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Conde, Víctor

Entry updated 14 July 2023. Tagged: Author.

(1973-    ) Pseudonym of author Alfredo Moreno Santana, one of the most prolific sf, fantasy, horror and Young Adult writers in Spain. He has published more than thirty novels, one collection and almost a hundred of short stories, plus half a dozen mainstream books, all this in just over twenty years. His contributions to Spanish and Latin American sf magazines and anthologies number about one hundred.

Conde started his literary career in the early 2000s writing stories for Magazines and Fanzines, until he published his first novel: El tercer nombre del emperador ["The Third Name of the Emperor"] (2002), an ambitious Space Opera with which he began his Metaverse series, so far consisting of ten books. In these, he gives free rein to his wild imagination and pays homage to his favorite novels – Frank Herbert's Dune (fixup 1965), Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos (1989-1990) – and television series: Star Trek, Lost in Space, etc.

Crónicas del Multiverso ["Chronicles of the Multiverse"] (2010), winner of the Minotauro and Ignotus awards, is probably the best work in this series. The action moves to the Variety, a dense cluster of Stars surrounded by a vast cosmic void that no one has ever been able to cross, an island of suns inhabited by fifteen intelligent species in continuous belligerence. In this universe-island, a plethora of characters join their destinies when the universe collapses at an impossible speed. Chaos breaks loose and, as if this were not enough, one of these species seems to have gone mad and attacks the rest in what seems like a War of total annihilation.

Another popular series is Piscis of Zhintra ["Piscis of Zhintra"], consisting of five novellas, a funny Space Opera starring a sexy Pulp heroine in the style of Barbarella.

Conde is an author who writes books in almost all varieties of Fantastika. Epic fantasy examples include the classic-flavored novel Sangre Berserker ["Berserker Blood"] (2014), the parodic Manual de autoayuda para señores oscuros ["Self-Help Manual for Dark Lords"] (2019) and, above all, La orfíada ["The Orfíada"] (2017), an exceptional homage to Homer's Odyssey and other epic poems. The novel mimics its structure and depicts a tragic tale of wartime ambition, love, and revenge set in an alternate antiquity, revisiting the classical figure of the Greek hero; a work as extensive as it is extraordinary.

Outstanding examples of horror include his retellings of classic Monsters: Zombies in Naturaleza muerta ["Still Life"] (2009), Werewolves in Hija de lobos ["Daughter of Wolves"] (2011), mermaids in He oído a los mares gritar mi nombre ["I've Heard The Seas Scream My Name"] (2013), witches in El códice de las brujas ["The Witches' Codex"] (2015), Vampires in De las ciudades vuestras tumbas ["From the Cities Your Graves"] (2017), phantoms in Lívidos ["Pales"] (2018), the Creature from the Black Lagoon in El beso de Copacati ["Copacati's Kiss"] (2020), etc.

Besides, El teatro secreto ["Secret Theatre"] (2008) mixes horror with fairy tales and Paramorfo ["Paramorph"] (2022) shows a new Technology that allows damaged organs of the human body to be replaced by specifically designed insectoid beings through bioengineering; a medical thriller that ventures into body horror and David Cronenberg's New Flesh. In addition, he wrote several books related to the Role Playing Game Call of Cthulhu and edited Monstruos del mar ["Sea Monsters"] (anth 2010).

In young adult literature, he wrote El dragón estelar ["The Star Dragon"] (2007), a science fiction adventure, and Las puertas del infinito ["Gates of Infinity"] (2016), winner of the Celsius Festival Kelvin Award, an addictive dark fantasy whose protagonists must travel through an apocalyptic London to various eccentric universes inhabited by nightmarish beings. He also wrote the Heralds trilogy.

Conde wrote several books in collaboration with other authors and he has taken part in other sf universes such as the Akasa-Puspa series by Juan Miguel Aguilera and Javier Redal, and Crónica de tinieblas ["Chronicle of Darkness"] by Eduardo Vaquerizo. His latest works are Horizonte de estrellas ["Star Horizon"] (2022), winner of the Minotauro Award, a magnificent novel full of scientific speculation that pays homage to Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama (1973), and El ojo de Átropos ["The Eye of Atropos"] (2023), a new hard science fiction novel.

In summary, Conde is a very versatile author capable of writing in any fantastic genre, but it is in horror and, above all, science fiction where he stands out as a solid storyteller. His style is rich, entertaining and full of references, to which he adds a great fondness for adventure, a precise language endowed with singular beauty and an innate ability to convey images and sensations. In his science fiction novels, he prefers to place the plots in the remote future and, with an overflowing imagination, describe a cosmos full of fantastic creatures, technology that awakens our sense of wonder, innovative scientific concepts in which he demonstrates multidisciplinary knowledge and a constant attachment to metaphysics. [MV]

Alfredo Moreno Santana

born Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, December 3, 1973

works

series

Metaverso ["Metaverse"]

  • El tercer nombre del emperador ["The Third Name of the Emperor"] (Madrid, Spain: Equipo Sirius, 2002) [Metaverso: pb/Óscar H. Chichoni]
  • Mystes ["Mystes"] (Barcelona, Spain: Minotauro, 2004) [Metaverso: pb/]
  • Crónicas del Multiverso ["Chronicles of the Multiverse"] (Barcelona, Spain: Minotauro, 2010) [Metaverso: hb/]
  • Oniromante ["Oneiromancer"] (Barcelona, Spain: Scyla eBooks, 2011) [novella: ebook: Metaverso: na/]
  • La ópera de la mente ["Mind Opera"] (Barcelona, Spain: Scyla eBooks, 2013) [ebook: Metaverso: na/]
  • Ecos ["Echoes"] (Gijón, Spain: Sportula, 2015) [Metaverso: pb/Maciej Garbacz]
  • Imperio ["Empire"] (Gijón, Spain: Sportula, 2018) [Metaverso: pb/]
  • Hipernautas ["Hipernautas"] (Denmark, Spain: Saga Edgemont, 2022) [ebook: Metaverso: na/]
  • Tiempo ardiendo al revés ["Time Burning Backwards"] (Denmark, Spain: Saga Edgemont, 2022) [ebook: Metaverso: na/]

Piscis de Zhintra ["Piscis of Zhintra"]

  • Piscis de Zhintra ["Piscis of Zhintra"] (Madrid, Spain: Artifex, 2002) [novella: Piscis de Zhintra: pb/Luis Royo]
  • Arena ["Arena"] (Madrid, Spain: Artifex, 2004) [novella: Piscis de Zhintra: pb/Luis Royo]
  • Doble amanecer sobre el horizonte ["Double Sunrise over the Horizon"] (Denmark, Spain: Saga Edgemont, 2021) [novella: ebook: Piscis de Zhintra: na/]
  • El planeta de los vampiros ["Planet of Vampires"] (Denmark, Spain: Saga Edgemont, 2021) [novella: ebook: Piscis de Zhintra: na/]
  • Pansexualactic ["Pansexualactic"] (Denmark, Spain: Saga Edgemont, 2021) [novella: ebook: Piscis de Zhintra: na/]

Heraldos ["Heralds"]

Revisión de monstruos clásicos ["Retelling of Classic Monsters"]

  • Naturaleza muerta ["Still Life"] (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2009) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/Alejandro Colucci]
  • Hija de lobos ["Daughter of Wolves"] (Barcelona, Spain: Minotauro, 2011) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/Alejandro Colucci]
  • He oído a los mares gritar mi nombre ["I've Heard The Seas Scream My Name"] (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2013) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/Daniel Expósito Zafra]
  • El códice de las brujas ["The Witches' Codex"] (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2015) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/Alejandro Colucci]
  • De las ciudades vuestras tumbas ["From the Cities Your Graves"] (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2017) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/]
  • Lívidos ["Pales"] with Raúl Silvestre (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2018) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/]
  • El beso de Copacati ["Copacati's Kiss"] (Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Dolmen, 2020) [Revisión de monstruos clásicos: pb/]

Cthulhu

  • La llamada de Cthulhu ["The Call of Cthulhu"] (Tenerife, Spain: 2.0 Books, 2018) [gamebook: Cthulhu: pb/]
  • El horror de Dunwich ["The Dunwich Horror"] (Tenerife, Spain: 2.0 Books, 2018) [gamebook: Cthulhu: pb/]
  • El manicomio de Arkham ["Arkham Asylum"] with Eduardo Pérez Rafael as Eduard T Riker and Virginia S V Riesco as Giny Valrís (Tenerife, Spain: 2.0 Books, 2018) [gamebook: Cthulhu: pb/]

individual titles

collections

works as editor

links

previous versions of this entry



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