- Valerio Evangelisti
Valerio Evangelisti (born
June 20 ,1952 ) is one of the most popular Italian writers ofscience fiction ,fantasy and horror. He is known mainly for his series of novels featuring the inquistor Nicolas Eymerich and for theNostradamus trilogy, all bestsellers translated into many languages.Biography
Evangelisti earned his degree in Political Science in 1976 with a historical-political thesis. He was born in
Bologna , where he currently lives; he spends some time each year inPuerto Escondido, Oaxaca ,Mexico , where he owns a house.Until 1990 his career was mainly academic. He also worked for the Italian Ministero delle Finanze (Treasury Department). His first written works were historical essays, including five books and some forty articles. In 1993 his novel "Nicolas Eymerich, inquisitore" won the
Urania Award , which was established by "Urania",Italy ’s mainscience fiction magazine, with the aim of discovering new talent in the field. Urania published other novels of the series in the following years: "Le catene di Eymerich" ("Eymerich’s Chains", 1995), "Il corpo e il sangue di Eymerich" ("Eymerich’s Body and Blood", 1996), "Il mistero dell'inquisitore Eymerich" ("Eymerich’s Mystery", 1996), "Cherudek" (1997), "Picatrix, la scala per l'inferno" ("Picatrix, the Stairway to Hell", 1998), "Il castello di Eymerich" ("Eymerich’s Castle", 2001), "Mater terribilis" (2002). Most of the last ones were however first published as hardcover.Nicolas Eymerich is a real historical character, member of the order of the Dominicans and inquisitor in the
Spanish Inquisition . He was born in 1320 inGerona ,Catalonia , and died in 1399. Evangelisti’s interpretation of his character is a cruel, ruthless, haughty, restless man, who acts mercilessly to protect theCatholic Church against perceived menaces of natural or supernatural origin. At the same time he shows an outstanding intelligence and a deep culture in his actions. In the novels of the series he investigates the mysterious phenomena of MedievalEurope , thus subtly influencing many of the historical events of that epoch; on many occasions the solution of the riddles comes up from stories which are narrated along with the main plot, normally set in the present and in the future. Evangelisti's atmospheres are normally dark, nightmarish, haunting.Another success of 1999, also translated in several languages, is the "Magus" trilogy, a romanticized biography of the famous
Middle Ages prophecies writerNostradamus . The three novels, "Il presagio" ("The Omen"), "L’inganno" ("The Deceit") and "L'abisso" ("The Abyss") sold 100,000 copies inItaly .Evangelisti's novels are greatly appreciated in
France (where he won several literary awards),Spain ,Germany andPortugal . He is currently the director of the "Carmilla" magazine. In the last years he has written some works which show his love forheavy metal music , namely the short stories collection "Metallo urlante" (referring to the French magazine "Metal Hurlant ") and the novels "Black Flag" and "Antracite": they are set during theAmerican Civil War and feature a new character,Pantera , a "palero" shaman. One of his latest novels, "Noi saremo tutto" ("We Shall Be All"), spans several decades of last century, exploring the life of Eddie Florio, a gangster, connected with the history of the trade unions and the workers' battles for civil rights.Mexico is the setting for his next two novels, "Il collare di fuoco" ("The Fire Collar"), which has been published in November 2005 and "Il collare spezzato" ("The Broken Collar", October 2006).
His latest novel is "La luce di Orione", the ninth title in the Eymerich series.
Main works
Historical essays
*"Storia del partito socialista rivoluzionario 1881-1893" (1981), Cappelli, Bologna
*"Il galletto rosso, precariato e conflitto di classe in Emilia Romagna 1880-1890" with Salvatore Sechi, (1982), Marsilio, Venezia
*"Sinistre eretiche, dalla banda Bonnot al Sandinismo, 1905-1984" (1985),SugarCo , Milano
*"Gallerie nel presente. Punk, Snuffs, Contras: tre studi di storia simultanea' (1988), Lacaita, Bari
*"Gli sbirri alla lanterna: la plebe giacobina bolognese dall'anno I all'anno V (1792-1797)" (1991), Bold Machine, BolognaEymerich series
*"
Nicolas Eymerich inquisitore " (1994)
*"Le catene di Eymerich " (1995)
*"Il corpo e il sangue di Eymerich " (1996)
*"Il mistero dell'inquisitore Eymerich " (1996)
*"Cherudek " (1997)
*"Picatrix, la scala per l'inferno " (1998)
*"Il castello di Eymerich " (2001)
*"Mater Terribilis " (2002)
*"La luce di Orione " (2007)Metal Hurlant series
*"Metallo urlante" (1998)
*"Black Flag" (2002)
*"Antracite" (2003)Nostradamus Trilogy
*"Magus: Il Presagio" (1999)
*"Magus. L'Inganno" (1999)
*"Magus: L'Abisso" (1999)
*"Magus: Il Romanzo di Nostradamus" (2000)Other novels
*"Gocce nere",
*"Noi saremo tutto" (2004)
*"Il collare di fuoco" (2005)
*"Il collare spezzato" (2006)Comics
*"La furia di Eymerich", (2003 – art by
Francesco Mattioli )
*"Nicolas Eymerich inquisitore" (2003 – art byDavid Sala )With Others
*"Controinsurrezioni" ( [2008] ), with
Antonio Moresco .See also
*
Cesare Battisti (1954-) External links
* [http://www.eymerich.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.carmillaonline.com/ Carmilla, the magazine directed by Evangelisti]
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