Miguel Puente Molins, “Caries” [Tooth Decay] (2010)

Born in Vigo in 1976, Miguel Puente Molins has so far published one novel and many short stories. The novel, called De dioses y hombres is described as a supernatural thriller, in which an evil Sumerian god is living incognito in Madrid. Puente Molins is a member of the Nocte collective of Spanish writers of horror fiction and, rather than showing a special interest in vampires, prefers subject matter that ranges quite widely across the horror category, sometimes crossing over into science fiction. Light in tone, with amusing repartee between the characters and a flippant narrative voice that alternates between the two opposing characters’ perspectives, this story is about a vampire named Fernando who goes to the dentist, a middle-aged man called Pedro. Despite the absence of characters who are sexually desirable to each other, the brutality between the two characters is presented in the unequivocally gendered framework of a machista power struggle in several rounds.