It feels appropriate to end this list with a darkly hilarious story about – yup – the end of the world (metaphorically speaking…). The content of this story perfectly encapsulates the rest of my (admittedly very specific) obsessions: apocalyptic vacations, humans vs. animals, messed-up couples, potential death by spider venom. What more could you possibly want from a short story?

Included in Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction, Dalkey Archive Press, 2009. You can read it online in Spanish here