"Why do we children end up doing what we hate most about our parents?"

BarcelonaLluís Llort has waited until the age of 60 to debut as an author of short stories. Born in Barcelona in 1966, the cultural journalist and novelist with a long and fruitful career has just published Short (crims.cat), thirty-seven narratives that "have discomfort as a common nexus". "Discomfort seems like a minor feeling, but it is more present in me than many of the feelings that abound in crime novels, such as revenge and hatred," the author asserts.

"He liked himself so much, he would f*** himself," begins one of the narratives, Discòrdia?. In another very brief one, Biga Mortensen, a man hangs himself because he is convinced that life is no longer worth living, but the old wooden beam he uses is also going through a bad moment and breaks. "Micro-stories like this can seem like a joke, although they have deeper readings," admits the author, who began the book "tidying up" his computer shortly after winning the L'H Confidencial award with Demolició (crims.cat, 2024). "I had published stories in ten collective books, and of those, I have only included half in the book –he admits–. The rest are unpublished. I had a great time writing them, especially the shorter ones. I like to go towards the essence of the stories I want to tell".

While he does not have an idea that seduces him enough for a new novel, Llort begins to prepare for retirement. "I have fifteen months of work left, but don't worry, I'm not one of those who starts writing frantically when they retire –he advances–. I will dedicate myself to going to watch construction sites: in Barcelona, they are constantly being made". Linked to Avui since 1986 –and, for the last fifteen years, to El Punt Avui, Llort discovered his literary vocation when he had already turned thirty. "I would have liked to dedicate myself to music and I had even played in several bands, but because of a hearing problem it was not possible –he recalls–. Then I started writing. And the first novel I published had as its protagonist the leader of a rock band who suffered from depression".

A novel about toxic inheritances

Music is one of the obvious links between Short and Fúria, the third book by Lluís Riera (Artés, 1975), published by crims.cat, one of the most veteran crime novel collections in Catalan, with over one hundred titles and fifteen years of history. "Although I grew up in Bages, I have been living in Castelló d'Empúries for years, where I work in social education," he explains. "After debuting with Contes bruts [Neopàtria, 2023] I published my first novel, L'Escorxador [crims.cat, 2024]". Like its predecessor, Fúria is set in "the deep Catalonia, which is like the white trash of the United States, a very patriarchal, sexist, and homophobic territory, a place full of absolute emotional illiterates".

Riera proposes a journey to the nineties of the 20th century to narrate "a love story between two teenagers: the daughter of a junkie prostitute and a boy who leads a rock band". The possibility that the couple might become a triangle triggers a series of latent inheritances that these two characters and their circle of friends carry. "Why do we children end up doing what we hate most about our parents?" Riera asks. "There are children who are born with very brutal wounds and the pain they carry inside ends up surfacing at some point. Fúria is an ode to children who were born with a pellet in their wing. Throughout my professional career as a social educator, I have been able to see how these children play with a great disadvantage in life". Without revealing whether he saves or condemns his characters, Lluís Riera assures that readers who begin Fúria will find a mixture of "brutality and sensuality": "At times their stomachs will turn. In other moments, they might feel an exaggerated empathy towards the protagonists".