Las voladoras

Las voladoras (English: The Flying Women) is a book of short stories by Ecuadorian writer Mónica Ojeda, published for the first time in 2020 by publishing house Páginas de Espuma. The book is composed of eight stories that take place in Andean settings which are marked by mysticism, violence, ancestral rites, and horror, in a style that the author herself defined as Andean gothic. Some of the themes she addresses include: feminicides, domestic violence, grief, child abuse, forbidden love, and abortion, among others.

The book was well received by critics and was included in several lists of the best books of 2020. Moreover, it was a finalist for the Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero and the Premio Finestres literary awards.

The title Las voladoras comes from the first story in the book, which in turn is based on a myth from the town of Mira, in Carchi Province, Ecuador. The people of Mira believe that women go into a magical trance during the night, go up to the roofs of their houses, spread honey on their underarms, and start to fly, all of this without having any memory whatsoever of these events the morning after.

Contents
Seven of the eight stories in the book had never been published before. The eighth, Caninos (short story), was originally published in 2017. The stories are the following:

Writing and themes
According to Ojeda, the original idea for the book was born out of a creative curiosity for the possibilities that short stories could offer, as a result of the publication of Caninos (short story) in 2017. In turn, this gave her the notion to write a book in which each story was connected organically through the same general idea, which the author decided would be the Andean gothic genre. This term reached Ojeda through Ecuadorian academic Álvaro Alemán, who had mentioned it years before in a conference of Ecuadorian scholars. Since there had not been any academic theorizing on the concept at that time, Ojeda was able to freely explore in her book the idea of the Andean gothic genre, which she later defined as un tipo de literatura que trabaja la violencia (y por tanto el miedo) generada en una zona geográfica específica: la Cordillera de los Andes, con todas sus narraciones, mitos, símbolos y su desnuda contemporaneidad. As in some of her previous works, the general themes she chose for the book include fear, horror, and violence.

Ojeda wrote the book during a three-month period from her residence in Madrid. This first draft was completed in December 2019 and sent to the literary competition Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero, which included it among its finalists in February 2020. In the following months, Ojeda worked on polishing the book, a process that coincided with the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the stories in the book include legends from the oral tradition of the Andean peoples, specifically in stories like Las voladoras (which includes the creatures of the same name that are native to the town of Mira, in Carchi Province), Cabeza voladora (which mentions the witches known as umas), and to a lesser extent in Soroche (which makes a reference to the myth of the suicidal condor). Apart from these legends, some stories were inspired by other authors or by reports in the crime section of newspapers. The idea for Cabeza voladora, for instance, was born when Ojeda found out about a feminicide that took place in Ecuador, in which a woman had been beheaded. This incident coincided with her readings about the umas and their ability to willingly detach their own heads. In El mundo de arriba y el mundo de abajo, Ojeda sought to write a story in the manner of an incantation, reminiscent of the poem Weeping for Pedro Jara, by Ecuadorian poet Efraín Jara Idrovo. Terremoto, which the author referred to as a "story-poem," was inspired by the writings of Canadian poet Anne Carson.

Reception
The book was very well received by critics. Before it was published, Ojeda sent the manuscript for the book with the title El mundo de arriba y el mundo de abajo to participate in the 2020 version of the literary competition Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero, in which it finished among five finalists out of 1,079 entries. Afterwards, it finished among the three finalists of the 2021 version of literary award Premio Finestres de Narrativa. Media outlets and cultural magazines such as El País, El Mundo, The New York Times, and Culturamas included it in their lists of the best books of 2020.

The review by newspaper El Periódico de Catalunya, written by Ricardo Baixeras, praised the book, referring to it as un libro de una contundencia asombrosa, conformado por una estética unitaria en unos relatos que respiran un mismo aire lingüístico. Claudia Sterling, from digital outlet Pulzo, was even more complimentary, praising in particular the use of the horror genre in the book, to which she referred as a whole, thusly: [un] verdadero tesoro de la literatura latinoamericana, made up of relatos sublimes que nos reconectan con la naturaleza, los mitos y el Universo. On his part, Ecuadorian writer Eduardo Varas highlighted the strength of the language used by Ojeda, the thematic unity of the work, and its exploration of horror and grief.

Spanish writer Marta Sanz, in a review written for El País, remarked on Soroche and Caninos (short story), referring to them as "excelentes cuentos (...) que invitan a taparse los ojos con la mano. Y dan calambre", apart from referring to Ojeda as a "sabia escritora de ambición telúrica". In an analysis published in magazine Amazing Stories, academic Iván Rodrigo Mendizábal referred to El mundo de arriba y el mundo de abajo as the esencial story in the book, an opinion shared by José Miguel Giráldez, from El Correo Gallego, who also singled out this story as his favorite and referred to the book as a whole as [un] libro coherente y brutal. In an interview, Ojeda herself said that El mundo de arriba y el mundo de abajo was her favorite story in the book.