Word Is Bone is a cinematic novel set outside LA at Y2K … These memorable characters, the pacing of the plot, and the language itself will have you turning pages to keep up with the movie playing in your mind's eye. It's VERY cool, and if you like literary fiction, crime, or noir … read this book.”

Mary Kay McBrayerAmerica’s First Female Serial Killer and BookRiot editor

 
Both Sides

Read “Fat Tuesday” in Both Sides: An Anthology of Border Noir

"In this timely volume, readers will find rage as well as hope and, occasionally, a dash of spirit-lifting poetry.” —Publishers Weekly

"Sometimes-sad, sometimes-infuriating, but always-illuminating...This gratifying and sometimes wryly funny read stands on its own, but it’s also worth recommending as an #ownvoices alternative to Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt." —Booklist

 
 
Cover Art by Matthew Revert

Cover Art by Matthew Revert

LATEST NOVEL


Praise for Word Is Bone

Winner of the International Latino Book Award

Christopher Rosales’ writing in Word Is Bone is so vibrant and dirty with street-level intimacy like a lot of hip-hop: think Kendrick Lamar’s Money Trees and Domino’s Getto Jam. These are stories from the stoops, laundromats, canals and alleyways, that show how a community weaves narrative webs to understand their own truths. So, ‘here we go, here we go as the tune starts to bloom.’
— Steven Dunn, author of Potted Meat and water&power
If all stories are really either about someone leaving town or someone getting to town, then Word Is Bone is, pretty much, all stories, but in a way that’s so particular to SoCal and the nineties that you’ll find yourself looking down at your own feet, expecting them to be wrapped in June’s cowboy boots.
— Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels and Mapping the Interior
Word Is Bone is a cinematic novel set outside LA at Y2K … These memorable characters, the pacing of the plot, and the language itself will have you turning pages to keep up with the movie playing in your mind’s eye. It’s VERY cool, and if you like literary fiction, crime, or noir … read this book.
— Mary Kay McBrayer, author of America First Female Serial Killer and contributing editor at BookRiot
 

Volunteer Work and Community Engagement

with the California-Mexico Studies Center

Anthology of Dreams from An Impossible Journey

Winner - Gold

International Latino Book Award 2023

Best Academic Themed Book - College - Spanish

 

ABOUT

Christopher David Rosales

“Rosales reads like early Marquez meets Bel Canto, with a shade of noir thrown in...difficult moments are offered with a beautiful and satisfying lightness that makes them shimmer and resonate and remain with you for good.”

- Brian Evenson, author of A Collapse of Horses

 
 

Novels