Reviews
“s b del llano’s bold debut collection reminds me of the massive paintings of Delacroix or David in that there is so much to take in on every inch of the canvas, so much majestic nature, vivid life, and tragic humanity that you feel helpless, overwhelmed, and enlarged. Bold colors, characters bursting with life, and large gestures abound. The title story - and the title itself - is a perfect example with heartbreaking tragedy against a backdrop of raw, beautiful, and terrifying nature. And what range! This is a world tour of culture in one volume, the planet is his canvas. del llano is an incredible new voice in literary fiction.”
Matt Bondurant, author
North Country
“Once Wild has a huge heart and enchanting writing style that envelops readers in settings around the globe—settings created with easy familiarity and intimate affection. The characters inhabiting its pages live wildly different lives in divergent places; they come together from different backgrounds. But they’re all trying to find refuge, a home on this planet earth, and the reader stumbles, runs, and swims against the tide with every one of them. Each character in this book, the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly has a soul etched in lyrical prose. s b del llano holds humor and tragedy beautifully in balance, and his first book is a masterwork both for its literary prowess and the sheer reverence for life that radiates from its pages. The search for the wild and beautiful self sometimes ends in tragedy, sometimes in comedy, always in beauty. These stories will embed themselves in your heart.”
Julie Price Carpenter, author
Things Get Weird in Whistlestop
“s b del llano’s debut collection moves effortlessly between ethereal and particular, probing the existential while revealing mystery in the rituals of daily life. He renders the grit and mettle of Manhattan with the same attention he affords the ochres and umbers of his childhood in the Amazon. With richness and reverence—and an astonishing range—Once Wild heralds a profound, incisive literary voice. del llano reminds us that storytelling is not simply entertainment; it’s the basis of cultural humanity and the fertile soil in which we might grow ourselves.”
Susan Ayotte Norman, author
The Best of Their Blunders
“s b del llano is a unique voice in fiction writing, a poet of a storyteller. Don’t get me wrong, the pieces in Once Wild are all story all the time, deep and sometimes quite dark – great characters, settings, imagination – and the writing is beautifully precise and wonderfully evocative.”
Jeffrey Ford, author
The Empire of Ice Cream
“Once Wild is a sweeping and deeply humane collection, rich with lyrical prose and striking narrative range. s b del llano crafts unforgettable characters navigating grief, faith, and the fragile beauty of survival.”
LaToya Watkins, author
Holler, Child