The 57-year-old Sáenz has been penning novels and poems, along with painting, for 35 years.

If you haven’t yet heard of Benjamin Alire Sáenz, a queer author from El Paso, it’s about time you do. You can read Literary El Paso as you sit at a table in La Tapatia in Ysleta, a restaurant that does not appear on any visitors’ guides. I refer you to Marcia Hatfield Daudistel’s Literary El Paso for anyone who’s really interested in discovering the wealth of writers who reside in El Paso. It’s certain that the Texas Legislature would have the book burned, but then again, the Republican politicians who run this state always carry a book of matches in their briefcases should the need arise. Of course, if you don’t like or approve of David Bowie, then his endorsement might be the kiss of death. David Bowie credited the book as being essential to his self-understanding.Rechy’s book deserves more visibility. He wrote Sexual Outlaw, a book that has been an underground gay classic for many years. I’m going to single out one overlooked author because he’s gay and Mexican-American and from El Paso and also because he’s brilliant: John Rechy, who was perhaps a gay writer born too soon to gain the wider readership he deserved. We have been seeing this project along for five or six years together. She also wrote the screenplay, which I thought was brilliant. We will be hearing a lot from her in the future. And the film is being directed by a new talent, Aitch Alberto. The fact that he was willing to become the executive producer of the film and brought in Eva Longoria and Eugenio Derbez made a huge difference.

Had it not been for his interest in the book and his enthusiasm for the movie to be made, the process for the deal to close would have taken much longer. Lin-Manuel is a very kind and committed human being. He added that he’d love to read the second book, but that he was too busy to do it, then ended by saying that he would do it anyway. He said that he had loved the first book and told me how much he had enjoyed narrating the audio book. And it was through Twitter that he found out that Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World was being published, and he sent me a Direct Message on Twitter addressing me as Maestro, as he has always done, and congratulated me on finishing the sequel. He did Direct Message me on Twitter a couple of times and he was very gracious to convey that he loved the first Ari and Dante book, and he has tweeted about the book several times. Lin-Manuel and I have never had a face-to-face conversation.

Aristotle and dante books in order