[In the following review, Niño offers a favorable assessment of Rain of Scorpions and Other Stories.]

In this impressive collection [Rain of Scorpions and Other Stories] Portillo Trambley weaves the fabric of joy and sorrow, life and death from the richly hued strands of her characters' lives. The novella-length title story is an inspiring tale of earthly wisdom and the human search for meaning and a center to life. Papá At, the wise old man of a small town, listens to the breathing of the earth, the air, and all the creatures. He tells the stories of Gotollama, the creator, inspiring a group of boys to undertake a journey that leads ultimately to deeper understanding of themselves. The other, shorter stories include the tragedy of what happens to those who don't conform to society's norms (“The Burning”) and the comedy of a young woman's escape from her chauvinistic father (“The Paris Gown”). They include the mystery of the human heart, too, as when Beatriz, the heroine of “If It Weren't for the Honeysuckle,” justifies her actions with these all-too-true words: “Yes, there's a wildness in me from all the things that have happened in our lives, the sadness, the loneliness, the violences. They grow inside us—mix—and become something I cannot explain.” A welcome addition to the growing volume of Latino literature in the U.S.