Posted on 10/17/2021 5:06:32 PM PDT by Trillian
She's gripped Spain with her ultra-violent crime thrillers and was regarded by critics as the country's answer to Italy's reclusive novelist Elena Ferrante.
But now Carmen Mola has revealed her most stunning plot twist: she doesn't exist, and her books are penned by three middle-aged men.
On Friday night the €1million Planeta prize was awarded to Mola, an author who until now had been presented as a female university professor writing under a pen name so she could remain anonymous.
But when the main prize at the ceremony was announced in the presence of King Felipe VI in Barcelona, three men stepped up to the podium - throwing the literary world into a state of confusion.
Agustín Martínez, Jorge Díaz and Antonio Mercero published novels and worked as scriptwriters under their real names before writing as Mola. Credits include work on TV series Central Hospital and Blind Date.
Their lead character in the Mola novels is detective Elena Blanco, a police inspector with a fondness for karaoke, grappa and casual sex, according to publisher Penguin Random House.
The men, all in their 40s and 50s, denied choosing a female pseudonym to help sell the books. Mercero told Spanish newspaper El País. 'I don't know if a female pseudonym would sell more than a male one, I don't have the faintest idea, but I doubt it.'
They previously claimed in interviews that Mola was a professor in her late 40s, telling Spanish ABC newspaper three years ago they needed anonymity to 'protect a settled life that has nothing to do with literature'.
The books have sold more than 200,000 copies, been translated into eleven languages and are being adapted for television by Endemol Shine and ViacomCBS International Studios.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Why not, when in the US, all men are women by merely saying they are.
*snicker*
Har har har...
Let the wailing and kvetching of the snowflake segment of Mola’s fan-base begin.
And when asked how they write women so well, they replied, “I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.”.
Would have been more awesome if they were written by 3 men and a baby.
opposite of the theme behind the old "Remington Steel" show where a very good female private detective couldn't get any business until she changed the name of her company to a male name....Remington.
Carmen, meet Ellery.
Ellery, meet Carmen.
(Ellery was only two guys, though).
Brilliant. Good for them.
I still can see that scene in my mind.
Yeah, Ellery Queen was the first non-person I thought of after reading the title. Today’s culture is so into identity politics authors should just do multiple layered pen names and completely cover their potential readership base from every conceivable gender fluid angle.
Freegards
Women buy more books than men, especially in mystery category. This is probably why they chose a female pen name.
Actually police procedurals sell better if they are written by men, cozys sell better if they are written by women.
The reverse of George Eliot, the 19th-century British writer, whose novels were written by a woman.
Elena Ferrante also doesn’t exist. My money is on Domenico Standone whose wite has Translated (supposedly) Ferrnate’s books. He’s a prize winning author himself and after reading a couple of his books, I’m sure he’s Elena.
With the world-wide war on white men, I can see why they want to be known as women. Of course some may actually be trans persons too.
I liked the series.
They couldn’t get past the gatekeepers.
I don’t know if cozys are romance novels, but I do know Stacy Abrams used to write them and she could very well be three men, maybe five.
I don’t know if cozys are romance novels, but I do know Stacy Abrams used to write them and she could very well be three men, maybe five.
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