“Subrogated Invasion”, the new novel by writer Jorge Urreta.

How could another race be invaded without them realizing it? “Subrogated Invasion”, the new novel by the Bilbao writer, Jorge Urreta.

By Eva Fraile.

Jorge Urreta returns to the publishing scene and to the Amazon Prize in particular with a novel by thrillerpolitical and science fiction that contains all the elements that characterize his writing. The premise cannot leave anyone indifferent: Spain is shocked because in the highest-rated television program, a public figure has just recognized in front of the cameras that he is an extraterrestrial.

Once again, Urreta surprises us with a different argument and once again shows us the teeth of a veteran writer.

1. Jorge, we have a new novel… How are the feelings going so far?

The truth is that they are going very well. I was recently signing copies of it at the Bilbao Book Fair and I almost sold out. Considering that it is a thrilleralthough with certain science fiction elements, is a great milestone at a time when there is hardly any visibility at fairs for works outside the police or noir canon.

2. Book presentations are also back. You haven’t stopped since Surrogate invasionhas been published.

TRUE. The most spectacular so far was the one she had at the Bilbao fair, but we have only just begun. In the near future I will close dates for more presentations.

3. In addition, it falls within the framework of the Amazon Award. And the platform is becoming more open with genres such as science fiction. Why do you think he would have a chance of winning?

Apart from what you say about Amazon being more willing to venture into genres other than the usual ones, because it is an original and surprising novel, like all of mine. Although it may sound cliché, it leaves no one indifferent, right from the cover. As I said before, despite not being a police or black film, it worked very well in Bilbao, because it was not the typical science fiction of ships and gunshots, but rather a political thriller, where the “corrupt” politicians are extraterrestrials, apart from the fact that it incorporates some detective investigation of the protagonist.

4. “Spain is in shock,” says your synopsis. Because?

Because of the discovery that there are aliens among us, as has already happened in other previous novels or series and films, but that, in an unexpected move, those aliens, once discovered, present themselves as our new gods and even organize their own new religion in a kind of sect. The fact is that many people will join that sect, while the person who managed to bring that to light, seeing that it seems to have backfired, decides to infiltrate and investigate, especially since his girlfriend, who he believed to be more sensible, has also joined the new religion as a kind of priestess.

5. I don’t know if you’ve seen the news about the strange silhouette at the Taylor Swift concert. Some theories are very much in line with what your book suggests. Could it be a Fang?

Believe me when I tell you that you don’t want it to be…

6. Do you believe in aliens, Jorge?

I think it is even pretentious to think that, in a universe that is constantly expanding and seemingly incomprehensible, our planet is the only one where the circumstances have been favorable for the appearance of life and that we are alone. If you believe in religious theories, God created only us and there is no one else, but that is still just as pretentious, even if it comes from a priest, a bishop or the Pope of Rome himself.

7. Have you had to document yourself or is it all just imagination?

It’s an amazing imagination even for me. More or less half of the novel started from a dream. I woke up in the middle of the night after a very intense dream and wrote down ideas that had appeared in it. I fell asleep again and when I woke up in the morning and saw that I didn’t remember the dream, but that I had added something, I looked at the notes and when I saw that they were cool, I turned all of that into the introduction of the novel and then developed everything else. . There is a medical subplot that I did have to research.

8. The pregnant woman on the cover draws a lot of attention. I guess it’s a key element of the story… Maybe even spoiler.

Spoilers, yes. How bad they are, right? Let’s ask a question: How could another race be invaded without them realizing it? Maybe do it from the inside.

9. And what is Jorge Urreta working on now, literary speaking?

Many things. I have finished a Stephen King-style intrigue set in the US that is looking for a publisher. On the other hand, a crime novel set in the same country that is also looking for an editor to fall in love with it. On the other hand, I am looking for someone who wants to edit an improved version of the second novel that was published, “The Year of Vegetables.” To finish, I have written half of a novel of intrigue and adventure, starring a man and his grandson, and set between Argentina and Spain.