Giuseppe Guarino 
Sicilian Tales of Mystery and Imagination 

My father had a massive library that was full of all kinds of books – from mystery books and science-fiction to history and university textbooks. I was very young when I read my first novel, which was a science-fiction book. Although I enjoyed reading both fiction and non-fiction, my favorite book was a collection of tales by Edgar Allan Poe. Even today, that book holds a special place in my library, with its excellent Italian translation. I fell in love with Poe’s unique way of telling stories.

As a teenager, I dreamed of becoming a writer, so I started writing myself. Due to my reading preferences, I imitated Poe’s style and genre, but the results were disastrous. However, I knew I had to start somewhere.

Between 1982 and 1986, I wrote numerous short stories and other writings, but I threw everything away in the 1990s. Gradually, the quality of my writing improved, and while I was no longer interested in writing tales or novels, I considered them a good exercise to enhance my writing skills.

In this book, you will find some decent tales that I wrote between 1986 and 2006. The Italian atmosphere will be apparent to the reader. Some of my writings are heavily influenced by my culture and mother tongue, and I hope that my readers will be patient and curious about the complexities of the Sicilian culture.

'The Bar’ is a tale that requires the reader to understand that an Italian bar is similar to a coffee shop. In Sicily, people go there to have espresso, cappuccino, and also typical Sicilian food and sweets.

Translating the tales was not an easy task. My Italian is characterized by long, rhetorical sentences, and my sense of humor is often obscure to my Sicilian friends. You will find it hidden behind many apparently innocent sentences, but I promise you, it’s there.

In any case, I hope you enjoy reading my tales as much as I enjoyed writing them.