After his surprising literary debut, Otras nubes, otras lluvias (2015), Gabriel Quindós takes up again in Caminos desiertos, cielos cercanos the challenge of mixing two genres—short-stories and travel literature—that constitutes his particular way of telling the places he visits. Composed of nine fictional stories that take place in today's Bolivia, this volume reflects on the natural and human diversity of this country, as unique as it is little known. The desolate landscapes of the Altiplano, the lush tropical forests, or the rivers of the Amazon are some of the settings that frame Quindós' stories, whose depth and ambition bring them closer to the territories of the short novel. Smugglers, coca growers, gold seekers, artisans from mission villages, traffickers of protected species, miners from Cerro Rico, high altitude winemakers, antique dealers, or rich and enlightened landowners parade through them. Quindós displays his talent as a storyteller to immerse us in exciting stories of dignity and defeat, of the struggle for life or of impossible loves, and he sets his gaze on those who, with the wind against them, seek their place on the margins of the world.
