Clara Asunción García

Clara Asunción García (Elche, 1968) is a Spanish writer. Her works cover a wide range of genres, including romantic intrigue, intimate drama, eroticism, and noir fiction.

She has written short stories, flash fiction, and novels in which the relationships between women are front and center. In addition, female homosexuality is the central theme of her works, some of which have been included in book recommendation lists and reviewed by specialized websites. Her anthology Y abrazarte was a finalist in the 2017 edition of the Guillermo de Baskerville Awards, by literary magazine Libros Prohibidos.

Among her novels, some of the titles that stand out include the series starring police detective Catherine S. Maynes. This character, according to literary historian Inmaculada Pertusa, represented a revival of the lesbian detective novel in Spain, since apart from the elements inherent to noir fiction, it includes others belonging to romance and erotic fiction as well, to the point of explicitly depicting lesbian erotic scenes with its protagonist.

Pertusa further adds that Asunción García is part of a generation of writers (along with Isabel Franc and Susana Hernández) who were influenced by the works of Jean M. Redmann, and who are pioneers in developing the theme of lesbianism in crime fiction—in García's case, with a marked erotic tone.

She has participated in events for the defense of the rights of LGBTQ+ people: giving talks at Pride events and taking part in the LGTBQ Book Fair in Chueca. She writes articles for websites that specialize in lesbian issues, such as Hay una lesbiana en mi sopa.

According to Professor Diana Aramburu, in the late 20th century there was a boom in detective fiction, which was once a male-only genre, "producing female detectives that continue to break with traditional stereotypes and captivate a crime fiction-hungry audience." This literary phenomenon has come to be known as "", in which "a female detective is used to examine the socioeconomic crisis, crime, violence, and/or issues of identity and gender from a woman’s perspective." The genre has now become firmly established in the literary market in Spain. It dates back to 1979, with the first female hard-boiled detective, Bárbara Arenas, as written by Lourdes Ortiz in Picadura mortal. Along with Ortiz and Asunción García (with her Cate Maynes character), Aramburu also lists other authors who have created female detective characters, such as: Maria Antònia Oliver Cabrer (with the first serial woman detective in the Lònia Guiu series of novels), Alicia Giménez Bartlett (with her series), (with Cornelia Weber-Tejedor), Carolina Solé (with Kate Salas), Cristina Fallarás (with Vicky González), Maruja Torres (with Diana Dial), (with María Ruiz), Dolores Redondo (with Amaia Salazar), Susana Hernández (with Rebeca Santana and Miriam Vázquez), and Isabel Franc (writing as Lola Van Guardia), who created Emma García, the first lesbian detective.

List of works Short stories and anthologies Short story Las cosas que hacen clinc pop, in the anthology Cada día me gustas más (CreateSpace, 2016, ) Short story collection Y abrazarte. Antología de relatos con esa cosa llamada amor dando la tabarra. (CreateSpace, 2016, ); finalist in the 2017 edition of the Guillermo de Baskerville Awards, by literary magazine Libros Prohibidos prologue by Gloria Fortún Short story collection Sexo, alcohol paracetamol y una imbécil: Colección de relatos de la detective privada Cate Maynes (CreateSpace, 2015, ); stories starring the character of detective Cate Maynes Short story Un perro llamado Úrsula in the anthology Fundido en negro: antología de relatos del mejor calibre criminal femenino (Alrevés Editorial, 2014, ); story set in the Cate Maynes universe; edited by Inmaculada Pertusa Short story El camino de su piel, the short version of which was included in volume 2 of the journal Ámbitos Feministas (Feministas Unidas, Western Kentucky University, 2012, ). A version in French, Le chemin de sa peau, was included in the book Lectures d’Espagne 3. Auteurs espagnols du XXI Siècle (Lectures d'Ailleurs, University of Poitiers, 2015, p. 375). The story is set in the Cate Maynes universe. An extended version was published in 2015.

Novels La perfección del silencio (Editorial Egales, 2013, ) Tras la coraza (Editorial Egales, 2016, ) Elisa frente al mar (CreateSpace, 2013, ; translated into French as Face à la mer (Éditions dans l'Engrenage, 2015, ), and English as Elisa facing the sea (CreateSpace, 2016, )

Novels in the Cate Maynes series El primer caso de Cate Maynes (Editorial Egales, 2011, ) Los hilos del destino (Editorial Egales, 2014, )