short novel – arquerociego

This book is a contemporary short novel in Spanish literature.

Thus, it can be classified within the narrative genre in the form of a short novel and subclassified into categories such as gothic horror.

This is a first and unique limited and unrepeatable edition launched by Fin de Raza publishing house in 2020, which is a Spanish publishing house which in their words: «We don’t make books. We make beautiful, limited, cult objects. Each of our projects is an object destined to be read, looked at, and exhibited. Inside is a harmonious solution of text and illustration. We are an independent publishing house which also believes in the fair distribution of profits from art: writers, illustrators and publishers share the spoils equally». This book is not translated into English.

Publication date: 2020
Country: Spain
Pages: 122
Reading date: April 2021
Rating: 3/5

The author Jon Bilbao (Ribadesella, Spain, 1972-) and the illustrator Celsius Pictor (Orense, Spain, 1978-) have participated in the creation of this book. On the one hand, Jon Bilbao is a mining engineer from the University of Oviedo. He has received the «Asturias Joven» prize in the narrative category. In 2008 he published his first novel and then a book of short stories which won him the «Ojo Crítico de Narrativa» award in 2008. Since then he has continued to publish novels and short stories, standing out as an exponent of the most recent contemporary Spanish narrative. On the other hand, Celsius Pictor started working as an illustrator and animator of multimedia courses in 2004. After focusing on online advertising for a few years, in 2012 he established himself as a freelance and began working with agencies in Spain, England and the USA. He teaches in several public and private art schools. He has also participated in several group exhibitions. Currently, he is developing an experimental way of illustration which fuses natural life with the mechanics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Other books by Jon Bilbao are:

The brother of the flies (2008)
Like a horror story (2008)
Parents, children and primates (2013)
The silence and the rustling (2018)

Within the list of other books published by the same author, those for which there is already a post in this blog are highlighted.

Click on it to read it!

I found this book by chance, through which I came across a website called Verkami where independent artists’ projects are sponsored through donations. I found it an interesting method of publication. It was on this website where I found the book The return of the Hircocervus. I decided to participate in the collection of donations because I was attracted by what they told and showed about the book. At that time, I was also immersing myself in horror narrative and a story set in the rural area of my country seemed to me a sample of the originality of the story it could tell.

«Thirteen months, two weeks and five days after the first of the deaths, there was not a single domestic animal left in Reata. From then on, any such animal that crossed the village boundary did not survive its first night in the village».
Jon Bilbao (narrator)

The plot of the novel revolves around the investigation of the strange events that occur in the village of Reata in Cantabria, as domestic animals gradually begin to die without any scientific cause to explain it. There comes a time when there is no such animal in the village, as not a day goes by without it dying. Faced with this mystery, a veterinarian arrives in the village to investigate the phenomenon.

After starting his detective work, he meets a boy interested in the Celtic world and its mythology, who introduces him to this world, accusing a mythical creature called Hircocervus of the disappearance and death of the animals in the village.

«The dimensions of the Hircocervus were larger than those of an adult deer. Its body was that of a billy goat, but its neck and head were that of a deer. From its chin hung a beard with ringlets. It had not just two antlers, like a deer, but six, arranged in a circle on its head, forming a crown in which the tips of the antlers intertwined like a vine. Another characteristic feature was his large penis, always erect and ending in a sharp point like that of a plough».
The boy

The language of this short novel is concise and direct, it is an easy book to read. On the other hand, I hadn’t read anything of this genre before, a mix between gothic and Lovecraftian horror. This style of horror, as well as the setting of the story, was quite enjoyable. The premise of the narrative is a good one, bringing to the table the mystery of the senseless death of animals close to humans. It gives the feeling that the rural world is thus cracked, that the wild engulfs the presence of man in nature, as it is the domestic animals which are affected by the mystery of the events.

However, I felt that, although the initial premise of the story is good and engaging, its execution is less so. Everything is a bit predictable and it was not a story that made an impression on me. It’s true, though, that when I searched a bit on the internet about Jon Bilbao’s work, in wikipedia and other websites for example, only his other works appear and this one is not mentioned anywhere except in the Verkami page and in Fin de Raza. I don’t know if this means that this was a secondary work of the writer for which he didn’t use all his creativity and narrative capacity.

In conclusion, The Return of the Hircocervus has been a curious, entertaining and simple read with a strong premise at the beginning of the story, but that in the end has not left a mark on me, as I consider that in its execution it has not had so much strength. I’m happy with the great illustrations of the novel by Celsius Pictor, the fabulous setting of this work and the discovery of such an interesting website as Verkami. It only remains for me to add that I would like to read more of Jon Bilbao in the future to see if the execution of his other works is better and to get to know the author better.

«He called out to him with no response. He paused to catch his breath and wonder what to do. Then he remembered the boy’s last words and thought no more. He walked out onto the road».
Jon Bilbao (narrator)

Some reflections:

Do you think that animal characters are a good narrative resource when constructing the horror genre? Why do you think that what happens to them in these stories is more shocking to us than if the same things happened to human characters?
How would you design a monstrous mythological being with a Celtic twist? What would it look like?
Would you like to read more stories set in rural Spain and do you think it is an unexplored setting in some genres?

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