<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - novel]]> 10 <![CDATA[Ibiza publisher seeks geeks who want to write novels]]>

It doesn't come from pop, nor from polp. ‘Pulp’ comes from pulp, from the wood pulp that was used in the first half of the 20th century in the United States to print absolutely over-the-top horror or science fiction stories that are typical of the genre. The paper was coarse, brownish, very ugly, very cheap. The content, too: Martians abducting a family on a lonely rural property, a city sunk into the sea and ruled by robots, a comet carrying spectral warriors from another dimension...

]]> <![CDATA[Art and parity]]> Following the recent awarding of the prize for best novel of the year, the controversy surrounding the underrepresentation of women in the shortlist of ten nominated novels has resurfaced. Although the winner was a woman, Antònia Carré-Pons, she made sure to point out in her acceptance speech that there were only two novels written by women on the list of ten finalists (which included a novel by the author of this piece). Did it include me, or did it include my novel? Those who seem to have a certain notion of parity are the very juries that compile these lists. If women publish four out of every ten books, at least this proportion should be reflected in the awards and distinctions, unless we are being told that they do a worse job—which we perhaps cannot deduce if they are ultimately the ones honored…

]]> <![CDATA[Exaltations Gabriel Caballero]]> It seemed that Julià de Jòdar had, in a Pasolinian fashion, renounced writing after the colossal and unclassifiable novel. The deserter on the battlefield in Proa. But he returned. And what a return! All thanks to the gentle persistence of the Comanegra Publishing team, who invited him to perpetrate The vulnerable, prequel to the great trilogy Chance and shadows, which continued to stir the tail with the Orson Wellesian volume The boarded-up houseTherefore, it wasn't a triptych but a whole saga, which now expands, to our delight, with The sleepless nightsHowever, during this waiting period, Julià de Jòdar's pen has continued to stir, and it has done so with two remarkable volumes: Gabriel Caballero Variations in Puente del petróleo (the most outstanding examples of its Badalona psychogeography) in The murmur from the borders Ensiola (a collection of some twenty high-caliber literary articles). Not to mention the collective volume, coordinated and edited by Júlia Ojeda, which was published by Lleonard Muntaner, Editor: The Forging of Days: Critical Approaches to the Work of Julià de JòdarNo joke.

]]> <![CDATA[Curious creatures]]> Within the framework of international criticism, a unanimous consensus has been reached: it is considered that Rotten creaturesAmy Twigg's literary debut is a subversive, extraordinarily well-written novel, a work that elevates the category of cult literature. Therefore, it is a brilliant and significant achievement that this contemporary marvel is now part of the Ediciones de la Ela Geminada catalog, with a splendid translation by the writer Anna Carreras i Aubets. Interestingly, the title is a quote from a letter that Vita Sackville-West sent to Virginia Woolf, a brilliant correspondence that is another of the undisputed gems in the catalog of this formidable and daring Girona-based publisher.

]]> <![CDATA[Singing is a good way to combat devastation]]> As you wish, brothers, that I sing, Joan Pons Bover's novel, published by Isla Ediciones, is a work of continuous and persistent power that goes in crescendoIt doesn't go for easy effects; rather, it unfolds its multiple narrative strengths as it progresses. Although it may sound cliché, this is indeed a captivating work that you can't put down, and which, like the prodigious film,... One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson's film is a magnificent artistic offering that arrives at an opportune moment, as it also functions as an extremely political, yet subtle, artifact that, with the fury of good fiction, denounces the current state of affairs, devastated by this abominable return of the far right and fascist policies disguised under democratic masks. Thus, with surgical precision, layers of memory and wounded dignity are laid bare.

]]> <![CDATA[Artificial fiction]]> Things seem to be moving very fast. In the field of AI, the devastating impact of technology on employment is becoming increasingly apparent, especially among the tech companies' own workers. It's within the companies that are driving AI development that AI itself is usurping the jobs of programmers, who realize that what they were helping to create was a competitor that would do the same thing they do, but much faster, better, and cheaper. I don't know what might happen to these professionals, although we know that certain technical profiles are highly sought after within tech companies. But all the experts are predicting it, some apocalyptic, others fully integrated into a system they now lament not knowing how to rein in: AI will be a revolution that will turn everything upside down.

]]> <![CDATA[Bloodfield]]> Haceldama It is an Aramaic word (AkeldamaThe title, which means 'field of blood,' refers to the piece of land bought with Judas's coins that would later become a cemetery for foreigners. It is also the title of Blai Bonet's second and so unjustly maligned novel, which now sees the light of day again thanks to a meticulous edition by Nicolau Dols for Club Editor, a publishing house that has already managed to recover each and every one of the author's published novels. The goal is twofold, as the work breathes again with the original voice conceived by the unbridled novelist, without the excessive and unnecessary corrections it suffered at Editorial Aymá and which had dragged Ensiola into the reissue. Therefore, we are witnessing a noble act of literary recovery, but also a true celebration that arrives at the beginning of this Blai Bonet Year, which has barely begun. Thus, we are witnessing a cultural event of the first magnitude.

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