I am a Chilean author. I like to think I’m good at what I do, but that’s an opinion I undoubtedly share with all the writers in the world, so it doesn’t distinguish me much from any of them. The task of you remembering mine among thousands of names is not easy either, considering that the genre that chose me (I didn’t choose it, it was simply a vital need) involves high fantasy and science fiction.
But please remember this one: Leo of Monte Cristo.
Why that name?
It is the pseudonym under which I have signed as an author for many years. The name alludes to Leo Tolstoy, with whom I feel an identification in several literary and extraliterary aspects, and to the Count of Monte Cristo, a prisoner who, after escaping from prison, finds an island with an incalculable treasure that allows him to bring justice upon his enemies. Sounds like something I would definitely do if I were in his shoes.
On the literary side, beyond the unfinished books I have by the piles, I have published in my own country two epic fantasy novels, El último rey (Minotauro, 2012) and La sangre escondida (DLE, 2016), both from the CODEX DRACONIS saga, and a short novel mixed of gothic horror and science fiction, Intraterrestre (Tríada Ediciones, 2017). This latest novel had instead its metamorphosis into the idiom of Bradbury, Tolkien and Lovecraft thanks to an American translator. This has encouraged me to seek, for the first time, literary agents and publishers in the Anglo-Saxon market.
I also finished writing a novel I’ve been working on for the last few months, El Circo del Infierno, set in a wonderful traveling fair whose attractions no other show can match, but behind which hides a sinister face: the constant disappearance of young women in every place the circus performs. However, I submitted it to a literary contest and it is currently pending resolution.
Selected quotes from my characters
Don’t be fooled by his age. Zarkon may be an old man, but unless he has forgotten his knowledge, that only makes him more dangerous. It is often said that the older a wizard is, the greater his wisdom tends to be. And he was already considered the most capable of his time when he was captured centuries ago. Even if you could count on my help it would not be enough, but little help is better than none at all.
***
Rhod Astarnûn
El último rey.
Someday, you will have enough confidence in your sovereign to know, without any hesitation, that even when she is worried she has everything under control.
***
Eähsel Avinnicia
La nieta del Dragón.
What had we uncovered? What abomination had fallen into our hands? I didn’t dare, due to my allegiance to science, to propose a swift conjecture. Hermann, on the other hand, always a more open minded man, thought he had found the answer in old Nordic traditions, which he delved into with the same passion he had for each new exploration.
***
Franz Engels
Intraterrestre.
León de Montecristo 