A selection of stories from a reading at the\u00a0Brixton Book Jam in March 2015<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A little bonus from the Anguilla launch of the collection<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F209349643&show_artwork=true&maxwidth=500&maxheight=750\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>And the transcripts of these and a few other stories:<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<div class=\"ecxMsoNormal\" align=\"center\">\n<p><strong><u><span lang=\"ES-VE\">El or\u00e1culo<\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ecxMsoNormal\">\n<p><span lang=\"ES-VE\">Se acerca el momento de la partida y, con ella, una nueva interacci\u00f3n banal. La cortes\u00eda, en exceso, tambi\u00e9n es repulsiva.\u00a0<i>Hasta luego\u00a0\u2013<\/i><\/span><i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">un placer\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i><i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">mucho gusto\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i><i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">que aproveche\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">y, de pronto, de la nada, imprevisto, casi indiscreto, con un timbre diferente, acaso sincero, un verbo sacado de alguna profundidad humana\u00a0\u2013<\/span><i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">que tenga \u00e9xito<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"ES-VE\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ecxMsoNormal\">\n<p><span lang=\"ES-VE\">Quise voltear a examinar los ojos grises que acompa\u00f1aban a aquellas palabras.\u00a0<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\">Desist\u00ed, por temor a defraudarme.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>The Oracle<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The time to depart nears and with it the danger of renewed banality. Courtesy, in large doses, also becomes nauseating.\u00a0<em>Nice to meet you<\/em>\u2014<em>see you later<\/em>\u2014<em>my pleasure<\/em>\u2014<em>enjoy<\/em>\u2014and suddenly, uninvited, almost indiscreet, a verb spoken with a different tone of voice\u2014perhaps a truthful one\u2014surfaced from the depth of human sentiment\u2014<em>I wish you every success<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>I meant to\u00a0turn to scrutinise the grey eyes that accompanied those words.\u00a0I refrained, for fear of disillusion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>The Stranger<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0A glance, a light touch and her lingering scent penetrates my senses.<\/p>\n<p>Parallel lines meet in the distance. Opposite paths cross each other, eyes meet eyes, gazes lock and in an instant she walks past.<\/p>\n<p>The next sighting is less governed by chance. Her predictable steps place her within my reach again. But I recognise an element of intrusiveness in the situation, and the fun is spoiled.<\/p>\n<p>I see her disappear in the haze, the beautiful stranger I allowed to walk away, unharmed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>La extra\u00f1a<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Una mirada, un roce, y su aroma penetra mis sentidos.<\/p>\n<p>Dos l\u00edneas paralelas se juntan en la distancia. Se entrecruzan caminos opuestos, se encuentran miradas y, tras un intercambio fugaz, ella pasa de largo.<\/p>\n<p>La siguiente ocasi\u00f3n le debe menos a la fortuna. Sus predecibles pasos la han vuelto a poner al alcance de mi mano. Pero percibo un toque invasivo en la situaci\u00f3n, y desvanece el encanto.<\/p>\n<p>La veo desaparecer entre la bruma, la hermosa extra\u00f1a a la que he permitido escapar, ilesa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>In flagrante<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Su pierna derecha sobre mi hombro izquierdo.<\/p>\n<p>Su espalda descansando en el ancho list\u00f3n de madera.<\/p>\n<p>Su cabeza contra la columna de piedra.<\/p>\n<p>A mi izquierda un mes\u00f3n con moluscos, una botella a medio beber.<\/p>\n<p>A mi derecha el contraste del mar turquesa sobre el blanco de la arena.<\/p>\n<p>En la distancia un caminante incauto y los aullidos de un perro extraviado que se confunden con el jadeo compartido del amor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>In Flagrante<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Her right leg over my left shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>Her back resting on the wide wooden board.<\/p>\n<p>Her head against the stone column.<\/p>\n<p>To my left, a bottle halfway through, shellfish on a table.<\/p>\n<p>To my right, the contrast of the turquoise sea on the white sand.<\/p>\n<p>In the distance an unaware recreationist and the howling of a lost dog that blends into the shared panting of love making.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ecxx_ecxMsoNormal\" align=\"center\">\n<p><strong><u>Two Lovers<\/u><u><br \/>\n<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ecxx_ecxMsoNormal\">\n<p>Despite each other, their lips parted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ecxx_ecxMsoNormal\" align=\"center\">\n<p><strong><u>Dos amantes<\/u><u><br \/>\n<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ecxx_ecxMsoNormal\">\n<p>Sus labios se separaron, a pesar de ellos.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>Tres son multitud<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Sin mirar atr\u00e1s, abord\u00f3 su vuelo, se alej\u00f3 de ella.<\/p>\n<p>Ella nunca descubri\u00f3 en su ansiado beso cu\u00e1n cerca hab\u00eda estado de perderlo.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><u>Three Is a Crowd<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Without looking back, he boarded his flight, left her behind.<\/p>\n<p>She never discovered in his longed-for kiss how close she had been to losing him.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p><em>The bilingual magazine\u00a0<\/em>ViceVersa\u00a0<em>published four pieces: “The Stranger”, “<a href=\"https:\/\/memofromlalaland.wordpress.com\/2016\/01\/07\/mid-atlantic-from-bellow-with-love\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mid-Atlantic<\/a>“, “The Blonde at Arrivals” and “Back to Work” in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viceversa-mag.com\/creative-writing-the-stranger\/\" target=\"_blank\">English<\/a>\u00a0and “La extra\u00f1a”, “En medio del Atl\u00e1ntico”, “La rubia de Llegadas” and “De vuelta al trabajo” in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.viceversa-mag.com\/the-stranger-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Spanish<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Venezuelan\u00a0<\/em><em>online magazine\u00a0<\/em>Ficci\u00f3n Breve\u00a0<em>published\u00a0<\/em>“<a href=\"http:\/\/ficcionbreve.org\/el-mendigo-de-montague-kobbe\/\" target=\"_blank\">El mendigo<\/a>“.<\/p>\n<p><em>The literary supplement of Venezuela’s <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.el-nacional.com\/papel_literario\/Minificcion-jueves-Montague-Kobbe_0_640136228.html\" target=\"_blank\">El Nacional<\/a> <em>newspaper published transcripts of “Epifan\u00eda”, “M\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la ventanilla”, “La ruptura”, “Falsa alarma”, “El terrorista”, “En la intimidad”, “De vuelta al trabajo”, “Otro cafecito” and “Una vida compartida” on its edition of Thursday June 4, 2015, available online here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Venezuelan\u00a0<\/em><em>online magazine\u00a0Letralia<\/em>\u00a0<em>published\u00a0<\/em>“<a href=\"https:\/\/memofromlalaland.wordpress.com\/2009\/12\/26\/un-amor-perfecto\/\" target=\"_blank\">Un amor perfecto<\/a>“.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p>Want more? Read\u00a0additional material on <a href=\"\/?page_id=154\">B-SIDES<\/a>, or explore\u00a0the\u00a0<a href=\"\/?page_id=115\">COVERS<\/a>\u00a0we considered and discarded before publishing the book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A selection of stories from a reading at the\u00a0Brixton Book Jam in March 2015 A little bonus from the Anguilla launch of the collection And the transcripts of these and a few other stories: El or\u00e1culo Se acerca el momento de la partida y, con ella, una nueva interacci\u00f3n banal. La cortes\u00eda, en <a href=\"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/books\/tales-of-bed-sheets-and-departure-lounges\/playlist\/\" class=\"more-link\">[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147,"parent":14,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5436,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/130\/revisions\/5436"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montaguekobbe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}