The short story « Porté Disparu » is astonishing and captivating. It will bring you in a chess game of which Aurelien, the main character, could be the loser.

Today, I want to present to you one of my favorite « book discovery » of March 2018: the short story « Porté Disparu ». In addition, you will discover in this article it’s talented author, Eva Dézulier, thanks to an interview where she will make you want to discover her world.

This short story is only available in French.

---

+ Genre: Thriller / Supernaturel
+ Release date: February 21, 2018
+ Number of pages: 25 pages
+ Price on Amazon: 1 euro  (Kindle version)

---

The short story « Porté Disparu »

 

1/ Book summary …

Aurélien is on his way to join his grandmother near Lake Constance. During his journey by train, he is approached by a stranger who tells him the purpose of his trip: he’s investigating the mysterious disappearance of a man whose looks like his doppelganger, so much so that he has already been arrested four times by the police after the alert of a witness. Enthusiast by this puzzle, Aurélien abandons on a whim Lake of Constance and his grandmother to follow this stranger in a strange adventure that he is not about to forget.

2/ My review …

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of short stories. I find that they are often rather superficial and do not hold my interest. But « Porté Disparu » surprised me by its twists.

I was blown away by this short story which in 25 pages managed to fascinate me.

While reading it, I found myself with Aurélien going through the events that will change his life. The pen is pleasant to read and the plot is well written. I especially liked the mix of thriller genre and supernatural genre (my two favorite genres). The structure of the story is like a game of chess, which makes it all the more captivating.

The characters are very well written, the plot is surprising and the end makes you shiver (personally I love this feeling at the end of a book, it means it is successful).

I strongly encourage you to discover this short story if you can read french. She is great and she reads quickly. If you love thrillers, « Porté Disparu » is for you.

3/ My rating …

 

Interview of Eva Dézulier

 

1 / Eva, can you introduce yourself in a few words?

Young author of 28 years, I live in Loire with my companion and my son of seven months. I write short stories, poems and novels. I am also a French teacher in a high school.

2 / What made you want to write?

This is a surprisingly difficult question. I do not know exactly. I wanted to give body to these stories, these images, these characters, who parade in my dreams. I wanted to put words on this imaginary, that one only sees when one is at rest or when one is bored. In our daily life, our mind is constantly occupied by something else, turned towards the outside. The idea was undoubtedly to tame it: the dream, the imaginary, it is a part of strangeness in ourselves. Writing allows us to discover these obsessions that inhabit us.

3 / When did you start writing?

I think I’ve always written since I learned to do it. I started with poetry. But my texts still had something narrative. Even in a poem, I tend to tell a story. As a teenager, I turned to the novel: I initiated many projects, all unfinished.

During my studies of letters, in preparatory class then at the ENS of Lyon, I totally stopped writing. At that time, I read a lot. I was studying and I did not feel ready to really get started.

It was not until 2015 that I started writing again, with one rule: I finish everything I start. Since then, I have published some short stories and poems, from various publishers, in anthologies and magazines. Then there was « Porté Disparu », published by Editions Inspire: this is my last text to date and that allowed me to get to know this blog!

4 / How did you get the idea for this short story? Aurélien’s character? Why the Black Forest? The place of chess in your story?

In fact, this story came to me from a real dream! It was incredibly sharp and very consistent: there was even a fall! All the work consisted in transcribing with the right words the impression he had left me. So I looked for a place that would look like the dream. The Black Forest pleased me, first of all because of the strong potential of dreaming that I find in this name. The discovery of the Schwarzwaldbahn, the train that crosses this forest through 39 tunnels, has ended up convincing me to locate my plot: the story begins between light and darkness, so anything can happen.

The idea of ​​a chess game came to me later. I always do a lot of research to feed my writing, even if all the information is not found in the texts, and I discovered by chance the « fairy chess ». The name of the game immediately aroused my imagination! When I learned the precise rules, I had the idea to organize the whole plot as a « fairy chess » game.

5 / Do you have any tips for young writers?

I am a young author: I need advice!

6 / What are your next projects?

I’m working on two texts right now. The first is a science fiction novel (a space saga).

I am also finishing an adventure novel for a young adult audience. I have a special attachment to young adult’s literature. I like it’s freedom and vivacity. There is never an educational purpose in my youth stories, on the contrary, I privilege the freedom to dream.

 

---

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it made you want to discover the short story « Porté Disparu ». In any case, I thank Eva Dézulier for giving me this interview 🙂 

Anna

---