism in South Texas, specifically the industrial contamination inflicted on Mission, Texas, for decades by companies like Monsanto. But it’s also a book about the beauty and sacredness of queer familia and the landscapes that hold us all, in all our relations, in spite of these histories of violence.