El Antifaz Mágico y otros relatos
Subtitle: Gonzalo Vélez Jahn
Publisher: Editorial Fortresor
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Caracas, Venezuela
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 166
Table of contents: title: 'The Magic Mask' was first published in 1997 in a limited edition, copies of which have gone to exotic corners of the globe.  The first page bears the inscription: "To my beloved family, to the mysterious wonder of the future and the past and the whimsical fruits of my imagination." Excerpt from the preface, reprinted by permission of the author: "Dear Readers: With this handful of stories I sought to enter, for the first time, in the realm of science fantasy, to which I have been romantically linked since my early days of reading. These are seventeen doors of the imagination - seventeen thresholds that, when transposed, invite us by different paths to share the magic of its content. From the unpredictable result of a human error during a journey into the past, where a second mistake occurs, the shattering impact of a destructive virus that lurks in '... Hemotrónico', the unexpected outcome of a placid zeppelin flight in the middle of the crossing, the very beautiful fable of the Anti-Lion (my favorite story); the gelid purity of a film production in "Winter Symphony" and the longing for the irretrievable past contained in the fragile grail of the Virtual Purple Rose .... And that is only the beginning! We will also venture into a remote beach on a moonless night in the footsteps of the spectral surfer of Sol Mojado; share the bizarre story of Carlitos, the terrible and his adventure in cyberspace; experience the desperate struggle for survival of The Binhexed, a handful of prisoners who dared to try to escape into the unknown. {...} We may behold the dawn of a special kind of cyber ethics and its implications for the age of robotics and telepresence, through the tragic and inexorable fate of The Damned. There we shall witness, in droves, the sudden awakening of a lost traveler in the world of endless rain, the surprising sublimation of the existence of a hero in the Rescue; the pathetic and poetic experience in a remote island of grain and balmy breezes blondes and ungrateful people in the Tall Goddess of the Lean Hill; a new approach to the famous admired story of Lord Dunsany, which I call the Third Joke, and all the unforgettable charm of Venice, which lies facing the Adriatic, voluptuous as a large cat that looks at the infinite, and the fantastic episode of Magic Mask. For a finale, the apocalyptic outcome of the very talented Emperor of the Virtual and his ephemeral world in the haunting final story of 'The Kiss of the Fatta Morgana'. There is plenty of virtual reality in this group of stories, as this has been the raw material that enabled me to build the bridge through which revenues collected from the realm where past and future coexist in a harmonious experience. But be warned! I believe that the edges of this emerging technology have dramatically softened by the contents of the human message which contains the narrative they support. I have placed these stories at rest for several months and then read them again with a greater degree of objectivity, and still managed to find them motivating. Now it is time to share them with you. I invite you therefore to join me in an unforgettable and fantastic trip that takes you away from your daily concerns and where together we shall navigate the different experiences ahead. If when you close these pages you do so with an inner smile reflecting the satisfaction of time well spent reading, that will be sufficient reward for me."; title: On September 10, 1997, El Universal published this brief literary review:; title: "A virtual book; title: The Magic Mask; title: A society of late century deserves century stories of the late century. This seems to be the premise of Gonzalo Velez Jahn, whose work 'The Magic Mask and Other Stories', first edition, is a collection of seventeen short stories, written with simplicity, addressed to a reader eager to explore new paths, walking hand in hand imagination and originality. At times romantic, and sometimes less classical style, the book keeps a fine mood, exploring an area that the author has dubbed 'science-fantasy '."; title: List of stories in this collection:; title: EL ANTIFAZ MAGICO; title: SEGUNDA EQUIVOCACION; title: ¡HEMOTRONICO...!; title: LA TRAVESIA; title: EL ANTI-LEON; title: SINFONIA INVERNAL; title: LA ROSA PURPURA VIRTUAL; title: EL SURFISTA VIRTUAL DE "SOL MOJADO".; title: ¡ CARLITOS EN EL CIBERESPACIO...!; title: LOS BINHEXIADOS; title: EL CONDENADO; title: VIAJERO EN LA LLUVIA; title: EL RESCATE; title: LA DIOSA ALTA DE LA COLINA ESBELTA; title: EL TERCER CHISTE; title: EL BESO DEL HADA MORGANA