Gustavo Bondoni

Pale Reflection collects six previously published tales of dark fantasy. You won't find hopeful, happy endings here and the best tales have endings that are as unexpected as they are disturbing. Four of the stories have contemporary settings. The other two are set in the ancient past of Central America and Italy.

"Pale Reflection" and "Gualicho Days" carry warnings. The first contrasts the natural paradise of the ancient past with the ecological disaster of a future world destroyed by pollution and concrete. The second suggests the extinction of a culture may have surprising and deadly consequences. "Scent of the Night" is an amusing take on the age-old dilemma of the werewolf. What to do and where to go when the full moon arrives? Bondoni saves the best tales for the end of the collection. "Alpine Silence" tells the story of an Etruscan messenger pursued by a zombie horse. "Aikanaka" recounts the mental turmoils of a shark-shifter.

If you're looking for something different and your tastes run to the dark and fantastic, the short stories in this collection may be just what you're looking for.… (mais)

A ship from the human civilization on Tau Ceti II heads for Earth, intending to re-establish contact after a treaty-mandated gap of 500 years. Earth is deserted. There are no signs of an apocalypse, or mass graves. Where is everybody?

For the past 500 years, everyone on Earth has been permanently living in a virtual reality world. Free from disease and pain, their bodies are supposedly being taken care of in vast underground chambers. In VR-land, big problems are happening. A huge wall suddenly cuts Denver in half. Monsters are ravaging cities all over the world.

An interface is created, so that the visitors can communicate with the people of Earth, who are less than thrilled to see them. Rome, from the visitors, falls in love with Emily, from VR-land. She is involved in attempts to get the bottom of the computer problems, whatever they are. Are some mainframes about to crash, possibly snuffing out millions of "people"?

Rome asks Emily to return to Tau Ceti with the ship, which has been ordered to leave by an Earth that wants to stay in VR-land. First, they have to find her body. Are those millions of chambers still in nice, neat rows, maintained by an army of robots?

This is a first-rate piece of writing. The author, whose first language is not English, does an excellent job with the characters and storytelling. It is very much worth the reader's time.… (mais)