16 short stories based on the "black chronicle" of Brno's Cejl, known as the Bronx.
The idea of making a book of stories based on newspaper articles from the second half of the nineteenth century is not mine. The historian Michal Konečný entrusted it to me in the Na Stojáka beer bar. I've just had a working studio in the Bronx for more than ten years and I've been publishing books. Host Publishing has even been based in this wild and interesting part of town since 2005, so it quickly proved to be an ideal third player in the mariachi game.
With the help of Tomáš Setnička, we selected over fifty articles and news items related to Cejl (as the whole area was then called) and offered them to sixteen authors to share. Miroslav Balaštík and I approached the biggest author stars of our teams, half and half, and they accepted the offer almost without exception.
To my great amazement, they all handed in their work by the agreed deadline; perhaps because the reports concerned various murders, thefts, tragicomic mistakes and other scrapes of the modern black chronicle. They were simply inspiring.
At that time, Cejl was in every respect the face of the emerging modern city, and today's Bronx (as the area is popularly known), although virtually within easy reach of the city centre, suffers from a number of ailments that need to be treated. People, who understand, that a healthy and vital Bronx will benefit the entire city, Fortunately, the numbers are growing... and I believe, that place, who recognizes her own past, has a better chance of a remarkable future.
