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excerpts from exciting novels by Latino authors. Happy reading!
by João Cerqueira
Line by Lion Publications
Yes, this novel is about The Second Coming.
Book Summary: Jesus
returns to earth and meets activist Magdalene who is fighting for a better
world. He finds an extremist ecological group, which is plotting to destroy a
maize plantation it believes to be genetically modified. Then, he observes the
rise up against a tourist development that is built on a forest preserve.
Finally, he witnesses an armed conflict between blacks and gypsies. However,
although he limits himself to accompanying Magdalene, attempting only to pacify
those on bad terms, he is unable to escape the fury of mankind. And only a con
man will recognize him.
According to the gypsy community, it was the blacks
who started the riots.
A gang of adolescents, who liked to harass gypsy women
and to scrawl graffiti insulting the virility of the men, entered the gypsy
café and, after refusing to pay for their drinks, smashed up the furniture and
stole the takings from the till. Knowing that calling the police would only
cause more problems, the gypsy community was forced to solve the problem on its
own, to dispense their own justice. A meeting was held in the patriarch’s house
and it was decided to retaliate that very day, “because with us it’s an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and no one laughs at the gypsies for long.” They
then went after the assailants. And it wasn’t hard to find them, as they were
celebrating the raid in one of their houses, in euphoric fashion. The gypsies
weren’t the first to shoot, however, because bullets began to fly as soon as
they rounded the corner of the road in which the gang was lurking. From that
night on, the blacks started to attack any gypsy; even women and children
weren’t spared.
Questioned on what had happened, Dona Eufrásia, a
gypsy in her sixties, who sold designer clothes at the market, said the
following: “Of course they’re the ones that started it. Who else could it have
been? These blacks are bad blood! They leave their children on the street and
the girls will do it with anyone. They sell drugs and rob people. I’ve never
seen one do a day’s work. Do you know what they want? They want to kick us out
of here and take our houses. They should stick them all in a boat and send them
back to where they came from.”
According to the black community, the whole thing
happened differently.
No robbery took place at the café, and no one caused
any damage to the premises. It was a Saturday evening and the boys had decided
to have a beer and chose this place by chance. They entered in an orderly
manner and politely asked to be served. But the café owner replied, “We don’t
serve blacks here, each to his own.” At that very moment, the gypsies got up
from their tables and started to shove them outside the establishment. Still
not happy, outside they set about pummelling them with punches and kicking
them. In the end they chased them away, forcing them to take refuge in a house
nearby. It was then that some of the gypsies pulled out their pistols and began
firing at the windows before others arrived with shotguns, adding to the
fusillade. The young men’s reaction was defensive; if they hadn’t fought back
they would have met their maker, as the gypsies were preparing a raid on the
house.
A witness to the event, Lourenço Marques, godfather of
one of the victims and retired builder, got his feelings off his chest.
“Everyone knows it was the gypsies who attacked us. We are a serious people
around here, we don’t want trouble with anyone. But, with the gypsies it’s impossible,
man! They think that this place is theirs, they don’t respect anyone, they
threaten you and pull out their weapons for the slightest thing. Robbery and
drugs are their main source of income. Have you ever seen them working or
picking up rubbish? Of course not. These problems will only come to an end when
they are all thrown into prison.”
For her part, another resident, Dona Lurdes, housemaid
and white — but whose dark complexion and curly hair seemed to want to deny her
Caucasian status — also gave her opinion of the facts. “Whose fault is it? It’s
both their faults. It was peaceful here before all these blacks and gypsies got
here. Everyone knew and helped each other, the neighbors were like a family. If
you needed a bay leaf you just knocked on your neighbor’s door; people looked
after other people’s children. But after they arrived our neighborhood became
hell, what with stealing, drugs, fighting, shooting. You can’t sleep at night
for all the racket. It’s scary around here. It’s enough to make you sick with
worry. And the police don’t lift a finger. If it was up to me, I’d send them
all back to where they came from.”###
Excerpt published with permission. All rights reserved by author.
About the Author: JOAO CERQUEIRA is the author of
eight books published in six countries. THE
TRAGEDY OF FIDEL CASTRO won the USA Best Book Awards 2013, the Beverly Hills
Book Awards 2014, the Global Ebook Awards 2014, was finalist for the Montaigne
Medal 2014 and was considered by ForewordReviews the third best translation
published in 2012 in the United States. JESUS AND MAGDALENE won the silver
medal in the 2015 Latino Book Award and was considered by the
unheard-voice.blogspot one of the best books published in 2015. The short story,
A house in Europe, won the 2015 Speakando European Literary Contest, received
the bronze medal in the Ebook Me Up Short Story Competition 2015 and an
honorable mention in the Glimmer Train July 2015 Very Short Fiction Award. His
works are published in The Adirondack Review, Ragazine, Berfrois, Cleaver
Magazine, Bright Lights Film, Modern Times Magazine and others. Visit him at http://www.joaocerqueira.com/.
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