«El reflejo, de Asley L. Mármol, es hijo del espejo cóncavo de la poesía y de la madurez. No se parece al reflejo que buscaba Stendhal al poner un espejo sobre el camino, cuál cámara fotográfica; tampoco al espejo de Borges, que inquieta la pared y hace que la realidad adquiera un cariz fantástico; es más el espejo de Max Estrella en Luces de Bohemia, el voladizo pasaje que nos adentra en turbión del tiempo y sus diabólicas metamorfosis. En este libro descubrimos al autor maduro, que interroga a su cuerpo y a su tiempo para descubrir la extrañeza ante su propio reflejo».
Luis Rafael
Poet, Narrator, editor, director of Editorial Verbum.
Daniel Coen did not want to return to Cuba. From the heights of his business success in Miami, his family and the Island of his childhood were a foggy memory in his perfect life. Emanuel’s creative genius kept getting him in trouble in the streets of his beloved Havana; yet this time chaos fell upon him like a shroud of darkness. A mysterious and powerful family, who claimed to be descendants of The Watchers, the fallen angels who mingled with women as per ancient texts, made a fortune assisting dictatorships around the world remain in power. Daniel is forced to come back to the Island after The Watchers had effectively gained control of his brother, Emanuel, through subtle means to lure him back to Cuba where they had their base of operations. Daniel must play his part to facilitate the removal out of the Island of an ancient, extremely valuable object that allegedly ensured longevity in power to its holder. Daniel’s sole objective becomes to bring his brother back. In the process, they find themselves immersed in a world of sordid power networks that will place them amidst incredible situations in some of the most fantastic places on earth.
La luz define, erige y desnuda estos poemas. Sus rincones oscuros fútilmente se ocultan. Todo es expuesto, la infancia, las cosas cotidianas, la emoción de descubrir la voz, el destierro, el amor de tantos años, la paternidad, las decepciones insondables, el aliento del pasado y el destellar futuro. El Esplendor es una vida descrita en versos, una vida no siempre feliz, pero como toda existencia con momentos de luz y tinieblas hablando al unísono. La luz siempre triunfa a destiempo; he ahí la reverberación final, crucial, que queda en el lector.
The light defines, erects and strips these poems. Its dark corners futilely hide. Everything is exposed, the childhood, everyday things, the emotion of discovering one’s voice, the exile, the love of so many years, fatherhood, the unfathomable deceptions, the breath of the past and the promise of the future. The Splendor is a life described in verses, a life not always happy, but like all existence with moments of light and darkness talking in unison. The light always triumphs unexpectedly; that is the final, crucial reverberation that remains with the reader.
Stories that move in time and space capturing the essence of the human condition. From remote mountains to the inspiration of a master painter, the diapason expands beyond what is expected in most of today’s collections of short stories. The characters float in a timeless reality that could be placed anywhere in the planet in any giving epoch. That is the ultimate objective of its author; to touch those algid places we refuse to glance at in the depths of our being.
Historias que se mueven en el tiempo y el espacio capturando la esencia de la condición humana. Desde remotos parajes montañosos hasta la inspiración de un maestro pintor, el diapasón se expande más allá de lo esperado en la mayoría de las colecciones de cuentos cortos de hoy. Los personajes flotan en una realidad atemporal que pudiese ser ubicada en cualquier sitio del planeta en cualquier época. Este es el objetivo final de su autor, tocar esos lugares álgidos que nos reusamos a escudriñar en las profundidades de nuestro ser.
