Table of Contents

Foreword, by Sabino Ordas 9 Juan Pedro Aparicio 15 The Heavens 17 Ardon's Diaries 21 Murders 25 I Can't be Heard 29 The Betrayal 33 Hunger 37 Peace Was Not Possible 39 A Good Man 41 The Greatest Ovation 43 Still Another Life 45 The Armistice 47 Avoiding Temptation 49 A Virtuous President 51 Chance 53 Poor Devil! 55 Luis Mateo Diez 57 The Linden 59 The Poplar 65 A Crime Report 69 The Hit Man 73 Love Life 75 In the Sea 79 The Overcoat 81 A Crime 83 Realism 85 The Dream 89 Soup 91 The Unseen Path 95 The Letter 99 Lovers 101 The Well 103 Jose Maria Merino 105 After the Accident 107 Confused Memories 109 Eco-System 111 Therapy 113 A Return 115 The Secret Agent 117 Absent-Minded (one) 119 The Fly 121 Apparent Traveller 125 The Iceberg Effect (a study) 127 The Toaster 129 Fingerprints 133 Black Hole 135 A Christmas Tale 137 The Date 141

About the Author

Juan Pedro Aparicio (Leon, 1941). Novelist. Author of Short Stories and Travel Literature. Essayist. Winner of the Gernika Prize for Novel; Nadal Prize for Novel; Setenil Prize for a Short Stories Book. His novel entitled El transcantabrico inspired the establishment and running of a tourist train route of the same name. Luis Mateo Diez (Villablino, Leon, 1942). Poet. Novelist and Short Story Writer. Essayist. Twice winner of the National Prize for Literature; Twice winner of the Critics Choice Prize. Member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. Jose Maria Merino (La Coruna, 1941). Poet. Novelist and Short Story Writer. Essayist. Winner of the National Prize for Children's Literature; Miguel Delibes & Gonzalo Torrente Ballester Prize for Novel. Editorial Board Member for Revista de Libros journal.

Reviews

All three authors' tales are included in the best anthologies of contemporary Spanish Short Stories, and their works have been translated into many languages. The Filandon in Hay-on-Wye This volume collects the tales that are the basis for Aparicio, Diez and Merino's Filandon : that is, very short stories of a genre reborn midway through the twentieth century and known variously as the micro-story, mini-fiction or mini-tale -- specialists can't quite settle on the most appropriate term for it -- currently booming in Latin America and Spain. A genre distinguished for its brevity, dramatic intensity, an expressive concision, a capacity for suggestion and a formal autonomy that is typical of the literary Short Story; a genre eager for experimentation and the rebuilding of certain archetypes. In September 2006, this Filandon was presented in the Hay-on-Wye festival in Segovia, Spain, to great acclaim. In January 2007, the three authors repeated the experience in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, also within the framework of the Hay-on-Wye festival; roused to a standing ovation and fervent calls of ibravo', the audience's reaction had all the clamour and warmth of an unforgettable musical or operatic evening.