An interview with SWT's Arturo Mancha, whose novel in progess was a recent break-in casualty

Arturo Mancha would have called the theft of his debut novel five years in the writing devastating. Titled Auroboros, it would be the diamond in his sky. "The way I think about it," the 26 year-old writer said, "is if a person could lay out all his or her works on a table, this novel would be the centerpiece of my table. Everything else would be second in pride." Two years ago, he joined the creative writing MFA program at Southwest Texas State University to get advice writing what he intended to be his only novel. For the past five years, "it's brought me to brink of examining everything I've ever known," says the 26-year-old writer. "I've lost friends, and made friends because of it. It's been physically and emotionally draining." He intended to finish school, publish the book, and then move back to Eagle Pass to teach writing at the community college and help his family run their print shop and party-rental store.

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