Originating from Colombia, 'Best Worst American' is Juan Martinez's debut collection of stories. Published in February 2017, the collection consists of 24 stories which are stunning in their breadth - some surrealist, some fantastical, others influenced by science-fiction and other genres of fiction. All, however, relate back to, and possibly comment on, modern American life. Martinez's Colombian heritage might explain the influence behind some of his writing, since the Nobel Laureate and prominent magical-realist writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, best known for 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' was also Colombian by birth.
The author of 'hilariously smart stories that present a chaotic, absurd, yet strikingly familiar world' according to 'The Arkansas International, Martinez's debut collection was greeted to great critical praise and so it seems certain he will go on to bigger and better things in the future. In an era where the President of the United States dominates the global news agenda and America's position as a 'superpower' seems less certain than ever before, Martinez's stories strike a chord with the reader in their ability to evoke the weird and the wonderful but also the everyday.
