The Brave Dogs (Los Perros Bravos)

About the Book

Spain, in the opening years of the 16th century, a country bruised and tattered by 700 years of war, is the setting for this novel of historical fantasy. The Moors have finally been driven out of the peninsula and Isabel and Fernando, rulers of the recently united Spanish kingdom, have cast their eyes westward toward the new lands discovered under their sponsorship by Cristóbol Colón.

Young men at the birth of this new century of hope dream of following the early explorers and seeking their fame and fortune. The Brave Dogs is a story about a group of brothers preparing to become conquistadors. In the hot dusty fields near their homes in Extremadura they practice with wooden swords, developing their fighting skills and an unconquerable faith in themselves and their destinies as warriors. Equal to their own preparation for war, they train their dogs, their Perros Bravos, to assist them in battle. Though vicious and deadly against an enemy, these dogs demonstrate a priceless loyalty and devotion to their masters. Man and dog are bonded in a mystical way that makes their association a partnership. Despite the fact that canines have been used for thousands of years as an important element in warfare, the dogs of these young Spaniards are special, bred from a Dogo Canario (Presa Canario) saved from a roaring river by the chief protagonist, Pedro de Alvarado, and a mastiff descended from the breeds brought to the country by the Roman Legions.

The story is narrated by Rodrigo Sosa, cousin to the Alvarado brothers. He relates the adventures that he shares with his idol Pedro and the transformation he witnesses in him. At the same time, he becomes aware of changes in himself as he gains confidence in his own abilities and becomes a hero in his own right. The Brave Dogs is about honor and loyalty. It is about comradeship and faith. It is about true poetic love between men and women who learn to share together a special magic wrought in the alchemical fusion of doves and roses and words.

About the Author

Kenny Fitzgerald received his degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. When he is not writing fiction or poetry, he devotes his time to professional translation projects for writers from Argentina and Mexico and for museums that feature exhibitions of Spanish Colonial art. A recent translation of articles about pottery and azuelejo tiles performed for the International Museum of Folk Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will be published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2003. He has presented portions of Los Perros Bravos (The Brave Dogs) at literary conferences in La Paz, Mexico and Lima, Peru, and a portion of the text has been published in Alba de America, a literary journal produced by California State University (Northridge/Dominqüez Hills). The novel will be formally presented at a literary conference in Madrid, Spain in July 2002. Fitzgerald currently lives in New Mexico but within a few years plans to spend all his time on a boat off the coasts of California and Mexico.