Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2017
In Jerusalem’s Old City a young priest and a dominatrix converse in the dying light; on Oregon’s windswept coast a fragile woman discovers a body washed up on the beach after a storm; and in Postwar Japan a young protégé watches his master’s corpse burn, with bitter thoughts blazing in his mind.
Jerusalem Ablaze: Stories of Love and Other Obsessions collects thirteen eclectic works of dark fiction, taking the reader from Los Angeles to the eastern townships of Quebec, and from Tokyo to Jerusalem.
Ortega-Medina’s characters are flawed, broken individuals, trying their best to make sense of their lives as they struggle with sexuality, death, obsession, and religion. Sometimes bleak, occasionally violent, and often possessed of a dark humour, this major debut explores the imperfections of life and the unpredictability of death.
Publication date: 26 January 2017
Author: Orlando Ortega-Medina
ISBN (PB): 9781526202536
ISBN (HB): 9780995465701
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“[Ortega-Medina] is at his best at his most explosive – when he lets his sensationalist side loose – and the wilder the better. I felt the emergence of an exciting, original talent.” Jewish Renaissance (Maureen Kendler)
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Pieuvre.ca (a Quebec-based online magazine) published a review of Jerusalem Ablaze in French. Click this link to read the review
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“I love Ortega-Medina’s use of language and the way he creates mood. I particularly like the layer of … the supernatural or mystique permeating the title story, even though the whole thing is happening on the mundane plane … as if the woman was really the incarnation of Ashtoreth — still in the Levant; still demanding offerings.”
Alex Hernandez, author of Bound for the Promised Land, (Man-Kzin Wars XIII, Baen Books)
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“Orlando Ortega-Medina’s stories take you to places you wouldn’t want to venture alone – and to the darkest recesses of your own mind and soul. Deliciously dark and dangerous.”
Andrew Crofts, bestselling international author & ghostwriter
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“Like a poisonous spider inside a velvet rose, Ortega-Medina’s sensuous tales always unfold to reveal something beautiful and disturbing at their heart. It’s a highly original debut, atmospheric and enticingly mysterious.”
Christopher Fowler, multi award-winning author of 45 novels and short-story collections
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“Ortega-Medina’s prose is elegant and potent throughout, with visceral passages bathed in lyricism…”
Kirkus Reviews
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“The author’s ability to build such complex and thought provoking storylines with only a couple of pages is impressive.”
– GIRLY BOOK CLUB – (16 Jan 2017) Read Full Review
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“A rich, varied, thought-provoking and eye-opening collection” BookMunch (07 Feb 2017)
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“A sparkling collection of short stories that will leave you clamouring for more…a diamond among a sea of cubic zirconia” – Breakaway Reviews (13 Feb 2017)
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“A tremendous dichotomy of a read and a real page-turner” – G Scene Magazine (13 Feb 2016)
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“Dark and mysterious short stories set around the world” – Trip Fiction (16 Feb 2017)
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“[B]eautifully wrought, deeply unnerving…Ortega-Medina holds a mirror up to our darkest thoughts and urges – while showing the oneness of the human condition” – The Irish News (16 Feb 2017)
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“Finely woven and intelligently written” – Jaffa Reads Too (17 Feb 2017)
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“An alternately dark, emotional, tender, and violent contemporary collection that I enjoyed greatly. Highly recommended” – Raven Crime Reads (21 Feb 2017)
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Exploring his multi-pronged identity, Orlando Ortega-Medina recently released his book ‘Jerusalem Ablaze’ to a warm critical reception. – By Cathryn J. Prince (3 Aug 2017)
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