A fascinating collection of three strange and thought-provoking short stories by acclaimed and prize-winning Spanish-language Mexican writer, Mario Bellatin: Chinese Checkers; Hero Dogs; and My Skin Luminous, stories describing clearly and rationally a life that is not rational, clean, precise or progressive. Passionately translated by Cooper Renner, editor of elimae magazine, this book is illustrated by Bellatin's casual and realistic photos and bears a thoughtful Foreword by Ken Sparling who discusses the nature of translation itself. This is Bellatin's first book to appear in an English edition.