From the author of the flash fiction chapbook A Bright and Pleading Dagger, comes the debut story collection, Tender Hoof. In these pages, Rivas compactly merges the brutal with the surreal, blurring the line between safety and danger, sinner and saint. Twin girls accept a strange man's invitation; a young author's purported reincarnation leads to fame and misfortune; a lone bicyclist cycles her way through a lifetime of peril; not even a fairytale can save children from the flaws of their parents. With blade-sharp prose, Rivas creates a profound cast of characters that generate momentum till the very last page.