If the fantasy and crime genres have one thing in common, it is their capacity for reflecting on our society through carefully-crafted barbed criticisms. It is therefore no great leap for two habitually realist or  mysterywriters to explore non-mimetic storytelling. Un desierto de hielo (Planeta), by Maite R. Ochotorena, is an eco-thriller that takes us directly to the icy plains of the Antarctic and the darkness of unfathomed trenches, combining addictive suspense with the exploration of current themes, such as criticising the exploitation of natural resources. By contrast, in Vrësno (Pez de Plata), Carolina Sarmiento tells the story of a remote town weighed down by a dark legend. The novel explores the frontier between reality and fiction, between what we want to believe and what we prefer to conceal, in an inner search and a statement pervaded by mystery, darkness and the attraction exercised by the wildest nature. The journalist and writer Álvaro Colomer will be moderating this conversation, which will reflect on the frontiers between genres, landscapes as narrative protagonists and the power and fascination that crime has on the minds of readers.

* Activity organised in collaboration with the BCNegra Festival.