AUTHOR: Mónica Bustos
PUBLISHER: Obscura Editorial
GENRE:Horror
READER’S NAME: Andrea Shah
DATE: June 2, 2021
If there’s a common thread in Novela B, it’s Dila Dubi, a mysterious beauty who is purported to be a vampire. Because of the mythical properties of her blood, Dila is pursued throughout the book by characters who both worship and fear her, from a bloodthirsty cult to a professor convinced that she is the living embodiment of Aztec myth.
Other characters recur as well, starting with a cannibalistic serial killer known as the “Lobo Feroz,” or “Fierce Wolf,” who leaves a trail of bodies throughout South America. There’s also Ava Dubi, Dila’s troubled twin, and the psychologist who treats her. In turn, said psychologist consorts, collaborates, and competes with a professor obsessed with the history of vampires in Latin America. And then there’s Juan, el Chupacabras, a sinister figure who spends much of the novel (literally) cutting a swath through the cult that’s pursuing Dila.
The novel plays heavily with genre tropes, including an eerie, remote hamlet populated by the descendants of Nazis and a crone straight from the pages of Hansel and Gretel. UFOs make more than one appearance, as do evil twins. There’s also a shadowy cult that disguises itself as a biker gang.
Toward the end of the novel, the many threads begin to converge, ending in a bloody finale with an ironic twist.
The novel is written entirely in vignettes, ranging anywhere from a paragraph to 10+ pages in length. While most of the chapters are written in straightforward prose, Bustos also includes other formats, including a summary of an academic article, a memo issued from a typewriter with broken keys, and email exchanges. Minor characters pop up for one vignette, only to reappear much later in the book in a different setting. While most chapters are no more than a few pages, a 10-page tale in the early part of the book shows Bustos’s skill at writing creepy set pieces.
The book has its roots in low-budget “B” movies (hence the title) and 1950s pulp fiction—American horror connoisseurs will recognize elements of Elvira and Maila Nurmi in the figure of Dila Dubi. Like Quentin Tarantino, Bustos creates a pastiche out of these genre elements, mixing in Latin American mythology as well.
Bustos has a well-honed sense of place, and part of the fun is traveling all over Latin America (skipping back and forth in time along the way). The reader finds themselves in grimy dive bars, spooky cabarets and even rural UFO museums.
Overall, the prose is straightforward and enjoyable to read. The book will fare best with a translator who is familiar with horror tropes and references, and who also has some knowledge of Latin American folktales such as the Chupacabra. Because the book ranges freely across an entire continent, characters use a variety of regionalisms and forms of address. The different chapter formats will give the translator an opportunity to experiment with tone and voice throughout, and the playful chapter titles also present a fun challenge.
Monica Bustos is a Paraguayan writer (and, in her own words, “sideshow freak”) who published her first novel at the age of 19. She has since published several short stories and novels, and her second book, Chico Bizarro y las moscas, won the Premio Augusto Roa Bastos in 2010 Novela B was originally published in 2013 in Mexico, before being rereleased by Spanish publisher Obscura in 2020.
