ion chapbook, A Bright and Pleading Dagger, comes the debut story collection, Tender Hoof: Stories. In these pages, Rivas compactly merges the brutal with the surreal, blurring the line between safety and danger, sinner and saint. Twin girls accept a strange man's invitation; a young author's purported reincarnation leads to fame and misfortune; a lone bicyclist cycles her way through a lifetime of peril; not even a fairytale can save children from the flaws of their parents. With blade-sharp prose, Rivas creates a profound cast of characters that generate momentum till the very last page.