Mark Barrionuevo listed several reasons for using the pseudonym Garcia Anthony for his debut novel, Raintree.
“Spelling and correcting others’ spelling of my family name felt like spelling out my ethnicity,” Barrionuevo said. With this name change he also hopes to eliminate readers’ bias towards male or female authors by using an androgynous name.
“It is also easier to remember,” he said with a grin.
While some Georgetown students remain undecided about plans after graduation, Barrionuevo discovered his interest in writing early in life. Laughing, he recalls a time in grade school when he enthusiastically turned in a six-page story for a one-page assignment. Studying at Georgetown by day, he is in the process of writing several screenplays and a five-series novel by night.
A graduate student in the English Literature program, Barrionuevo speaks candidly about the challenges of breaking into the publishing world. To get published, an aspiring writer must obtain an agent, contact a publisher, and pray that their manuscript will be selected from the thousands submitted. To fulfill his fantasy of being a published author, Barrionuevo chose an alternative, more direct route.
Raintree was published by GreatUNpublished Books under the pen name Garcia Anthony. The website’s books are printed as they are ordered. As the site asserts, the purpose of GreatUNpublished is to bypass the book industry’s “complex marketing mechanisms,” and “remove some of the commercial barriers between [writers and readers].”
Written from the perspective of Pedro, a Latino Mormon, Raintree portrays the experiences of six college roommates. Influenced by Sandra Cisneros’ powerful vignettes in The House on Mango Street, Barrionuevo combines postmodern prose and poetry. Determined to capture the short-attention spans of our generation, he is purposefully succinct. Each chapter went through 20 different edits over the course of a year.
“I did not want to get it to the bone, but to get it to the marrow,” Barrionuevo said.
Although this prevents in-depth explorations into the intricate personalities of each roommate, the novel provides a vivid glimpse at the confusing period of our lives. In the chapter entitled “Morning Jambas,” roommates Matt and Pedro discuss the superiority of living a complex life, while also enjoying the simple pleasure of waking up for free Jamba Juice. Throughout the novel, Zac, the stereotypical narcissistic and hateful roommate, toys with his gun, providing an intriguing thread to conclude the final chapter.
The novel is deconstructive but maintains a relatively linear structure, avoiding the dreaded criticism of being “too artsy.”
“Raintree was written on a spectrum, for English majors as well as non-English majors,” Barrionuevo said. Beginning with a basic skeleton of the novel and thirty-nine chapter titles, Barrionuevo wrote the brief chapters as he was inspired, oftentimes out of order.
The novel confronts issues like rape, homosexuality, tolerance and ethnicity, as well as depicting friendship, love and individualism. Barrionuevo depicts a version of college life that most of us, after a week of final exams, will find much easier to read than econ textbooks, not to mention much easier to relate to.
Raintree is available at the Georgetown University Bookstore and at www.greatunpublished.com. Barrionuevo will participate in an open forum of published Georgetown authors in Red Square on April 29 at 1:30 p.m.
