Playing opportunely with realism and fiction, the sensational young Cuban writer Pedro de Jess interlinks six stories in an inventive narrative of psychological darkness and sexual intricacy. In this tour de force of alienation and transgression, he captures the disaffected existence of a certain segment of gay, lesbian, and bisexual characters on the fringes of contemporary Cuban society
"The new Reinaldo Arenas."-El Pas
"All of the stories in
Cuentos frigidos
are very interesting and imaginative, full of dark humor and subtle insights." -Emilio Bejel, author of Gay Cuban Nation
"Sex is a preoccupation and, as the King of Siam would say, 'a puzzlement' in this debut collection of six coy, elusive stories from a young Cuban fiction writer . . . witty and accomplished." -Kirkus Reviews
"Despite the title, there is nothing frigid about these tales--what appears to be coldness is all on the surface. True, the characters of these six interrelated stories are often uncomfortable with their sexuality and sometimes believe they would be happier if they weren't so horny all the time, and true, too, Pedro de Jesus makes use of the cerebral and distancing forms of postmodern fiction, although he cannot resist descending into a realism he has been taught to disparage--in short, the stories are the product of a young man who believes that his libido is getting in the way of his art but nevertheless cannot hide his old-fashioned passion for love stories." -The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Pedro de Jess was born in 1970 in Fomento, Cuba and studied at the University of Havana. In addition to writing short stories, de Jess has published essays, and a novel, Sbilas en Mercaderes. Frigid Tales has been published in Spain and his work has appeared in anthologies in Germany, France, and Italy.
Dick Cluster is the author of Obligations of the Bone and other fiction. He has translated Mirta Yez's Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women as well as Alejandro Herndez Diaz, Sonia Rivera-Valds, Aida Bahr, and Antonio Jos Ponte.
