Spanish Horror/ Science Fiction Novels or Short Stories

April 10, 2014 11:02 PM

I'm looking for some psychological horror, science fiction, or just plain interesting stories written in Spanish. I really enjoy Stephen King, and Junji Ito as horror writers go, and I love harder science fiction rather than softer. Philip K. Dick is one of my favorites as well.

I'm looking for stuff written by Spanish authors, if that's possible, but if you've got a good translated story I might like, I'm game.

posted by Gargantuantoe to Writing & Language (10 answers total)

How about Julio Cortázar? I haven't read any of his novels, but his short stories are weird and sometimes disturbing. Here is a good one called Casa Tomada, from the collection Bestiario.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 11:43 PM on April 10, 2014

If I could magically understand (Argentinian) Spanish, the first thing I'd do is track down a copy of Borges' Ficciones.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:07 AM on April 11, 2014 [3 favorites]

Horacio Quiroga is a bit like the Spanish language equivalent of Edgar Allan Poe. Spanish SF is rather meh and undistinguished, but there are some fantasy novels, mainly for YA.
posted by sukeban at 1:48 AM on April 11, 2014

I’m currently reading The Dedalus Book of Spanish Fantasy, which is an anthology of short stories all, as the title suggests, by Spanish authors (including Juan Goytisolo, Javier Marías, Enrique Vila-Matas, among many others), and all with some element of the fantasic, speculative or supernatural (with nothing, as far as I’ve read, in the vein of post-Tolkien high fantasy). It’s in English but there is also information about the relevant original Spanish publications for each author represented.
posted by misteraitch at 1:54 AM on April 11, 2014

You want Spanish horror? Santiago Eximeno is a friend of mine. I've translated a few of his stories into English in the past.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:10 AM on April 11, 2014

Jorge Luis Borges!
posted by OuttaHere at 6:54 AM on April 11, 2014

Aura by Carlos Fuentes is a favorite of mine.
posted by trunk muffins at 7:37 AM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oops! I just now realized that you want things in translation, so here is an English version of the story I mentioned in my previous comment.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 11:23 AM on April 11, 2014

Response by poster: I actually am looking for them in Spanish! I didn't make it clear in my post. My apologies
posted by Gargantuantoe at 3:13 PM on April 11, 2014

Another update because Gigamesh has just opened a DRM-free ebook store that you might find interesting.
posted by sukeban at 3:37 AM on April 15, 2014