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WORK Thttps://sohopress.com/authors/sebastia-alzamora-i-martin/ITLE: Blood Crime
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 3/6/1972
WEBSITE:
CITY: Barcelona
STATE:
COUNTRY: Spain
NATIONALITY: Spanish
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1972, in Mallorca, Spain.
EDUCATION:Graduate of Universitat de les Illes Balears.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, poet, novelist, and editor. Editorial director of the Catalan magazine Cultura.
AWARDS:Sant Jordi Prize, for Blood Crime.
WRITINGS
Columnist for newspapers, including Avui and Ara.
SIDELIGHTS
Sebastià Alzamora is a Spanish author who writes in Catalan and studied Catalan philology in college. He first rose to prominence in Spain as a poet and has gone on to write several volumes of poetry and novels. He is also a columnist for newspapers and editorial director of a Catalan magazine. His novel titled Blood Crime, first published in Catalan as Crim de sang, was deemed an “extraordinary U.S. debut” by a Publishers Weekly contributor. Erin Entrada Kelly, writing for Xpress Reviews, called the novel “a complex and deeply layered work” and went on to note that it was “accessible and compulsively readable” with “textured and genuine” characters.
Blood Crime takes place in 1936 in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. Throughout the city of Barcelona, a series of Marist monks have been brutally murdered. Superintendent Munoz, a police inspector, is particularly disturbed by the brutal murders of one monk and a young boy. Anarchist republicans have come into power and are persecuting the Catholic clergy and may be responsible for some of the deaths. However, Munoz immediately recognizes that the two deaths he is investigating are horribly different in that the victims’ throats have been ripped apart and the blood drained from their bodies. “Any fan of horror fiction will recognize the cause of death right out the gate, but it isn’t a huge leap of intuition as the book starts out with one of multiple journal entries by the vampire,” noted This Is Horror Web site contributor Shane Douglas Keene, who went on to comment that the novel is not a typical vampire story but is actually “about … the bloody horrors of war and the depravities and indulgences of monsters of all stripes.”
Superintendent Munoz’s superiors are not encouraging him to investigate the horrible murders of the monk and the boy. His immediate superior is Manuel Escorz, who is head of the Department of Investigations in Barcelona. Manuel is corrupt and often abuses his position of power. Although Manuel has no sympathy for the monks, whom he has helped persecute, his sister happens to be the abbess of an order of Capuchin nuns. Manuel provides the order with a certain amount of protection and ensures that they have enough food and are not starving. In return, he demands that the deviant Bishop Perugorria also be given safe haven with the nuns. Although Manuel’s sister does not want the bishop there, Manuel remains adamant for reasons of his own. Meanwhile, the bishop has become enthralled with Sister Concepcio.
Even though people throughout the city are being killed, sometimes just because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, Munoz is both horrified and intrigued by the deaths of the monk and the young boy. He initially wonders whether the monk and the boy were killed separately by a different person, but the bodies’ relatively close proximity to each other indicate they were murdered by the same person and perhaps almost simultaneously. Meanwhile, recognizing that their lives are in danger, the Marist monks are trying to leave Spain for France. They face a dilemma, however, in that they can trust no one because spies are everywhere and trusting the wrong person could be fatal.
“Alzamara writes of all of this with a fluidity and serenity of language which is sharply at odds with his subject matter,” wrote Reviewingtheevidence.com contributor PJ Coldren. He went on to note that “the characters are vivid and believable” and remarked that the novel’s “translators do it full justice.” Calling Blood Crime a “mixture of crime, horror, and history,” This Is Horror Web site contributor Keene commented: “Alzamora is a master wordsmith whose talent is well represented here in this English debut.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 18, 2016, review of Blood Crime, p. 188.
Xpress Reviews, September 2, 2016, Erin Entrada Kelly, review of Blood Crime.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews Onine, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (August 15, 2016), review of Blood Crime.
Reviewingtheevidence.com, http://reviewingtheevidence.com/ (September 1, 2016), PJ Coldren, review of Blood Crime.
This Is Horror, http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/ (October 21, 2016), Shane Douglas Keene, review of Blood Crime.
Sebastià Alzamora i Martin was born in Mallorca in 1972 and graduated from the Universitat de les Illes Balears with a degree in Catalan philology. He first rose to prominence as a poet with a collection called Rafel, which he published in 1994. Since that time, he has written three other volumes of poetry and five novels. He has been awarded numerous prizes for both his fiction and his poetry, including the prestigious Sant Jordi Prize for Blood Crime. He is the editorial director of the Catalan magazine Cultura as well as a regular columnist for various newspapers, including Avui and Ara. He lives in Barcelona.
Sebastià Alzamora i Martin's Books
Sebastià Alzamora i Martín was born in Mallorca in 1972 and graduated from the Universitat de les Illes Balears with a degree in Catalan philology. He first rose to prominence as a poet with a collection called Rafel, which he published in 1994. Since that time, he has written three other volumes of poetry and five novels. He has been awarded numerous prizes for both his fiction and his poetry, including the prestigious Sant Jordi Prize for Blood Crime. He is the editorial director of the Catalan magazine Cultura as well as a regular columnist for various newspapers, including Avui and Ara. He lives in Majorca.
Blood Crime
263.29 (July 18, 2016): p188.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
* Blood Crime
Sebastia Alzamora, trans. from the Catalan by Maruxa Relano and Martha Tennent. Soho Crime, $26 (304p) ISBN 978-1-616956-28-8
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Set during the Spanish Civil War, Alzamora's extraordinary U.S. debut charts the corrupt political and familial relationships among anarchists, the Catalan government, and hidden religious communities. Brothers of the Marist Order negotiate with the religion-hating anarchists for their escape to France, and Capuchin nuns buy their safety by harboring a deviant bishop obsessed with a musically talented novice. Meanwhile, government officials investigate the murders of a priest and a young boy found bitten and drained of blood. Striking paranormal elements include an eloquently reflective vampire, who takes advantage of Barcelona's chaos, and an automaton horse constructed from the remains of massacre victims. Alzamora deftly balances a swiftly moving, multithreaded plot set firmly in a historical context with a transcendent, nearly timeless exploration of the dark, violent nature of humanity and the vain search for God's mercy, and, in doing so, creatively fulfills the challenge of reinventing gothic horror for a modern age. Agent: Cristina Mora, Cristina Mora Literary & Film Agency (Spain). (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Blood Crime." Publishers Weekly, 18 July 2016, p. 188+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459287516&it=r&asid=47d0fca5cc08b1a881826c6f4df4377c. Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459287516
Alzamora, Sebastia. Blood Crime
Erin Entrada Kelly
(Sept. 2, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
[STAR]Alzamora, Sebastia. Blood Crime. Soho Crime. Sept. 2016. 304p. tr. from Catalan by Martha Tennent & Maruxa Relano. ISBN 9781616956288. $25.95; ebk. ISBN 9781616956295. F
This bloody gothic novel opens with an intriguing confession from a vampire, who has killed a Marist priest and a young boy in Barcelona at the start of the Spanish Civil War. As a police inspector investigate the murders, tension arises among the city's varied religious communities, including brothers of the Marist Order and Capuchin nuns who have bought their safety from anarchists by providing a safe house for a deviant bishop. Alzamora explores good versus evil in a complex and deeply layered work that somehow manages to remain accessible and compulsively readable. Characters are textured and genuine.
Verdict Winner of the Sant Jordi Prize for Catalan Literature, this dark and surprising novel travels to unexpected places quickly--but not too quickly. A worthy suggestion for horror fans who want something a bit different and and adventurous readers unafraid of the dark.
Erin Entrada Kelly, Philadelphia
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Kelly, Erin Entrada. "Alzamora, Sebastia. Blood Crime." Xpress Reviews, 2 Sept. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463756016&it=r&asid=b020d3afda9517c4a81372f1f7020869. Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463756016
Book Review: Blood Crime by Sebastia Alzamora
October 21, 2016
“The author doesn’t sugarcoat anything and the story is made that much more horrific by the brutal atrocities committed by the worst monsters of all: the human ones.”
Soho Crime is an imprint that’s been doing some pretty impressive work for a while now. They publish a lot of international authors, some of them to high acclaim, such as Fuminori Nakamura, but some that would possibly never gain any notice here were it not for them and while it’s true that they are—to state the obvious—largely a crime imprint, they aren’t afraid to push the envelope as long as there are elements of crime mixed in with whatever other genres it might be mashed up with. And while Sebastia Alzamora’s Blood Crime may well be their first horror offering, it’s likely to leave you hoping it won’t be the last.
In Blood Crime, Superintendent Munoz is a police inspector in Barcelona, Spain who becomes obsessed with the brutal murders of a Marist monk and a young boy that stand out amidst a slew of monk slayings throughout the city. The year is 1936 and the Spanish Civil War is in full swing, bathing the city in blood and corruption as the anarchist republicans seize power and begin to persecute members of the Catholic clergy. The two deaths that Munoz is interested in are different because the victims have had their throats viciously ripped out, their bodies exsanguinated. Any fan of horror fiction will recognize the cause of death right out the gate, but it isn’t a huge leap of intuition as the book starts out with one of multiple journal entries by the vampire.
But Blood Crime is more than a vampire story, so much so that the vamp is really secondary to the thread of the story for a large portion of the book, only making narrative appearances a few times in the tale in spite of it being billed as “narrated by a vampire”. What it’s really about is the bloody horrors of war and the depravities and indulgences of monsters of all stripes. Alzamora strips away the imagined glory and glamour of war, exposing the ugly underbelly of reality and laying bare the hard truths that any survivor of real war is familiar with. The author doesn’t sugarcoat anything and the story is made that much more horrific by the brutal atrocities committed at the hands of the worst monsters of all: the human ones. If you are sensitive to large quantities of blood and extreme violence, this is probably not the book for you.
Translated from the Catalan, Soho placed Blood Crime in more than capable hands when they chose the mother daughter team of Martha Tennent and Maruxa Relaño Tennent as their translators. Sebastia Alzamora is a brilliant wordsmith, a much awarded poet with an obvious love of the written word, and his gorgeous prose is well served here, particularly in the passages narrated by the vampire:
“The futility of the human being reaches its maximum expression in the chill of the tomb and the putrefaction of the flesh. The ludicrous dream of great human endeavors–whether of empires, ideas, cities, or fortunes–finds resolution in the grey, repulsive color that dead things acquire.”
Alzamora’s alacrity with description and exposition is nothing less than exceptional and the brutal and violently blood-soaked events of Blood Crime flow beautiful, sublime, and oddly gentle from the tip of his adept pen.
Blood Crime is a mash-up of literary, historical crime fiction with underpinnings of horror. And therein lies one of the two potential elephants in the room. Some vampire purists may be put off by the sparse appearances of the vampire and the hyper-intensive focus on the horrors of war, the barbaric cruelties of humanity, and the political intrigue and elements of espionage that surround such an event. But make no mistake. While the connection between vampires and the Spanish Civil War are tenuous at best, there is horror aplenty to be found in this tour de force of a gothic thriller. The other slight downfall to the book is the ending, or rather the lack thereof. It literally stops midsentence, leaving a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions. And maybe that lack of finality is an intentional device but it’s likely to leave some people less than satisfied with the outcome.
Written in the tradition of gothic horror authors like Lisa Mannetti and Susan Hill, Blood Crime with its mixture of crime, horror, and history is perfect for a stormy fall evening, curled up next to the fire with a warm brandy and a cozy blanket or a cat to cuddle up with. It’s a thoughtful and incisive book that looks deep into the abyss of human cruelty and requires some deal of reflection upon completion. Sebastia Alzamora is a master wordsmith whose talent is well represented here in this English debut that is hopefully just the first of many to come from this impressive and promising Spanish author.
SHANE DOUGLAS KEENE
Publisher: Soho Crime
Paperback: (288pp)
Release Date: 13 September 2016
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Buy Blood Crime by Sebastia Alzamora
BLOOD CRIME
by Sebastià Alzamora and Martha Tennent & Maruxa Relano Tennent, trans.
Soho, September 2016
304 pages
$25.95
ISBN: 1616956283
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada
Narrated at least in part by a vampire, this award-winning fictionalization of an actual event reveals slowly, clearly, and ever so gently (mostly) that there are monsters in all of us.
It is 1936 and Barcelona is in the middle of the Civil War. People are dying by the score on a daily basis - some just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, some to settle personal scores, some because they are on the wrong side today, some for no perceptible reason. War is that way. Superintendent Munoz investigates murders as best he can, given the situation. He is intrigued by the murder of a Marist monk and, close by, a small boy, both drained of their blood. Nobody else really cares; being a Marist monk is reason enough to be killed under the current regime. Munoz wonders if the child was murdered by the same person, or were two separate crimes committed literally feet away from each other. He is not encouraged to pursue his inquiries.
Manuel Escorza is head of the Department of Investigations in Barcelona, a position he abuses on a daily basis. His sister is the mother abbess of a local order of Capuchin nuns. Manuel, for his own reasons, is allowing them to live and is also providing for them so they don't starve or freeze. His quid pro quo, for right now, is requiring that Bishop Perugorria be allowed to stay with the sisters. Also staying with the nuns is a thirteen-year-old refugee whose parents are dead. The Bishop seems to be fascinated by Sister Concepcio, although not in a sexual way. The Mother Abbess wants the Bishop gone; Manuel does not. Manuel has always gotten his way; he learned how to manipulate his sister at a very young age and she still can't/won't resist him.
The Marist monks are trying their best to get out of Barcelona and Spain, into France, where they will not be under a death sentence for their religion. The political situation ensures that spies are everywhere. Knowing whom to trust is almost impossible. Misplacing one's trust in even the most innocuous seeming situation can be, and often is, fatal. Nobody is who they seem to be at first glance; everyone has at least one hidden agenda, and sometimes more than one.
Alzamara writes of all of this with a fluidity and serenity of language which is sharply at odds with his subject matter. There is humor, although it is subtle and infrequent. The characters are vivid and believable, whether or not one believes in the undead. The other monsters exist; war brings out the worst in many people. The massacre in the final chapters of BLOOD CRIME is horrific, and yet it comes as no surprise, having been set up by the entirety of the novel preceding it. This is a beautifully written novel and the translators do it full justice.
§ I have been reading and reviewing mystery fiction for over a quarter of a century and read broadly within just about all genres and sub-genres. I have been a preliminary judge for the Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s Press Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Contest for at least 25 years. I live in Northern lower Michigan with my spousal unit, one large cat, and 2 fairly small dogs. My Sherlockian (BSI) nom-de-plume is VR; my license plate is BSI VR
Reviewed by PJ Coldren, September 2016
BLOOD CRIME
by Sebastià Alzamora
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KIRKUS REVIEW
A veteran police inspector in Barcelona must hunt down a vampire amid the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. Honest to God.
When the bodies of a priest and a young boy are found butchered and exsanguinated, the authorities at first wonder if this is an extreme version of the violence anarchists are bringing against the clergy in the civil war. But the circumstances are too strange, and the investigator in charge soon finds himself navigating not only the dangers of the killer he is hunting, but political pressure and the ever present threat of the war itself. If this weren't enough, there's a subplot with a 13-year-old convent novice who becomes a target of the murderer. As William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist showed, religion is a great way for hacks to employ the queasiest exploitation techniques. It's not religion but history used to justify the grue here. And yet it doesn't relieve the dullness. Does anyone expect a good time when confronted with a line like "They were celebrating a special liturgy to mark Sister Adoració's one-hundredth birthday" or "The novice enjoyed every laundry-related chore and implement: the stones used for pleating, the metal and wood irons for pressing garments, the different techniques for sewing and spinning"?
If you've ever wondered what it's like to feel simultaneously bored and nauseous, this is the book for you.
Pub Date: Sept. 13th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61695-628-8
Page count: 304pp
Publisher: Soho Crime
Review Posted Online: July 28th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15th, 2016