DESPERATE TIMES CALL is a collection of short stories and a novella about people whose lives intersect with violence. The young girl in Of Course She Would is forced to leave her home after finding her meth-addicted father dead of a heart attack. Tomas Mangual, the main character of She Said Two, sets off on a blind date to discover his counterpart has recently been the victim of a disturbing hate crime. The featured novella, Diablo Corrido, raises the question: How far would someone chase their ambition to see a life-long dream come true? Using the intimate perspectives of first-person and close third-person points of view, DESPERATE TIMES CALL offers glimpses of characters chasing dreams of success, romance, wealth, even normalcy, but coming up empty-handed.