A gripping and hilarious 1960s Mexico City noir
Only a couple of days before the state visit of the President of the United States, Filiberto García ― an impeccably groomed "gun for hire," ex-Mexican revolutionary, and classic anti-hero ― is recruited by the Mexican police to discover how much truth there might be to KGB and FBI reports of a Chinese-Mongolian plot to assassinate the Soviet and American presidents during the unveiling of a statue.
García kills various bad guys as he searches for clues in the opium dens, curio shops, and Cantonese restaurants of Mexico City’s Chinatown ― clues that appear to point not to Mongolia, but to Cuba. Yet as the bodies pile up, he begins to find traces of slimy political dealings: are local gears grinding away in these machinations of an "international incident"? Pulsating behind the smokescreen of this classic noir are fierce curses, a shockingly innocent affair,smoldering dialog, and unforgettable riffs about the meaning of life, the Mexican Revolution, women, and the best gun to use for close-range killing.

The Mongolian Conspiracy

Literature & Fiction

Bernal, Rafael

Literary

New Directions

Product Description 
Never before in English, this legendary precursor to eco-fiction turns the coming insect apocalypse on its head A bitter drunk forsakes civilization and takes to the Mexican jungle, trapping animals, selling their pelts to buy liquor for colossal benders, and slowly rotting away in his fetid hut. His neighbors, a clan of the Lacodón tribe of Chiapas, however, see something more in him than he does himself (dubbing him Wise Owl): when he falls deathly ill, a shaman named Black Ant saves his life―and, almost by chance, in driving out his fever, she exorcises the demon of alcoholism as well. Slowly recovering, weak in his hammock, our antihero discovers a curious thing about the mosquitoes’ buzzing, “which to human ears seemed so irritating and pointless.” Perhaps, in fact, it constituted a language he might learn―and with the help of a flute and a homemade dictionary―even speak. Slowly, he masters Mosquil, with astonishing consequences… Will he harness the mosquitoes’ global might? And will his new powers enable him to take over the world that’s rejected him? A book far ahead of its time, 
His Name Was Death looks down the double-barreled shotgun of ecological disaster and colonial exploitation―and cackles a graveyard laugh. 
 Review 
"Rafael Bernal's 
The Mongolian Conspiracy, written in 1969, is a masterful work of hilarity and noir. Compelling and full of wit, this is a detective story with a cast of memorable characters, delicious Mexican profanities and sharp, well-placed dialogue." 
 ― 
Juan Vidal, NPR\n"This is the first novel by Bernal, who died in 1972 at 57, to be translated into English... at once complex, chilling and slapstick, is a doozy." 
 ― 
John Williams, New York Times\n"The pervading sense of personal and social oblivion becomes increasingly bracing. It’s like 
Apocalypse Now with mosquitos, and surprisingly it works." 
 ― 
Publishers Weekly\n"In 1947, Bernal published one of Mexico’s pathbreaking sci-fi novels: 
His Name Was Death. Set among the Lacandón indigenous people in the country’s southern rainforests, it depicts a universe ruled by hyper-intelligent mosquitoes who farm the human race as a food source...Bernal’s work can be pulpy, and reactionary, but it’s also clever in the way it encourages critical reading. He possessed a rare ability to assume a perspective and examine it at the same time―and he expected his readers to do the same." 
 ― 
Max Pearl, The Baffler 
 About the Author 
Rafael Bernal (1915-1972) was a Mexican diplomat and novelist, best known for his crime novels, including 
The Mongolian Conspiracy (New Directions).\nThe poet ( 
Pierrot's Fingernails), translator, and book designer 
Kit Schluter (born in Boston in 1989) lives in Mexico City. His acclaimed translations from the French, Occitan, and Spanish include books by Olivia Tapiero, Anne Kawala, Jaime Saenz, Michel Surya and Marcel Schwob.

His Name was Death

Filiberto García, típico matón y antiguo verdugo de un general villista, tiene que terciar con el FBI y la KGB para desmantelar una intriga contra la paz mundial que se anida en las calles de Dolores de la Ciudad de México, el acriollado y mediocre barrio chino de la capital del país. Entre las tiendas de curiosidades y los restaurantes de comida cantonesa, detrás de los fumaderos de opio y los cafés de chinos, Filiberto García va descubriendo que la conspiración –aparentemente iniciada en Mongolia– tiene más relación con los vaivenes y amarguras de la política nacional que con las mafias orientales. Sin embargo, en su tortuoso camino deja atrás una docena de cadáveres y un amor trágico que, finalmente, acabarán revelando al vulgar asesino el verdadero significado de su vida. Considerada una de las piezas clave en la novela negra mexicana.

El complot mongol (Spanish Edition)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Planeta Publishing

El complot mongol / The mongolian plot (Tezontle) (Spanish Edition)

History & Criticism

Fondo De Cultura Economica USA

El complot mongol

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Libros del Asteroide

Su nombre era muerte (Spanish Edition)

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