The Patron Saint of White Menageries: Stories - Paperback

by Lauren T. Davila (Author)

In her debut magical-realism collection The Patron Saint of White Menageries, Pushcart-nominated author Lauren T. Davila cracks Los Angeles open to reveal a kaleidoscope of unlikely heroines, talents, and dreams.

In a sticky diner, a waitress fits wisps of cloud into coffee mugs, trying to solve her patrons' problems. A motherless girl defies her father's rules, rubbing fish scales from her eyes and learning her mother's half-remembered Spanish. Spectral ballerinas haunt alleys and dance studios, and red bumps rise on the arms of an assistant whose employer has been alive too long. The prophet Cassandra, exhausted from reincarnating and never being believed, tries one last time to escape her fate.

For lovers of White Cat, Black Dog and whoever haunts the Pacific Coast Highway, The Patron Saint of White Menageries is a guide to magical LA by one of its native daughters.

Author Biography

Lauren T. Davila is a Pushcart-nominated Latina author, anthologist, and acquisitions editor. Her debut short story collection, The Patron Saint of White Menageries, is forthcoming from Creature Publishing in 2026. She has edited multiple anthologies, including To Root Somewhere Beautiful (2024) and When Other People Saw Us, They Saw the Dead (2022). Her poetry and fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines. Lauren holds an MA in English Literature and an MFA in Fiction Writing. She is an Acquisitions Editor at Inked In Gray Press and the Assistant Director at PocketMFA. She lives in the greater Los Angeles area where you'll find her swimming or walking her golden retriever.