by Mircea Eliade (1988)
Three novellas set in Romania. In "The Cape," a saboteur prints phony copies of the Romanian party organ, Scinteia, antedating them by three years. The secret police, highly agitated, deduce that a worldwide peace organization is sending coded messages through the paper, derived from the beatitudes. In "Youth Without Youth," an old man is struck by a bolt of lightning and becomes young again. Now endowed with a fantastic memory and comprehension, he receives "thought" messages from the supernatural. "Nineteen Roses" concerns the secretary of a famous writer who finds himself reliving an experience that happened to his employer 30 years ago. The writer disappears and is presumed dead, but is he?
Peach-Pit
"Learning the truth about herself while caught in the world beyond, Michiru is thrown into a whirlwind of information and revelation. And she even lands herself a tour of the ARRC HQ! But with the Z-Loan dream team divided up, will Chika ad Shito get conquered in Hong Kong by the Xu Fu, who are in hot pursuit?! The boys may be zombies, but can they survive the machinations of a mafia madman?!"--P. [4] of cover.
edited and with an introduction by Italo Calvino
Compiled by Italo Calvino, one of the essential writers of the twentieth century, Fantastic Tales is a rich and wide-ranging collection of twenty-six classic, uncanny tales from the nineteenth century written by an intriguing panoply of European and American authors. Master storyteller himself, Calvino has contributed an informative introduction to the collection, and an engaging precis to each story.
Peach-Pit
"Under Chitose's watchful eye, cabin fever sets in as Z-Loan and A-Loan find themselves stuck inside the school with no way out. Between the threat from the zombie horde just outside and the constant bickering within, neither team is safe from the ARRC, each other, or even themselves. And when one of Z-Loan gives in to the basest zombie instincts, will Michiru's power be enough to bring her friend back to the land of the living?" -- from publisher's web site.
Leído por Carlos Canales
El coronel no tiene quien le escriba fue escrita por Gabriel García Márquez durante su estancia en París, adonde había llegado como corresponsal de prensa y con la secreta intención de estudiar cine, a mediados de los años cincuenta. El cierre del periódico para el que trabajaba le sumió en la pobreza, mientras redactaba en tres versiones distintas esta excepcional novela, que fue rechazada por varios editores antes de su publicación. Tras el barroquismo faulkneriano de La hojarasca , esta segunda novela supone un paso hacia la ascesis, hacia la economía expresiva, y el estilo del escritor se hace más puro y transparente. Se trata también de una historia de injusticia y violencia: un viejo coronel retirado va al puerto todos los viernes a esperar la llegada de la carta oficial que responda a la justa reclamación de sus derechos por los servicios prestados a la patria. Pero la patria permanece muda.