Heavy Metals

The construction of fantastic devices to evade the all-powerful hand of disease; the detour through the snowy roads of a cold and merciless Iceland; the fire of an inferno that burned down the misfortune of a world of blinded smokers; the force to the abyss through the recourse of a betrayal disguised as goodness. The ten short stories that compose Heavy Metals are pieces that have been torn from the anodyne of lives touched by boredom or physical ailments. In these stories, Barquero creates a narrative work in which the familiarity of things and trivial occurrences are subverted, as those beings who inhabit everyday scenarios undergo a savage change that has only been made possible by the touch of a demon or a word. They are bodies thicken by the weight of lead and mouths that taste like iron. Áncora Prize in Short Story 2010.

He was born in 1979 in San José, Costa Rica. He is a photographer and writer. He is the author of the book Heavy Metals (ECR, 2009, Ancora Award for short story in 2010), El Diluvio Universal (Germinal, 2009, Ancora Award for a novel in 2010), Combustion Humana Espontanea (Germinal, 2015), Anatomia Comparada (Encino, 2017, Aquileo J. Echeverria National Award for short stories), Tierras Raras (Encino, 2019), and Horca (Punto de Vista Editores, 2022, Mario Monteforte Toledo Central American Award in 2021). He compiled, along with Juan Murillo, the anthology Historias de Nunca Acabar: Antología del Nuevo Relato Costarricense (ECR, 2009). He co-directs, along with Murillo, Ediciones Lanzallamas. Several of his short stories have been translated into French, English, Portuguese, and German.