Lluenta (s. f.)
An untranslatable Catalan adjective evoking shine and delicate luminosity, often associated with moisture, dew, or rain sparkling in the sunlight, with a nuance of freshness and lightness.
Lluenta—a poetic, feminine Catalan word without direct equivalent—suggests the ephemeral beauty of dew or rain caught in the light. From this image, Marta Gustems’ short story collection unfolds, tracing the ways desire and eroticism surface in passing moments: a glance, a party, the shimmer of water.
Like fragments of a shattered mirror, the stories in Shiny form a carefully constructed mosaic of voices, perspectives, and textures. Moving between the dreamlike and the raw, between pleasure and fear, between initiation and maturity, they reveal a precise attention to language and narrative form. Each piece refracts intimacy and desire through a distinct lens, shaped by a deliberate structure and a sensuous, playful use of language. Eroticism appears everywhere: in a play, a film, a diary, a journey, a party, a tattoo, a story, a memory, a dream—even on the cover of a book.
The boys watched with intense curiosity and tension at the zipper. She only thought about being in a blue lake and a blue sky and being all blue herself, calm and tranquil blue, leaning towards turquoise, sliding into the water and letting herself go.
The girl took a deep breath, trying not to think about atomic zippers, snake tongues, card games, or slippery hands. She looked at the round, pale face in the pool, not hers, mine. She positioned herself at the very tip of the edge and dove in headfirst with all the agility and strength she could muster. […]
I am the moon, the same one that reflects in the water of the pool, the one that watched everything from above the garden, and I tell you this in the most objective way possible, although I confess: my silver heart, accustomed to the cold, softened with that girl still figuring things out.