In his forthcoming book, Biscayne Inferno and Other Stories, Oscar Fuentes aka “The
Biscayne Poet” brings us a gritty new collection–a novella, six short stories, and 15 poems–in
which he continues to explore Miami, this time through a haunted vision of its destruction,
casting those who remain into a violent struggle to survive and, if possible, to retain some
semblance of sanity.

With his first foray into novella, Fuentes challenges himself—and his readers—to face a
“what-if” vision of subtropical chaos: the drowned ruins of a post-apocalyptic Miami. With deft
rhythm, he delivers us into his world, alternating seamlessly between the nervous immediacy of a
shell-shocked survivor still gasping through spikes of adrenaline, and the reflective, soulful gaze of a poet with a front row seat at the end of the world–awestruck before nature’s sublime and the mysterious edict of the fates. Over the roar of his airboat’s LSV8 engine, Fuentes shouts for us to hold tight—to the seat’s edge or the grip of its mounted shotgun—for an explosive ride through the broken tatters and murky waters of what remains: “The city behind me dissolved into silver chaos, half-submerged rooftops and flickering neon swallowed in water.”

Ever since Noah survived the great flood (and probably before that), storytellers have
tantalized audiences with tales of surviving Mother Nature’s wrath, but the greatest amongst
them realized long ago that the beating heart of every man’s struggle against the elements is
ultimately a struggle against himself, first and foremost. Fuentes is a writer of great stories, and Biscayne Inferno is no exception. As nature’s ante rises in the form of floodwater and the
escalating violence that comes with it, Oscar must constantly find it within himself to match, or
rise, to the occasion.
 

Enthralling in its own right, in the hands of Fuentes, the end of the world becomes one
more stage for this player to wrestle with the absurd facts of life, with existence. You read that
right. Oscar. The man writes himself as the protagonist of his stories–or at least some version of
himself. Oscar performs Oscar, both in real life, as a performance poet on the stage, and on the
page. Existing as both author and protagonist simultaneously is a continuation of his
performance, and the mythos of this character–a version of himself–that he builds upon, story by
story.
 

So it is Oscar who, in just the first pages, is beaten bloody to a pulp in his seedy motel
room on Biscayne Blvd. by goons attempting to steal his Mayan artifact, a curious relic serving
as both narrative engine and cultural compass.
 

It isn’t long before our hero becomes a desperate, shotgun-wielding South Floridian Mad
Max—or perhaps, more fittingly, an Odysseus. Driven by the need to reunite with his family
amid the chaos, Oscar must become his own “man of many turns”: wily, resourceful, even
ruthless. “Everyone in the city had become a thief to survive. Everyone was fair game.”
 

In the short stories, Fuentes continues his exploration of chaos and inner turmoil in the
Magic City, focusing in on smaller scenes from its underbelly, intimate explorations of character
and morals amidst pimps and whores, motels, Biscayne Boulevard, and always, the Biscayne
Bay:

 

I walked the edge of Biscayne Bay, where the water still
breathed like an animal. Each wave carried a whisper—sometimes
my name, sometimes the city’s. The wind smelled of rust and rain,
and I wondered how long a place could remember its people after
they were gone.

The book concludes with a culminating demonstration of Fuentes’s thematic
follow-through, adding to his prolific poetic oeuvre a selection of poems that tightly sustain the
overall vision of Biscayne Inferno. Some even read as ekphrastic pieces based on the book’s
opening novella, as in “The Artifact’s Truth,” where he writes,

​

This truth is not a solace,
but a compass.
Its pulse a steady, insistent drumbeat against your chest,
pulling you through the murk.
It is a terrible gift,
but in a world of endless water,
a purpose, however painful,
is the only raft.

​

Known first and foremost as a poet, Fuentes’s voice remains unmistakable here—playful
yet grave, direct yet steeped in myth. Crafted of striking images and comparisons, his poems play
out in an accessible, deliberately didactic mode that feels almost classical in its conviction.
Refusing to let meaning drown in abstraction, Fuentes offers hard-won wisdom in a vital act of
clear communication—handing us the tools to survive in a fallen world, whether it be the
submerged Miami of Biscayne Inferno or the sunken world we inhabit today. What survives of
our humanity, he leaves for us to decide.
 

Biscayne Inferno and Other Stories will be officially released at Books & Books in
Coconut Grove on Thursday, October 16th, at 6:30 p.m. The evening will feature a discussion of
the book, readings of selected passages, an open mic, and live music.