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Torres Quesada, Ángel

Entry updated 14 July 2023. Tagged: Author.

(1940-    ) Spanish author, very popular and prolific in sf, fantasy and horror; he has also written as by A Thorkent or Alex Towers. He has published at least 128 novels, three collections and more than thirty short stories and novellas. His first book was Un mundo llamado Badoom ["A World Called Badoom"] (1963), a Pulp-style sf novel. His early stories were included in some of the most important anthologies of that time, such as Antología española de ciencia ficción ["Spanish SF Anthology"] (1967) and Lo mejor de la ciencia ficción española ["Best of Spanish SF"] (1982), both edited by Domingo Santos.

Between 1971 and 1985, Torres Quesada published more than a hundred Pulp-style sf novels; these include the long saga of El Orden Estelar ["The Stellar Order"] as by A Thorkent, the second most important series of space novels published in Spain after La Saga de los Aznar ["The Aznar Saga"] by George H White, pseudonym of Pascual Enguídanos Usach.

In addition to pulp narrative, Torres Quesada tried to follow a more literary route, always within fantasy and science fiction. He published stories and novellas in magazines, such as "Dios de Dhrule" ["God of Dhrule"] (March-April 1980 Nueva Dimensión) and "Dios de Kerlhe" ["God of Kerlhe"] (April-May 1981 Nueva Dimensión) about an almighty Machine that helps the narrator in his space travels. They were reprinted in Trilogía de los dioses ["The Gods Trilogy"] (coll 2002).

After a period of impasse, he published his famous Trilogía de las Islas ["Trilogy of the Islands"] consisting of the novels Las islas del infierno ["The Islands of Hell"] (1989), Las islas del paraíso ["The Islands of Paradise"] (1989) and Las islas de la guerra ["The Islands of War"] (1989), considered as a classic of Spanish sf. This adventure-packed story centres on a Disaster that causes the disappearance of large areas of the Earth (the islands of paradise) while, in contrast, others appear from the planet Elajah (the islands of hell). More than probably this is a homage to Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series and Julian May's Pliocene Exile series.

In 1991 his novella "El círculo de piedra" ["The Stone Circle"] tie for the UPC Prize, the most important sf prize in Spain for unpublished work; it was later published in Premio UPC 1991 ["1991 UPC Award"] (anth 1991) edited by Miquel Barceló. The plot concerns an Invasion by strange beings from another Dimension, a mixture of sf and horror.

Torres Quesada later work includes La dama de plata ["The Woman in Silver"] (1990), an entertaining tale of revenge set in an exotic world; Wyharga ["Wyharga"] (1993), the continuation of his "Trilogy of the Islands"; Los vientos del olvido ["Winds of Oblivion"] (1995), a story about a planet ruled by Islam; and Las grietas del tiempo ["The Rifts of Time"] (1998), a trip back in time to France in 1918 (see Time Travel). Some of his latest and most important novels are Las sendas púrpuras ["Purple Paths"] (2010) and En la ciudad oscura ["Into the Dark City"] (2011).

In 1994 he was honoured with the Gabriel Award by the Spanish Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Association. [MV]

Ángel Torres Quesada

born Cádiz, Spain: 2 April 1940

series

El Orden Estelar ["The Stellar Order"]

There are two novellas in each volume.

Trilogía de las Islas

  • Las islas del infierno ["The Islands of Hell"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1989) [Trilogía de las Islas: pb/Antoni Garcés]
  • Las islas del paraíso ["The Islands of Paradise"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1989) [Trilogía de las Islas: pb/Antoni Garcés]
  • Las islas de la guerra ["The Islands of War"] (Barcelona, Spain: Ultramar, 1989) [Trilogía de las Islas: pb/Antoni Garcés]
  • Wyharga ["Wyharga"] (Madrid, Spain: Miraguano, 1993) [Trilogía de las Islas: pb/Rafael Estrada]

individual titles

Omits at least 55 further Pulp-style novels as by Alex Towers in the manner of the first item below, published 1971-1985.

collections

links

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