Back cover
The surprising and massive participation in the 1st El Dinosaurio International Flash Fiction Competition 2006, which was at the same time the fifth edition of the competition at national level, created by the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Centre for Literary Training with the support of the Sancti Spíritus Provincial Book Centre and the Cuban Book Institute, is tangible proof of the interest and appeal of this singular event for writers and for lovers of literature in general, and of flash fiction in particular.
One thousand two hundred and twelve works competed for the Grand Prize. Alongside the Cuban authors, writers took part from countries such as Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela, among the Latin Americans, or England, Spain, Belgium and Germany, among the Europeans, and some from places as remote as Australia: a sign that news of our competition reached practically every corner of the planet, and that El Dinosaurio is here to stay and to give Cuban flash fiction its international citizenship.
In my own words
As in other matters of writing, I owe my approach to the realm of flash fiction to the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Centre for Literary Training, of which I am a proud graduate. Besides the El Dinosaurio International Flash Fiction Competition, which pays homage to the genius of Augusto Monterroso, these short narratives are a regular subject of study in the Centre's classes.
On the other hand, with unspeakable respect for true humorists, I have now and then ventured into the field of humour. Even if they are not openly comic, or written with the direct aim of making readers laugh, several of my literary works carry an undeniable breath of humour or, at least, of irony or plain Cuban mockery. That, in essence, is the origin and the alchemy of a piece like Sin segundas partes.
Written to compete in the competition the Centro Onelio holds regularly, it won no prize, but it did at least have the good fortune of being included in this anthology. A few years later I wrote a somewhat longer version, since the competition requires a work of fewer than twenty lines on the page. Out of respect, however, both for the entrant who wrote that first version and for the published work, it is offered here just as it competed.
Incidentally, one legacy of my studies at the Centro Onelio is that every so often the muses have given me other very short stories, which I have been gathering. Besides the occasional publication online, those tiny tales twice made me a finalist in literary contests. Once was in an unusual flash fiction battle, with live readings and the votes of the audience and of two juries, in Camagüey, as part of the Premio Ballagas, to which that province had invited me. The other was an edition of El Dinosaurio itself, where I did reach the finals. Perhaps one day the very short stories I keep gathering, of fantasy, horror, philosophical musings and other herbs, will fill a small volume. For now, here is this one, in a tone that mimics the usual codes of action films.
ALS
Excerpts
Excerpts are published in their original Spanish, as all literary texts on this site are.
Sin segundas partes
Y comienza la aventura. El muchacho, por supuesto rubio y musculoso, está amarrado en una silla, bajo una luz, en el centro de la fábrica abandonada y llena de tuberías y vapores y válvulas. El psicópata terrorista, por supuesto un ruso-negro-árabe-chino-judío-comunista-talibán, con un traje impecable que no se arruga jamás y una risa aterradora, apunta a la cabeza del muchacho con una pistola gigantesca. Y le cuenta, sádico, cómo engañó a su novia, por supuesto una rubialtasilicónicaentacones, y que ella lo ha dejado por él. Que el mejor amigo siempre trabajó para los malos; que el policía cumplidor es el corrupto y lo ha vendido.
Afuera, los bandidos atacan. El avión con los rehenes ya no tiene combustible. El antídoto para la epidemia viene en camino. Y en el edificio más céntrico, el más lleno de civiles inoportunos, justo tres lumínicos segundos antes de la explosión, el experto antitodo, que por supuesto es el descarriado y borracho compañero del muchacho, ese al que quitaron la placa y la pistola pero vuelve cuando más se le necesita, se decide al fin y corta el cable rojo.
Entonces, los bandidos se llevan el arca, el grial, el cuadro, la fórmula, el dinero. El avión con los rehenes se estrella y destroza la mitad de la ciudad. El antídoto se derrama, se evapora en el camino y mueren de la epidemia todos los enfermos. El amigo enemigo se queda con el dinero robado y se muda con el policía corrupto a una playa tropical. La novia engañada se casa y es feliz por siempre con el psicópata. Y al fin, el experto antitodo, vuela con la otra mitad de la ciudad en la explosión del edificio céntrico y populoso. Todo eso, después que el muchacho, sin lograr escaparse, sin primera ni última pelea, recibe tres heridas, siete golpizas y diez balazos en la cabeza, que además de matarlo, lo invalidan sin remedio para la segunda parte.
Details
- title
- Nota de prensa y otros minicuentos (Press Release and Other Very Short Stories)
- authorship
- Various authors
- genre
- Fiction
- edition
- Editorial Cajachina, Onelio Jorge Cardoso Centre for Literary Training
- year
- 2006
- cover
- Illustration by Michele Millares Hollands
- includes
- Sin segundas partes (No Sequels), by Antonio López Sánchez
- rights
- Available for editions and translations outside Cuba, covering only the texts by Antonio López Sánchez that this collective volume includes. Rights enquiries · derechos@antoniolopezsanchez.art