Who’s Next – Massimo Soumaré

I’ve been knowing Massimo Soumarè – who I sometimes call Max, sometimes Soumarek the Stygian – for about twenty years now.

We never went to school together.
We never lived on the same street or in the same block.
We never did the same job – if not in the most loose sense (we both teach, write, translate).
We never dated the same girl – as far as I know, that is.

Quite simply, we have interests in common – many of them: literature, imaginative fiction in particular, history, the East and Japan in the specific, comics, movies…

Now Max is an ace Japanese teacher and translator.
Best in the biz.
He’s the man responsible for Alia Japan, a contact powerhouse and a hard man to match.

We sort of play Fafhrd & Gray Mouser in the Italian literary underworld.
He’s the Mouser.

When it comes to writing, you won’t find an author more different from me than Max.
Sure, each and every writer on this anthology is a true original, but some point in common can always be found.
But Max and me?
No.
Different style, different themes, different techniques, different pace and rhythm, different approach to writing, different “school”, different “voice”.

And what’s Max’s entry in our anthology?
An alternate history, a historical fantasy, with strong ties to actual facts and half a page of references.
Just like mine.
Damn.

We’ll better place a few stories between our titles.
We don’t want to bore the readers.

Not that boredom is an issue with Max’s story – which is short and sweet and athmospheric, and is called Il Sogno del Nord.

Northern Dream.

But Northern Dream was a 1971 Bill Nelson record.
Hell, another title to rework….