Cincuenta agujeros negros

the long version

50 extremely short (the longest is three pages) and dark tales. Astonishing transformations and unexpected twists take place: an angel, ill with acrophobia, cannot use his wings and must turn to other forms of transportation; a chess match between a mediocre worker and a tyrant boss changes into a medieval duel; a scientist decimates all the birds in the world while trying to record everything he can about these creatures' behavior. Some of Rubiano Vargas' tales are grouped by themes: five concern the art of writing. In "Sufrimiento" ("Suffering"), for instance, the Muse really exists and is strangled so that the author can achieve peace. Along the same lines, and reminiscent of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo and Buster Keaton's Shelock Jr., the character of Dracula literally breaks out of the movie screen and decides to go to Hollywood looking for the fountain of youth.