Noise: Collection of Short Stories and Poems Set in Rio De Janeiro

By Alessandra Salisbury

Noise is a collection of short stories and poems set in the vibrant city of Rio de Janeiro in the southeast of Brazil. The suburbs chosen to be the setting for the stories and poems in this book have something significant about them that makes it right for the story. Not every suburb is displayed in the book—only the ones I have spent most of my childhood, my teenage years, and some years of my adulthood before migrating to Australia in 2008.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Aug 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796004199

Alessandra Salisbury

Alessandra Salisbury is a Brazilian creative writer, journalist and actress. She has been living in Australia for the past 11 years where she graduated in Creative Writing and is currently undertaking Bachelor of Arts/Education majoring Drama to achieve her third University degree. She has written, acted on and produced several plays in Rio de Janeiro before migrating to Australia in 2008. She is now the founder, director and choreographer of Starlettes Dance Theatre in the Far North Coast area of New South Wales. With Starlettes, she has written, directed and choreographed more than 15 theatre plays since 2010. She also has published two kids books Naughty Nana, and Naughty Nana and the old house around the corner. She won third prize in 2016 Fusion Poetry Competition at Australia Southern Cross University with her poem ‘Hummus and Herbs’ about family of immigrants, and won second prize with the same poem on the American online magazine Wilda Morris Poetry Challenge 2017. Her creative writing works have appeared on the American literary magazines, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Borfski Press, Poetry Leaves, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Tiny Spoon, Comstock Review, Chicago Memory House and Event Horizon. She has poems published in the Indian OPA Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry. In Australia, her works have appeared on Northerly Magazine.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Alessandra Salisbury. 798417

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 06/25/2019

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.xlibris.com.au

CONTENTS

Introduction

A Little History Of Rio

The Return (Ipanema – South of Rio - 1990)

Bleeding Flowers (Cinelandia – Centre of Rio – 1968)

The Death Of The Director (Santa Tereza – Centre of Rio)

The Casino Of Love (Urca – South of Rio – 1920)

Duet Dialogue (Cinelandia – Teatro Odeon – Centre of Rio)

Last Letter From Leblon (Leblon – South of Rio – late 90s)

Confessions Of A Prostitute (Copacabana – South of Rio)

The Beast (Lapa – Centre of Rio)

The Grand Phantom (Cinelandia – Teatro Municipal - Centro of Rio)

The Setup (Guaratiba – Southwest of Rio – 1980s – inspired by an old folk tale)

The Evil Weather (Arpoador – South of Rio)

At Joaquina Bar (Leme – South of Rio)

Generosity (Sao Conrado – South West of Rio)

At Twilight (Tijuca – North of Rio)

The Hill (Vidigal – South of Rio)

Before (Jacarepagua – West of Rio)

Eccentric Theatre (Jardim Botanico – South of Rio)

Here, Help Yourself (Botafogo – South of Rio)

Illusion (Barra da Tijuca – South West of Rio)

The Empty Boat (Recreio – Southwest of Rio)

Thinking Of You (Ipanema – South of Rio)

Going Home (Gloria – Centre of Rio – 1930s)

Church (Carioca – Centre of Rio)

Safe Haven (Catete – Centre of Rio)

Rio 40 Graus (A non-fiction piece to celebrate the city)

Rio

Grandma’s House (Tijuca – North of Rio)

Hummus And Herbs (Alessandra Salisbury’s third prize winning poem at Fusion Poetry Competition at Southern Cross University – Australia - 2016)

INTRODUCTION

Noise is a collection of short stories and poems set in the vibrant city of Rio de Janeiro, in the South East of Brazil. The suburbs chosen to be the scenario for the stories and poems in this book have something significant about them that makes it right for the story. Not every suburb is displayed in the book, but the ones I have spent most of my childhood, my teenage years, and some years of my adulthood before migrating to Australia in 2008.

Noise is a work of fiction. It is not based on or linked to my personal life in any way. Creative writers tend to connect their hearts to the stories they write. But when they are set to write fiction, stories are created from their imagination. Simple as that.

The photographs used in this book were taken by my father Gustavo Raed who lives in Rio de Janeiro, by my husband Roger Salisbury and by myself when we were visiting the city. The photographs give a sense of imagery to the stories.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF RIO

Rio de Janeiro is an electrifying seaside city of Brazil, famous for its 38m Christ the Redeemer statue on the top of Corcovado Mountain, for Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, and for the Sugarloaf Mountain, with cable cars travelling to its hilltop. The city is also known for the Carnaval, the most exciting annual festival that exhibits parade floats, musicians and samba dancers dressed in flamboyant costumes.

Rio de Janeiro