O medo. Un xuramento de sangue. O fulgor dunha moeda romana. O voo dunha mosca sobre o mantel da cociña. O rastro dunha nova especie de lesmas. A rutina dun autobús escolar. A transparencia dunha piscina. A soidade dun tobogán. O misterio dunha carta sen remitente. O canto do vento nunha mansión á beira do mar... Colle unha manta, prende unha luz suave, ponte a gusto no teu sofá preferido. É a hora de experimentar o pracer nada culpable do medo. Porque neste bosque de relatos os paxaros non cantan. E o misterio segue aí, a agardar por nós, como unha pantasma familiar, como un desasosego que nos leva de viaxe ao territorio do alén.
Profesor de Lingua e Literatura Galega no CPI Eusebio Lorenzo Baleirón (Dodro); autor de textos poéticos como as laranxas de alí babá, Far-west, Héleris, Cultivos transxénicos, Makinaria e Penúltimas tendencias ou tamén de Abelcebú, un dicionario de carácter satírico. Actualmente, forma parte dos consellos directivos da AELG (Asociación de Escritoras e Escritores en Lingua Galega) e da CGENDL (Coordinadora Galega de Equipos de Normalización e Dinamización Lingüística) e colabora, con artigos de opinión, nos xornais dixitais Praza Pública e Sermos Galiza.
I am not a fan of this gender (soft terror fiction for teens), but to me, this book is an honest, notable product, well addressed to high school readers, without dissonances, without touching red lines (I wouldn't say more to avoid spoilers).
These short stories are not super-original. Sometimes they copy Stephen King's style. But most occasions Negro imitates, pays tribute or plagiarises (you pick the word of your choice) Agustín Fernández Paz (to the new ones in the room, Fernández Paz was the creator of this genre in Galician literature, he mastered it, and he is still intensively read, many years after his death, by most Galician teens throughout their school years).
The references to Fernández Paz are so evident across the book (some explicit, some more hidden) that even to my mole-reading eyes it is like being in Cartas de Inverno's mansion once again. That is not said as a criticism, but rather the opposite: there are certainly a few writing skills when such a solid bridge can be built to a novel published nearly 30 years in the past.