Alfaguara Portugal publishes 'The Little Dirty Monsters', by Ricardo Adolfo and Jessica Kersten, a funny book for children

All is ready for the launch in Portugal of 'Os monstrinhos da roupa suja', by Ricardo Adolfo (text) and Jessica Kersten (illustrations). The book will be published by Alfaguara Portugal in their children's series.

Stain, Stinky, Smudge and Scruffy are best friends. They are also the dirtiest pieces of clothes in the house. They love sleeping, eating and finding new ways of getting even dirtier.

On this late morning, breakfast was a pack of cookies way past the due date. The cookies pled for mercy but they were wolfed down in a sec. And it was only when the last crumb was licked from the floor that they noticed that Stain was missing.

Odd, they thought. Stain was always the last out of bed. They looked around the house but nothing. And he wasn’t on his favourite hiding spot under the hall carpet. Something really bad must have happened, like being caught by the lady of the house. Which would definitely lead to a full wash.

Horror!, horror!, they all thought. And with no further delays they ventured into the kitchen to try to find and save his friend. The Kitchen was the most dangerous area of the house, where the lady of the house was always cleaning or preparing to clean something. They could all end up washed and clean.

But there is no time for arguing. So, they pull their dirt together and set off to save Stain...

The Dirty Little Monsters is a friendship story aimed at children 4 to 8 years old, about the forgotten inhabitants of a house. Told in a compelling, funny way, and spiced with sparkly dialogues, it has around 20 original illustrations. It explores what is probably not the most advocated behaviour, but a view of life that’s pure and so true – it’s great fun getting dirty!!

Marco Tropea (Italy) acquires rights of ¡Calcio!, by Juan Esteban Constaín; To be published in Spain by Seix Barral in 2012.

* Chosen as one of the best fiction books published in Colombia in 2010 (Arcadia Magazine)

Right after the London Book Fair, we are delighted to announce that Marco Tropea Editore adds young and emergent Colombian author Juan Esteban Constaín (1979) to his consolidated list of authors writing in Spanish (Guillermo Fadanelli, Leonardo Padura, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Guillermo Saccomanno, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, etc...)

When, and why, the first football match of History was played? Shortly after WWII Professor Arnaldo Momigliano (a true character who was a Jewsih-Italian scholar exhiled in Oxford escaping from Mussolini) dared to formulate his hypothesis: In 1530, at the Santa Croce square in Florence, the first match in which players could not touch the ball with their hands took place. Everybody in Oxford is shocked at such a statement: Football, like tea time, is an English invention!

Departing from an anusing and entertaining plot line and an enchanting main character, Juan Esteban Constaín writes a novel that questions the role of Histoy and Historians by providing a story in which facts and fiction mingle to create an atmosphere of credibility. As long as you can provide a coherent and seemingly documented historical account you can manipulate History to your advantage to make people believe that what you are saying is true. And, as Italians say, ‘Se non è vero, è ben trobato’...

This is a novel that wisely combines fact and fiction to recreate what could have been the first football/soccer match (Calcio in Italian), also about the ball games that have made people happy since Ancient times. Told from the investigations and controversies of a group of historians in post World War II, for whom the origins of this sport are a national matter that threatens to resume the conflicts between the old empires.

February of 1530. The army of Charles 5th sieges Florence as a gesture og goodwill towards Pope Clement 7th (a Pope from Florence, a descendant of the Medicis), as two years before the troops of the Spanish Emperor had plundered Rome and made the Pope a prisoner. Now Florence has proclaimed itself a Republic and the Pope’s family has been deprived of power. Emperor Charles’s attempt to restitute the Medicis is, then, a way to make peace with the Pope, and grant his favours.

The city has been under siege for four months and the Emperor and the Pope await for news in Bologna. They have banned almost everything in Florence: water, wine, the Carnivals... But on February 17th the Spanish troops will witness and amazing show: ignoring the prohibition, the whole city has gathered at the Santa Croce square to defy the power and arrogance of the Empire by playing a calcio match. Then, a Spanish soldier suggests their Captain that maybe the could find another way to fight the Florentines: Instead of going on with the useless siege, why don’t they play out a match that settles who will win this war?

Juan Esteban Constaín (Popayán, Colombia, 1979) is a Historian, specialist in Classical Languages and a lecturer at the University of Rosario. He is also a contributor to several Colombian media. El naufragio del imperio was his first work of fiction, and it was shortlisted for the Espartaco Award for Historical Fiction at the Semana Negra de Gijón 2008 (Spain).

With its forthcoming publication in Spain by Seix Barral in 2012, Juan Esteban Constaín will join one of the most prestigious lists of established and young authors writting in Spanish, where readers can find authors such as Ricardo Menéndez Salmón, Isaac Rosa, Enrique Vila-Matas, Eduardo Mendoza, Elena Poniatowska, Antonio Muñoz Molina, Elvira Lindo, Laura Fernández or Rosa Montero.

A few quotes about ¡Calcio!

* “The most recent novel by Juan Esteban Constaín confirms that we are facing a gifted author, with enormous narrative talent. His descriptions of the first football match in History have the flavour of the best Pérez-Reverte. But in his writing we find a deeper literary sense (...) ¡Calcio! manages to entertain and amuse the reader with its unquestionable literary skills” Revista Arcadia

* “It’s a truly divertimento for gentlemen. To me, if not historical, your novel is literarily plausible, and I believe it announces big things fot the future. (...) A splendid fantasy. (...) Because ¡Calcio! is entertaining, witty and funny.” Elmalpensante.com

* “A homage to Football and History, and a funny reflection on the wars historians fight in footnotes” El Espectador

* “In this novel, Juan Esteban Constaín confirms his wit by recreating a delicious fictional universe based on History.” Extroversia

¡Calcio!, by Juan Esteban Constaín
Seix Barral Colombia (2010)
208 pp.
To be published by Seix Barral Spain in 2012

Rights sold: Italy (Marco Tropea Editore)

All rights handled by SalmaiaLit

'Alicia en un mundo real' will be published in Greece

Publishing House Anubis, in Greece, has acquired rights of 'Alicia en un mundo real', the graphic novel by Isabel Franc and Susanna Martín (published in Spanish and Catalan by Norma Editorial).

This is a graphic novel in which Alice doesn’t live in Wonderland. She has gone through an exprience that, unfortunately, is real to many women: a breast cancer.

Nevertheless, thanks to her strong and fighting character she has been able to turn an especially dramatic situation into a life experience that helps her to carry on. Her sense of humor has not been taken away by the journey of the disease, the aggressive treatments or the extirpation of a breast.

This is a book about breast cancer written in a non tragic way. It narrates the vicissitudes of a journalist in her late 40s who sees how, all of a sudden, her life will be throughly changed by an unexpected event. The comic puts special emphasis in how Alicia confronts life after such an adverse adventure.

Alicia is a freelance professional, with a successful and hectic life both in the filelds of love and work, she’s always running up and down until one day everything stops during a visit to her gynecologist: the doctor detexts a breast cancer. She will have to undergo surgery and follow a tratment. The doctors say it plain: “you’ll lose a year”.

Alicia en un mundo real portrays, in an autobiographical tone and with traces of irony, the ups and downs that Alicia will live during her fight against cancer and her return to everyday life.

A few weeks ago 'Alicia en un mundo real' was awarded the Jennifer Quiles Award. After its success in Spain it has already been reprinted by Norma Editorial.

La voz de los muertos, by Julián Sánchez, to be published next May

The new novel by Julián Sánchez, author of 'El anticuario' will be published next May by RocaEditorial. The title is 'La voz de los muertos' (The Voice of the Dead).

Barcelona’s Police inspector David Ossa faces a difficult case: a multiple murder and a suicide that have occured in Las Ramblas, right in the heart of Barcelona. Ossa soon realises that this is an especial case, with aspects that escape common sense and in which nothing is what it seems. His investigations lead him to a case from 1969, still unsolved and almost identical to the one he is trying to solve now.

But when his supervisors see that the investigation is not closed quicky, they tell him to close the case and move to another thing, even if many questions would remain unanswered.

Ossa refuses to follow instructions and in his hunt for clues and answers he will enter a dark, mysterious and captivating world of supernatural implications in which his mind will develop an unexpected and dangerous connexion with Death itself.

Even at the cost of loosing his own sanity and with all his colleagues against him, Ossa is determined to follow his investigation to the very last consequences...

Julián Sánchez was born in Barcelona in 1966 and lives in San Sebastián. His debut novel, El anticuario, was very well received and up to now it will be translated in languages such as German (RH/Limes Verlag), Dutch (Uit. Q), Italian (Einaudi Stile Libero), Portuguese/Brazil (Record), Polish (Swiat K.), Greek (Livanis), Russian (AST) or Chinese (Shangai 99).

About El anticuario:

- ‘A compelling novel (...) in many ways superior to The Davinci Code’ Library Journal (USA)

- ‘A lesson of good writing’ La Gazetta del Mezzogiorno (Italy)

- ‘A thriller that stands by the Barcelona of Ruiz Zafón and Falcones’ L’Unione (Italy)

Emmebi Edizioni (Italy) acquires rights of '56 Reasons to Love You', by Margarita García Gallardo

We are happy to announce the deal for Italian translation rights of '56 razones para amarte', by Margarita García Gallardo and published by Viceversa Editorial. The novel will be published in Italy by Emmebi Edizioni.

‘Because of the wind’s passion, because of the shining ice, because of the impossible shaped stones, because of the thunder’s rasping breath...’

There are many reasons for which Ventura, a little man with a big heart, has always been in love with nature. But his daily life passes by in a monotonous and boring way, in a breathless and deceiving Madrid. He takes care of his seriously ill father and is in love with a married woman.

His life will turn over when he starts to suffer hallucinations and sees himself involved on a murder and on a dark plot of ecological corruption.

Margarita García Gallardo (Madrid, 1967) is the author of three previous novels.

56 Reasons to Love You
by Margarita García Gallardo
Viceversa Ed., 240 pp

'Tequila Case', the new Sunny Pascal adventure will be out in June 2011

Tequila Case (A SunnyPascal adventure), by F.G. Haghenbeck

RocaEditorial, June 2011.

F. G. Haghenbeck is one of the Latin American authors on best form in the last years. (notodo.com)

All of us have a weakness. I’m not an elitist, I have many. (Sunny Pascal)

It’s 1965 and the world, while dancing to the rhythm of Rock n’Roll, is still recovering from the magnicide of J.F. Kennedy. The beatnick detective Sunny Pascal, who loves women and cocktails at equal parts, receives a new assignment. He will have to travel to Acapulco, in Mexico, on a new mission to protect a Hollywood star.

Pascal’s friend and film producer Scott Cherries hires him to fly to the the Acapulco Film Festival and take care of Johnny Weismuller, alias Tarzan. The acclaimed Hollywood star lives most of the year at the luxurious Hotel Flamingos and has been being blackmailed lately. In addition to that, Weismuller owes a great deal of money due to his fondness for drink and gambling.

Sunny is asked to discretely take Weismuller out of trouble, but things turn out to be not as easy as they seemed. Once in Mexico Sunny is quickly hunted by the local police, the Italian Mafia and a Cuban hit man at the service of US Government to do their dirty jobs. Acapulco turns out to be a dangerous cocktail riddled with corruption, glamour, betrayal, journalists, celebrities and bloody revenge.

While keeping ans eye on Weismuller and trying to find out why is everybody after his tracks, Sunny is almost killed by an agonizing man who assaults him at the hotel. The man dies, but leaves behind him a briefcase with half a million US $ ... Who is the owner of the money? How is he linked to Weismuller? Through tenacity, skilled experience and lots of luck, Sunny will unveil a top secret plan that links the Mafia to the US and Mexican Governments.

In this crazy adventure Sunny Pascal will also meet Ann Margret, who took refuge in Acapulco after her romance with Elvis Presley, Ludwika Valdés, a Beverly Hills beauty who seems to be more than what she says, and someone who can help him out with the Mafia: Frank Sinatra.

The novel keeps advancing and unveiling its mysteries chapter by chapter, amongst cocktail recipes, explanations about their origins and suggestions about the music that best fits every drink

F.G. Haghenbeck (Mexico, 1965) is the author of acclaimed novels in Mexico, amongst which Trago amargo (the first Sunny Pascal novel, winner of the National Award Una Vuelta de Tuerca), Aliento a muerte and Hierba Santa. His novels have been translated into languages such as English, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese or Serbian. Sunny Pascal, his beatnick detective, has also appeared in a short story in the Mexico Noir anthology (Akhasic Press, NY).

¿Qué dice la gente sobre 'Wendolin Kramer'?

Frases sobre ‘Wendolin Kramer’, de Laura Fernández. (Seix Barral, 2011, Colección Biblioteca Furtiva)

* "Una aventura con notable poder para la sorpresa a través de micromundos, en una Barcelona que parece L.A. Mejor que Ghost World. Alguien tendría que llevar esto a la pantalla."

- Agustín Fernández Mallo (Autor de Nocilla Dream, Nocilla experience, etc).

* "La obra de Laura Fernández trae un montón de cosas que faltaban en nuestras letras: aventuras, humor, ingenio, hardboiled, el desparpajo del cine indie y un gamberrismo más que sano. En cuanto la lees ya no entiendes cómo podías estar sin ella. Leerla produce la misma euforia que leer a Douglas Adams o a Vonnegut. Y lo más asombroso es la facilidad con que hace todo lo que a los demás nos cuesta tanto".

- Javier Calvo (Autor de Corona de flores, El dios reflectante, Suomenlina, etc.)

* “Siempre se agradece una bocanada de aire fresco. Y en nuestro actual panorama literario, aún más (...) Las superfantasías de Wendolin Kramer arrancarán carcajadas entre los lectores, pero, además, les harán comprender que, aun cuando la novela posmoderna norteamericana haya fagocitado, deglutido y escupido nuestra tradición literaria, sigue asomando la bacía de Don Quijote tras las páginas de los nuevos escritores españoles. Un alivio.”

- Álvaro Colomer (Autor de Los bosques de Upsala, Guardianes de la memoria, etc.)

* “Es admirable que sellos potentes como Seix Barral apuesten por autores menos conocidos con novelas arriesgadas, valientes y originales (...) esta es una historia de superhéroes, supervillanos y un chucho deprimido y, créanme cuando les digo que si no les gusta este tipo de historias es porque todavía no han leído Wendolin Kramer, con toda certeza una de las mejores sorpresas que nos va a dejar esta carrera frenética hacia Sant Jordi”.

- Manel Haro, Llegir en cas d’incendi.

* “Si no tenéis lectura chula a la vista, aquí tenéis una”

- Blog de Coca Cola

* “Laura Fernández (Terrassa, 1981), periodista y escritora que ya dio buena cuenta de su portentosa imaginación en “Bienvenidos a Welcome”, asalta ahora las Grandes Ligas literarias con Wendolin Kramer (Seix Barral), una novela en la que burbujean como en una marmita repleta de peta-zeta los cómics de la Marvel, la novela de detectives, las onomatopeyas de Bukowski, los descacharrantes universos de Douglas Adams y el pop en su versión menos relamida y pelmaza.”

- David Morán, ABC

A partir del martes: 'Wendolin Kramer', de Laura Fernández

‘Wendolin Kramer; Una historia de superhéroes, supervillanos y un chucho deprimido’, de Laura Fernández

(Seix Barral, 2011, Colección Biblioteca Furtiva)

El próximo 22 de febrero llega a las librerías la nueva novela de Laura Fernández (Terrassa, 1981). Una historia quijotesca, tierna y delirante. Una novela diferente. Una apuesta arriesgada. Un retrato tragicómico y seductor de nuestra sociedad y un poderoso torrente de imaginación.

* "Una aventura con notable poder para la sorpresa a través de micromundos, en una Barcelona que parece L.A. Mejor que Ghost World. Alguien tendría que llevar esto a la pantalla."

- Agustín Fernández Mallo (Autor de Nocilla Dream, Nocilla Experience, etc).

* "La obra de Laura Fernández trae un montón de cosas que faltaban en nuestras letras: aventuras, humor, ingenio, hardboiled, el desparpajo del cine indie y un gamberrismo más que sano. En cuanto la lees ya no entiendes cómo podías estar sin ella. Leerla produce la misma euforia que leer a Douglas Adams o a Vonnegut. Y lo más asombroso es la facilidad con que hace todo lo que a los demás nos cuesta tanto".

- Javier Calvo (Autor de Corona de flores, Mundo maravilloso, Suomenlina, etc.)

* “Siempre se agradece una bocanada de aire fresco. Y en nuestro actual panorama literario, aún más (...) Las superfantasías de Wendolin Kramer arrancarán carcajadas entre los lectores, pero, además, les harán comprender que, aun cuando la novela posmoderna norteamericana haya fagocitado, deglutido y escupido nuestra tradición literaria, sigue asomando la bacía de Don Quijote tras las páginas de los nuevos escritores españoles. Un alivio.”

- Álvaro Colomer (Autor de Los bosques de Upsala, Guardianes de la memoria, etc.)

Pinchando (aquí) encontraréis el texto completo que Javier Calvo dedicó, en Sigueleyendo, a Laura Fernández

Podéis, también, seguir el blog de Laura Fernández y saber más de la novela en Facebook

¡Os animamos a leer 'Wendolin Kramer'!

----

Wendolin Kramer no es una chica cualquiera. Es Súper Chica. O eso cree ella. Guarda un traje con capa en su armario y está esperando a que Kirk Cameron conteste sus cartas. Con casi treinta años, ha montado un despacho en su cuarto, situado en una callejuela putrefacta de una entrañable Barcelona sonámbula, y trata de resolver malentendidos. Wen se sumergirá en una aventura que cambiará para siempre su vida.

La aventura de una mujer de 30 años que se cree un superhéroe. Como el Quijote, Wendolin Kramer, quiere vivir en un mundo de fantasía donde todo es posible.

Una novela de aprendizaje tierna y divertida por una de las autoras jóvenes de mayor proyección.

Adelanto - 'Antes de las jirafas', de Matías Candeira

En febrero Páginas de Espuma publicará 'Antes de las jirafas', el nuevo libro de Matías Candeira. Como adelanto podéis leer uno de los relatos incluidos en el libro: 'Manhattan Pulp'

(Pinchad aqui)

*

Antes de las jirafas

Matías Candeira

Páginas de Espuma, 2011

Antes de las jirafas es un viaje a las mutaciones de la vida feliz que alguna vez tuvimos. Con su escritura irónica y demoledora, Matías Candeira te ofrece un safari por la oscuridad de nuestro origen, donde las nevadas carreteras de lo real quedan cada vez más lejos.

Aquí encontrarás gente que te habla con la voz de los viejos cómics, la sombra al otro lado de la puerta, la luz radiactiva de The twilight zone y esas viñetas en las que Peter Parker llegaba tarde a una cita por atrapar a unos ladrones de banco. Pronto aprenderás a querer a estos monstruos que en realidad son tú.

El nostálgico regreso a Baltimore de un asesino en serie para reunirse con su novia del instituto. Un padre y un hijo que cazan hombres a las afueras de una granja derruida. La amistad entre un buzo y un pervertido con gabardina que detesta los refugios antiatómicos. El viajero del tiempo que se transporta siempre al mismísimo bucle de su felicidad.

Y, cómo no, criaturas de color amarillo, moteles, tentáculos dormidos bajo el mar, familias que no abren la puerta de casa a extraños. Sí, todo lo que alguna vez pudimos desear en los sueños.

+++

Matías Candeira (Madrid, 1984) es escritor y guionista, licenciado en Comunicación Audiovisual por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y Diplomado en Guion cinematográfico por la ECAM. Imparte talleres de escritura creativa y relato breve en Escuela de Escritores y colabora en medios como "La tormenta en un vaso" o "Culturamas".

Durante los últimos años, su trayectoria ha sido avalada por numerosos premios literarios de prestigio, entre otros muchos: el Premio de Cuentos Ignacio Aldecoa, Certamen de Jóvenes Creadores del Ayuntamiento de Madrid o el Premio Internacional de Narrativa Tomás Fermín de Arteta.

Es autor de La soledad de los ventrílocuos (2009), y muchos de sus relatos han sido recogidos en revistas y antologías, entre otras: Aquelarre (2010), Los noveles (n.º 34), Quimera (nº 320- 321; dosier de relatos); Siglo XXI: los nuevos nombres del cuento español actual (2010) o Pequeñas Resistencias 5. Antología del nuevo cuento español 2001-2010 (Páginas de Espuma, 2010).

Sobre Matías Candeira se ha dicho:

«El joven Matías Candeira es víctima también del vicio de escribir», Mario Vargas Llosa, El oficio de escribir.

«Antes de las jirafas es un libro atravesado por la imaginación y la audacia, que combina el goce de la experimentación, la libertad de las vanguardias, y el magnetismo incomparable de la cultura popular», Ángel Zapata.

«Estamos ante el nacimiento de un escritor llamado a grandes prosas. Alguien que dará mucho que hablar. Mucho (y bien) que leer», Tino Pertierra, La Nueva España.

«Cuentos de diseño perfecto que nos fascinan e inquietan; argumentos distintos para lectores sin prejuicios, y lirismo y libertad y puro juego», Elena Medel, Calle 20.

Blade of Light (El filo de la hierba), by Harkaitz Cano, out in the USA

The University of Nevada Press (USA) has already published the translation into English of Harkaitz Cano's 'Blade of Light' (El filo de la Hierba) in its Basque Literature series.

Blade of Light is a uchronia—an alternate history—in its main plot line, Hitle

r has won the Second World War and now dominates Europe. He then decides to conquer fi

rst Manhattan and then the whole American continent. His journey takes him to New York on a ship aboard which Charles Chaplin is also traveling.

Chaplin has been imprisoned and tortured on account of his film The Great Dictator, which remains a pesky thorn in Hitler’s side.

On a second level another story is told—that of a stowaway who traveled to New York in 1886 hidden inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty. The fate of this stowaway, Olivier Legrand, crosses Chaplin’s, who manages to escape from his torturers and finds refuge with the now old man.

The originality of the story has its narrative counterpoint in Cano’s attractive prose style, full of images and lyricism. A master of “what if ?” and suspense, the novel is also an important reflection on life and the process of writing and artistic creation.

Harkaitz Cano (Donostia, 1975) writes fiction and poetry. Among his books are Neguko zirkua (2005), a collection of short stories, and Piano gainean gosaltzen (2000), a chronicle born of the time he spent in New York before the 9/11.

Also connected to his stay in this city is the poetry collection Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran (2001). He is a seasoned scriptwriter for audiovisual media and comics, and his novels have been translated into Russian, Greek and German.