Closest, authored by Mario Angel Quintero

With a slip, the light coming from the torch flame was faintly reflected from the smooth darkness of the lake, a cold light, and silence continued as we approached the center where the depths of the abyssal lake began. This emitted light became more and more apparent as a face for an angel, and no matter how ambiguous it appeared to those on the boat, it cast a luminous veil over the shallow lake marshes, and thus we were spared the evil of the resistant and terrifying Loviathans that escaped their bounds and pushed toward us the possibility contained within the shadows, the possibility that we might be swallowed. This novel by Mario Angel Quintero is an amazing story. It is written immersed in an atmosphere of magic, which makes it create a parallel world of wonder and profound meaning. It is also a kind of storytelling that is pure poetry in the true sense, relying on captivating fragmentation in narration, on soaring above the linear logic of everyday life, and on the harmony of multiple sound echoes, which, greatly enhancing its musical impact, make it certainly difficult to translate. Alexander Shorbanov Translation: Ahmed M. Ahmed Number of pages: 79