© 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Don’t let that unwanted car haunt your driveway this Halloween, donate it to NHPR!

Check This Out: Ruben Reyes, Jr., & 'Archive of Unknown Universes'

Trevor Bishai

Check This Out Host Rachel Barenbaum talks with debut novelist Ruben Reyes, Jr., about his novel, "Archive of Unknown Universes."

Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war.

In her search for answers, Ana turns to The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives.

What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is.

Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army.

The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism.

When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever.

Zibby Owens
Zibby Owens

In a special bonus following the conversation with Ruben Reyes, Jr., we chat with Zibby Owens to get a view of what's happening in the publishing world today. You may remember our conversation about her novel "Blank" on Check This Out in June 2024.

She's the founder of Zibby Media, which includes the  daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby, Zibby Publishing, and Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica, CA. You can find her on Substack and Instagram.

Zibby's Bookshop is a sponsor of Check This Out.

Check this Out features lively conversations with up and coming authors you may not have discovered yet. Check This Out is proud to partner with The PEN/Faulkner Foundation to champion new voices in literature.

Rachel Barenbaum is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars. She is a prolific writer and reviewer. Her work has appeared in the LA Review of Books, Harper’s Bazaar, and more.
Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.