An American girl dreams of soccer and Mardi Gras while her Nigerian parents wait for their green cards; an organic seed distributor entraps an errant lover with a replica pre-Columbian Aztec artefact bought in Chicago; an instrument-gardener harvests the sound of a dead woman; a matchmaker faces failure unless she s prepared to offer herself; an English girl finds herself adrift in a Welsh summer camp; a blind beggar scrambles for change at a South American crossroads, and a Moroccan mother wonders if her son is really a saint. The stories in x-24 transcend location, nationality, reality and time; disconcerting at times for their sheer irreverence, each tale has that quality of rare insight that makes for compelling reading.
NIKI AGUIRRE is a London based fiction writer. She was born in the US and has lived in Ecuador, Spain and the UK. She studied English Literature at the University of Illinois and holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of London.
Niki is the recipient of the Birkbeck Outstanding Achievement Award for Creative Fiction and a grant from the Arts Council England. Her stories have appeared in various anthologies and publications, including Tell Tales, LITRO and Pen International Magazine.
Her first book, 29 Ways to Drown (2007), was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor Award.
Terminal Romance, Niki's second collection of stories, is due out in 2011.
For more about Niki Aguirre visit: http://www.nikiaguirre.com
