Francisco X. Stork

Francisco X. Stork is a Mexican-born American novelist whose teen fiction examines faith, responsibility, disability, and moral choice. The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, published in 2010, brings together Pancho, a teenager carrying anger over his sister’s death, and D.Q., who is living with a terminal illness. D.Q.’s Death Warrior Manifesto argues for meeting limited time with attention and purpose, while Pancho’s plans for revenge begin to change through their friendship and their shared feelings for Marisol. Stork trained as a lawyer and worked in affordable housing while building his literary career. His other novels include Marcelo in the Real World, The Memory of Light, Disappeared, and On the Hook. The Last Summer of the Death Warriors uses a friendship between boys with sharply different aims to test easy ideas about courage. Its spiritual questions emerge from decisions and relationships rather than from abstract instruction.