Paco Ignacio Taibo, II--born in Spain, lives in Mexico, has
several detective
novels published; usual protagonist is Hector Belascoaran
Shayne, one-eyed PI
from Mexico City who was killed off in one novel and
resurrected in another
without apologies from Taibo. Taibo, by the way, is the major
force behind
"Semana Negra" held every summer in Gijon, Spain under the
auspices of the
International Crime Writers Association. This ten day
festival brings
together writers of the "novela negra" from around the world.
The writers
entertain the crowd (more likely, themselves) in the midst of
a full-blown
carnival, surreal parades through the tourist jammed streets,
and nightly rock
or jazz concerts. When I participated, back in 1995, the
authors included Ian
Rankin, Chaz Brenchley, Tom Adcock, Luis Sepulveda, Susan
Moody, Bob Leuci,
Justo Vasco, etc.
Luis Sepulveda: Chilean writer living in Germany, last I
heard. "The Name Of
A Bullfighter" is a thriller involving an ex-East German spy,
a beauty driven
mad by the torture inflicted on her by Pinochet's thugs, and
a jaded freedom
fighter named after the bullfighter in Hemingway's "Death In
The Afternoon."
Classy stuff.
Mayra Montero: Cuban living in Puerto Rico. Her "In The Palm
of Darkness"
takes place in Haiti. Not a mystery or traditional crime
fiction. Vanishing
frog species signal a coming environmental disaster. A US
scientist struggles
to document what is happening, but has to confront roaming
bands of macoutes,
voodoo curses, the extremes of Haitian culture, etc. Very
good, dark, and
about as cynical as you might want.
Thanks for listening.
Manuel Ramos
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.