new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: latino sci-fi, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 7 of 7
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: latino sci-fi in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
2014 just wants to keep on running me ragged. Things keep happening (besides the riots and the racial strife). Not only is the new Digital Parchment Services/Strange Particle Press ebook of Cortez on Jupiterorderable, but the press release is available, so you can read about the impending soft-cover edition, find out where to write about getting review copies, and read quotes of wild praise for the book.
If that isn’t enough, Digital Parchment has started a new Ernest Hogan blog so they can promote their editions of my books. They also started an Ernest Hogan Tumblr. I’ll be posting stuff on both of them, so check ‘em out!
Which brings me to the main subject of this post . . . the writer Nalo Hopkinson, who teaches at UC Riverside, sent me a direct message on Twitter (most of my sales and gigs these days come through the social media) asking if I would be willing to lead a workshop “on writing Latino-focused SF/F/H,” because “The community has been asking for it.” Ever the professional, I asked if it was a paying job, and it is, so it looks like in February 2015 I’ll be teaching a master class (hey! I’m an expert in the field!) as part of their Writer’s Week. I will provide more details as I get them.
2015 and February are coming at us fast. I need to think about it, and take some notes . . . I could fill the time with funny stories about my weird career, but since this is a university thing, I should probably ask the communitythat Nalo was talking about what theywant. I’m assuming that a lot of you aspiring Chicanonauts read La Bloga.
So, what would you like to know about writing Latino-focused speculative fiction/fantasy/horror? Are there specific questions you’d like answered? Just what can I do for you?
I’ll be waiting for your comments . . .
Ernest Hogan has accumulated a lot of ancient Chicano Sci-Fi wisdom over the years. He’s willing to share it. Especially for money. Or food. Or cerveza. Oh yeah, feliz Día de Los Guajolotes.
by Ernest Hogan
The world probably isn’t ready for it, but I’ve learned that the world is never ready for all the good stuff. So don’t wait. Do it now.
So why not Latino/a Rising, the first collection of U.S. Latino/a science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres? Editor Matthew David Goodwin already has Kathleen Alcalá, Giannina Braschi, Pablo Brescia, Ana Castillo, Daína Chaviano, Junot Díaz, Carlos Hernandez, Adál Maldonado, Carmen Maria Machado, Alejandro Morales, Daniel José Older, Edmundo Paz-Soldán, Alex Rivera, and Sabrina Vourvoulias onboard.
Also:
Latino/a Rising will not only include literature. There are many Latino/a artists who are using science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative genres in their art work. And this anthology will include some of their most interesting artwork.
Wait a sec, I think I forgot something . . . oh yeah!
There’s going to be a story by yours truly in it, Under the Texas Radar with Paco and Los Freetails.
The Paco of the title in none other than Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars, hero of two of my stories The Rise and Fall of Paco Cohen and the Marichis of Mars and Death and Dancing in New Las Vegas that originally appeared in Analog.
And yes, I’m working on more stories that I hope to assemble into an epic -- suitable for adaptation into a major motion picture or miniseries -- novel . . .
Meanwhile, contribute to the campaign. Help turn these wild Latino/a dreams loose on this troubled planet!
Ernest Hogan is trying to find time to finish a number of stories while publicizing the new edition of Cortez on Jupiter, and helping get High Aztech ready for re-release. There are also other projects he keeps remembering.
By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 7/4/2014
Blog:
La Bloga
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
steampunk,
strange horizons,
Junot Díaz,
Ursula K. Le Guin,
writing opportunity,
jim c. hines,
latino sci-fi,
#WeNeedDiverseBooks,
Latino spec Lit dialogue,
call for stories,
K.T. Bradford,
punk lit,
Add a tag
Lots of opportunities, to hear what People of Color are saying about the need for diversity in speculative lit, and place to submit your spec stories. From editors looking for diversity in different forms. Gente, read on.
Alternate Visions: Musings on Diversity in SF
 |
| Vandana Singh |
Vandana Singh, born in New Delhi, India (now living near Boston), writes:
"The best speculative fiction, like travel, does that to you – it takes you to strange places, from which vantage point you can no longer take your home for granted. It renders the familiar strange, and the strange becomes, for the duration of the story, the norm. The reversal of the gaze, the journey in the shoes of the Other, is one of the great promises of speculative fiction.
"This is only one reason why we need diversity in speculative fiction. And by diversity I don’t just mean white writers including other places and races in their fiction – that has its importance, but I don’t consider it here. What I am really interested in is the fiction of authorsfrom different countries, cultures, races, genders, sexual orientations, physical abilities and experiences. The former is – emphatically — not a substitute for the latter.
"
Thoughts as to why some of us might write SF, and why diversity in SF is absolutely necessary: such as for writers from post-colonial nations to imagine their own futures, their own alternatives, is a deeply revolutionary, freeing act. We need new paradigms, new ways of relating to the non-human universe, if we are to survive the climate crisis. The postcolonial, so called ‘third world’ nations, and indigenous communities within the ‘first world’ are being/will be most deeply affected by climate change, despite having done the least to cause the problem.
"Let’s keep calling out instances of narrow bigotry, of suppression of marginalized voices. Let’s keep talking, being honest, owning what we write, owning up when we mess up. Let’s keep using words from our mother tongues, our other tongues, so that those unused to it can get at least a glimpse of the world from our various perspectives."
Diverse writers on reviewing the Other
Another worthwhile read is Inclusive Reviewing: A Discussion by Samuel R. Delany, et al. Strange Horizons, a magazine of and about speculative fiction and related nonfiction, published the transcript of a round-table discussion of issues raised by Nisi Shawl in her essay, Reviewing the Other.
Excerpt: "Speaking as the Other myself, I marvel at the possibilities created by the linguistic gap. Say you are a Mexican, a Venezuelan, or a Brazilian; which reviewer, trying to write in English, will write the truest, honest-to-God English text? There is no right, accurate answer to this (it would be an unspoken expectation), but maybe the Mexican would have more knowledge of English due to geographical proximity to the US, while the Venezuelan and the Brazilian wouldn't have this advantage. But the Mexican and Venezuelan are Spanish speakers, while the Brazilian is a member of the only people in Latin America who doesn't speak Spanish, only Portuguese. For all three of them the conundrum is the same: every time they start writing in English, they will almost necessarily—at least in the first draft—add totally different cultural baggage. This might seem obvious but nobody seems to think that might generate an entirely different review and that's where the Other really enters the stage."
Junot Díaz in L.A.
"Junot Díaz reads from This Is How You Lose Her. Finally, a Los Angeles appearance! I'll be doing an event Friday, Sept. 19 - Skylight Books @ 7:30pm, 1818 North Vermont Ave., L.A. Voy a Los Angeles el 19 de Septiembre! Libreria Skylight. Nos vemos ahí, sí?"
My advice is that you go hear and talk with Junot--he's an experience. Erudite, smooth, some say cute. And gente may think he thinks much of himself, but then, there is much to his work and his dynamic presentations. Muy recomendado.
Jim C. Hines edits E-book on sci-fi diversity
"13 essays on the importance of representation in science fiction and fantasy, with an introduction by author Alex Dally MacFarlane. Proceeds from the sale of this collection go to the Carl Brandon Society to support Con or Bust.
Description from Hines: These essays do a marvelous job of answering the question, Why does representation [diversity] matter? and of looking at different types of representation in spec genres. I’m a big believer in the importance and power of story. The contributors to Invisible showed me new aspects of that power, things I hadn’t necessarily considered before. [Includes bonus material from Gabriel Cuellar and Ithiliana.' On sale for $2.99.
Learning to write about "us," the Other
Last week, K. T. Bradford posted: "I had the honor to teach at a week-long Writing the Other workshop and retreat. Writing about people and places outside of the cultural 'norm' or one's direct understanding is hard to do. It's called Writing the Other, and it's a skill that must be learned and often worked at diligently by people who want to be great writers." The workshop and writing retreat was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and included authors Mary Robinette Kowal, Nisi Shawl, Cynthia Ward and David Anthony Durham.
"They challenged 26 students to dive into dialect and dialogue, gender and sexuality, disability, writing the Other in history, and world-building. The workshop/retreat was an opportunity to hang out with the teachers, opportunities for one-on-one critiques -- plus the freedom and safety to ask questions and make mistakes. The leading question was: Why not just avoid writing characters who are a different race or gender or class or religion from you?"
Even famous Anglo authors' works get whitewashed
 |
| white guy from the film |
Ursula K. Le Guin, Americanauthor of novels, children's books, and short stories, mainly in the genres of fantasyand science fiction, wrote about her Earthsea series in her article, How the Sci Fi Channel wrecked my books. Here's some excerpts:
"The Sci Fi Channel aired its final installment of Legend of Earthsea, the miniseries based—loosely, as it turns out—on my Earthsea books. The books, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, which were published more than 30 years ago, are about two young people finding out what their power, their freedom, and their responsibilities are. I don't know what the film is about. It's full of scenes from the story, arranged differently, in an entirely different plot, so that they make no sense. My protagonist is Ged, a boy with red-brown skin. In the film, he's a petulant white kid.Readers wondering why I 'let them change the story' may find some answers here.
"Most of the characters in my fantasy and far-future science fiction books are not white. They're mixed; they're rainbow. In my first big science fiction novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, the only person from Earth is a black man, and everybody else in the book is Inuit (or Tibetan) brown. In the two fantasy novels the miniseries is 'based on,' everybody is brown or copper-red or black, except the Kargish people in the East and their descendants in the Archipelago, who are white, with fair or dark hair. The central character Tenar, a Karg, is a white brunette. Ged, an Archipelagan, is red-brown. His friend, Vetch, is black. In the miniseries, Tenar is played by Smallville's Kristin Kreuk, the only person in the miniseries who looks at all Asian. Ged and Vetch are white."
Le Guin is an Americanauthor of novels, children's books, and short stories, mainly in the genres of fantasyand science fiction.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt anthology of "non-Western writers"
 |
| Bryan Thomas Schmidt |
Can People of Color who live in the U.S. be considered "non-Western?" Editor Schmidt will be dealing with that problem in his next anthology:
"People who are living or have lived in non-Western cultures, especially the ones they write about, will absolutely have a leg up, as authenticity is really important to me. I hope to publish more stories by non-Western writers than Western."
DESCRIPTION: "An anthology of the culture clash between aliens and people of Earth’s various cultures as they encounter each other on Earth or in the universe. Stories should not all be Western earthlings. I’d love to have as many stories, authors and cultures represented as possible. Of course I will take the best stories. People need to learn about cultures and perspectives and that has educational value. I want them to see the nuances and differences of peoples, worldviews and cultures but not necessarily in a threatening or overly controversial way.
"Seeking authenticity, I want a good balance in the cultures, stories, and locations recommended. Research any culture you choose. Do not write what you think they are. Do not write stereotypes. I am inviting a few Western writers whom I know have traveled and have strong cultural knowledge, sensitivity and passion for places they visited. I really do want something authentic. Not every Mexican is the same, for example, but please have it so your Mexicans are real enough my actual Mexican friends would tell me you got it right. (I do have friends around the world who will read for cultural authenticity before I make final selections, so I want authentic.) What are the odd little cultural quirks people exhibit which would strike outsiders as odd but insiders, as perfectly normal?"
Submissions Open: July 1, 2014 through September 15, 2014
Word Counts: 3000-7000 words; pay rate: $.06/word ("I would accept a really good story longer than 7k, but contact me, and it will be under much more scrutiny. 3-5k is my sweet spot, honestly. 5-7 is okay.")
Publication, Late Summer/Fall of 2015 (TBD)
Submit to: WorldEncounterssubs AT gmail.com
Submissions outside these dates and parameters may be rejected and possibly cannot be resubmitted. I reserve the right to close submissions at any time if the slush pile is too big and I have what I need. No money is promised or contracts offered until the Kickstarter funds. No simultaneous submissions.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is author/editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His short stories appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. He edited the anthologies Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day, and Shattered Shields for Baen Books. His YA anthology Choiceswill be out from Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy in 2015.
Editor looking for diverse protagonists
C.C. Finlay will edit two more issues ofThe Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2015. Finlay has published half a dozen books and dozens of stories, been translated into sixteen languages, and nominated for some awards.
March/April 2015 issue of F&SF - Reading period: Aug. 1-15, 2014
Sept./Oct. 2015 issue of F&SF - Reading period: Jan. 1-15, 2015
I E-mailed Finlay to ask if he'd considered tabulating PoC stats, like how many stories he received with non-Anglo protagonists or from authors who are black, latino, etc. He responded that he'd love to see that kind of data, but didn't know a way to estimate about authors without asking them to provide identifying information, which some might be reluctant to do.
La Bloga question: If Finlay is open to the possibility, what about other editors of magazines and anthologies? Why shouldn't latinos and other PoC request (demand?) this from those who decide which stories are getting published? How could PoC collectively launch such an initiative?
Finlay did respond that he would again be looking for diverse protagonists in stories and, depending on submissions and time, might try to keep track of that. He thanked me for the suggestion. You can go to his Nectar for Rejectomancers post for a breakdown of past submissions he received for the July/August issue he edited. Something it would be good for writers to see from all editors and publishers.
For latinos with a spec "Punk" story
From Susan MacGregor, an On Spec magazine editor, comes this first Call for Submissions for On Spec's new Punk Theme issue, on all things 'punk'.
Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Biopunk, and many other types of ‘punk’ derivatives have become popular sub-genres of speculative fiction. What classifies them as ‘punk’ are a number of literary devices that include:
1). Setting: specific technologies associated with particular ‘ages’, ‘societies’ and/or time frames (both the past or future), e,g., the Victorian Age often defines Steampunk (but not always). Nanotech experiments of the future may define Biopunk, (but not always).
2). Tone: a sense of novelty, or being on the cutting edge of that particular technology, within its time frame.
3). Style: language and/or a narrative style specific to that particular technology, reflective of the time, and/or writers of that time.
4). Characterization: wide open. Characters can reflect their time and the concerns of their place in that time, or be transplants from another time and/or genre.
Sub-genres include, but are not limited to: Atompunk, Biopunk, Clockpunk, Cyberpunk, Decopunk, Dieselpunk, Dreampunk, Mythpunk, Nanopunk, Stonepunk, and others. For further definitions, this Wikipedia link on Cyberpunk Derivatives may prove helpful.
From Sept. 1 to Oct. 15th, 2014, we will seek the best of each "punk" sub-genre, top stories that represent their particular punk sub-genre. We are looking not only for the best, but what is new, what hasn’t been ‘punked’ before. Originality is the name of the game. If you have a piece that explores the themes and technology of a new era and/or society, we want to see it. We’rll consider everything 'punk', from the serious to the ridiculous. Surprise, delight, and amaze us!
Word maximum: 6,000 words. Accompany your submission with ‘PUNK THEME ISSUE’ in the subject line. Estimated publishing/issue date: Spring, 2015. We will post about this on On Spec’s new and updated website shortly; check it for full submission guidelines. Hold off on sending manuscripts until the submission window; anything before Sept. 1 will be deleted. Read all the guidelines.
A mother answers why latinos should write latino spec lit
In Antariksh Yatra's article, above, she said, "I came across an essay by Norman Spinrad in Asimov’s magazine, in which he discoursed knowingly about why there was no third world science fiction. Because, he said, third world cultures have no conception of the future. One could write a thesis on all the things wrong with this."
"My son is 12; he loves sci-fi, but I have noticed it does pander to specific demographics. Thanks to all of you for bravely going where your sci-fi spirits take you. I will definitely be inspired to have my son read your works. Gracias por inspirar a una nueva generación de aficionados del sci-fi latino! :) LaSirena
Es todo, hoy,
Esquire today: "The number of American families without fathers has grown from 10.3 percent in 1970 to 24.6 percent in 2013." It's higher in families at poverty levels, of course. With chingos of latino and black males in prison for minor drug violations. That's our America.
I didn't know my father much, not the way I would have wanted. We won't go into that more.
But I was lucky to be a father, also lucky enough to be a stay-at-home dad for my first-born, the Boy. Wish I could've done the same with the Girl. We only ever get to wish for more Fathering. So make the most of your opportunities.
Fathering decades ago, while I typed propaganda, the Boy would crawl around the floor, doing his stuff. I should've gotten down there with him more than I did. Less propaganda would've made for more Father.
Fathering both kids included doing Lamaze birthing classes, that strange experience that's makes you into a spectator of birth. La--mazing! Holding them for my first time, wiping the cheese off their face. Like a father's supposed to.
Fathering was taking the boy with me in a carrier to the bar for me to play pool, setting him in a booth or under the pool table. Giving him--and later, her--sips of beer. Until months later when they started spitting it out, wisely.
Fathering was easy hitchhiking with the diapered Boy. Stick my thumb out and seconds later, decide which person to accept a ride from. Never had to wait as long as a minute. The kid empowers the Father, both projecting contagious empathy.
Fathering meant the chance to become diaper-putter-oner extraordinaire. A wire couldn't get past the edges of my work; their blood probably had difficulty passing. That's the part about diapers to remember.
Fathering meant that when it was naptime, the favored method was lying down to lay them on my chest, pat their backs, sing dumb, made-up songs until they, and sometimes I, fell asleep. Heartbeats close to each other.
Fathering included giving the two some chiles as soon as possible, to build up their tolerance. It sort of worked.
Fathering meant playing my made-up game of "The Big Hungry Bear looking for Little Puppies to Eat." Laughs and shrieks and chasing around until Big Hungry Bear captured his meal. Oh, there was no bear; it was just a father.
At bedtime, fathering was the chance to make up silly, weird songs as if they were real songs. Songs that sometimes made Boy and Girl howl. Like fathers want to hear.
Fathering was the futile attempt to teach the Girl how to drive a car. Yes, futile. Wisdom, skill, experience flew in the face of Girl who seemed to bend time travel and inter-dimensional planes using a car with only two wheels on the road. Taught me: "I doubt I can teach her much."
There's tons more I could put here, but not enough time or space for that.
Do the father thing, at least once. Even if you have to adopt. It makes you almost human and somewhat super-human. And assume, accept and live with the fact that no matter what you do, you'll wind up wishing you'd done more Fathering. Later in life, there will never have been enough of it to satisfy.
And if you can do something about America's fatherlessness, do it. Fatherlessness is a crime of inhumanity, especially when it's not the father's fault.
 |
| Ramos, as if he knew he'd win |
Two Colo. Chicano winners
The Colorado Book Awards is "An annual program that celebrates the accomplishments of Colorado's outstanding authors, editors, illustrators and photographers.
"Awards are presented in at least ten categories including anthology/collection, biography, mystery, children's, creative nonfiction, fiction, history, nonfiction, pictorial, poetry and young adult."
 |
| Tim Z. Hernandez |
Chinitas, gente!
Yesterday, the announced winners included La Bloga's own Manuel Ramosfor his mystery novel, Desperado: A Mile High Noir.
And in poetry, our friend Tim Z. Hernandezfor his poetry, Natural Takeover of Small Things. Now's your chance to congratulate them. Oh, and read the best Colorado mystery and poetry.
NPR seeks your help
"I'm a reporter at NPR's Latino USA. We're working on a four-part series on Diversity in Geekdom. The first part will focus on sci-fi/fantasy writing. I'm looking for stats on sci-fi readership by race. Have any of you come across recent (from 2010 and on down) stats on this? Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! - Roxanne L. Scott, Freelance Reporter, Twitter: @WhosWorld
---------
Es todo, hoy, pero mañana es Father's Day. So act like you earned it.
RudyG
The one-hour hop from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Ontario International Airport is always sci-fi. The landscape from Arizona to California is mostly naked desert with scattered signs of civilization, like a colonized Mars. Could my character, Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars, be down there? I really have to finish that novel . . .
The fabled Santa Ana winds were kicking up dust storms around the airport as we landed. Didn’t I just leave Arizona? Later I heard that the wind flipped a big-rig truck on the freeway.
Suddenly, I was in the Mission Inn in Riverside, a Mexicorama-looking hotel consisting of improvisations on Spanish colonial roots. It’s a cluster of ornate bell towers, festooned with flowers, ancient Mexican cannons, and squawking caged parrots. There are also supposed to be ghosts. I felt like I was in steampunk alternate universe, waiting for the next Zeppelin to Tenochtitlán.
All for a Day of Latino Science Fiction.
The hotel had cable, which I’ve been unplugged from for a few years. I channel surfed for signs of Nueva California Latina. The news looked like it was from another world -- Planet L.A. -- of and about Hollywood androids -- a lot of them still bleach-blondes, but more leaning toward a white-washed version of the Post-Racial America delusion. They reported the NBA firing Donald Sterling for racist comments as if it were a moon landing.
Reality is hard to grasp in California -- often folks have to settle for some kind of kinky sci-fi.
I was relieved when Rudy Ch. Garcia called. He and Mario Acevedo were in a bar down the street. Soon the cerveza and nachos rituals were running full blast, especially when Michael Sedano joined us. That, along with the breakfast the next morning with Jesús Treviño got us loosened up and ready for the panels.
The University of California Riverside is the fifth most diverse campus in the U.S.A. Lots of Latinos, blacks, Asians. This was the Nueva California I was expecting. The audience for the panels were just as diverse. They were also lively and responsive.
On young woman asked if there are any traditions for writing Latino science fiction. I told her that no, it was all too new. It’s up to you to create Latino science fiction, kids.
Rosaura Sanchez and Beatrice Pita, authors of Lunar Braceros 2125-2148 joined us, saving this from looking like an all-boys club. Once again, I’d love to hear from Latinas who are writing science fiction, fantasy, or just far-out fantastico stuff.
I met science fiction writer Nalo Hopkinson, and fellow Mothership:Tales from Afrofutuism and Beyond author Jaymee Goh, and had her sign my copy.
In the afternoon the subject was shifted to media in honor of Jesús Treviño donating his annotated scripts for episodes of Star Trek and Babylon 5 he directed to the university.
As with writing, Latino science fiction in the media is just beginning.
Trailers for two the web mini-series Lost Angeles Ward and Generation Last showed racial conflict in futuristic context and an ecological apocalypse that was shot in Mexico. Both took issues on directly rather than created escapist fantasies.
One difference between Anglo and Latino science fiction is that making it to the future is something that can’t be ignored. The future isn’t a given, it will have to be fought for. And if you don’t fight for it, you might not get there.
Science fiction can be a strategy for survival. When the going gets tough, release that incredible rasquache/mestizo imagination.
Even silly mid-century movies like Santo Contra Los Marcianos and El Planeta de las Mujeres Invasoras are about surviving in the Atomic Age. How are we going to survive in the Information Age?
A grad student mentioned “future-oriented cognitive estrangement” when dropped into a strange, new reality. We need more visions of more futures. That’s futures, plural. Let the Others in, see from their points-of-view.
Latino science fiction can lead us to this -- and beyond.
Yeah, this one-day event was more productive than a lot of three-day conventions that I’ve been to.
And it was well worth revisiting California, that is still like a surreal, artificial construct designed by Frank Zappa and Philip K. Dick, though now Tezcatlipoca seems to be directing.
By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 5/2/2014
Blog:
La Bloga
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Mario Acevedo,
latino authors,
Ernest Hogan,
jesus treviño,
beatrice pita,
latino sci-fi,
rosaura sanchez,
Day of Latino Science Fiction,
Latino speculative literature directory,
UC-Riverside,
Add a tag
Wednesday this week, I joined other Latino writers for the workshop sponsored by Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies Program at Univ. of California, Riverside, organized and hosted by Sherryl Vint, Professor of Science Fiction Media Studies. Appended are the 2. La Bloga Spec Lit Directory, and 3. links I promised to post. [photos by Michael Sedano]
 |
| Prof. Sherryl Vint |
1. The workshops were great, a great hostess and audience for the event. Being there with Mario Acevedo, Ernesto Hogan, Rosaura Sanchez, Beatríce Pita, Jesús Treviño and La Bloga's Michael Sedano was uplifting. What immediately follows are my notes, only some of which I shared there:
Latinos have had to follow Anglo-Americans; they kept invading our lands, our Aztlán and our islands. That's their history and why we had to adopt and follow the ladder of the American Dream, even when forced to assume the role of Boogie Man. As U.S. society "allowed" Latinos to enter, we worked our way up, saving money, buying homes, sending kids to college, becoming professionals, established or famous. Our relatives the immigrants do the same, getting a credit card, a home, buying a big black truck, etc.
As our gente's educational level rose and Latino spec writers emerged. We weren't uneducated before; the problem was the literary establishment's English-only prejudice about accepting Spanish. Getting past the East Coast/White Boy publishing curtain, latinos' SF works were/are being published, winning awards as best sellers, even making their way into movies; no Nobel Prize winners, yet. In the SF Hugo Awards for Best Professional Artist, Daniel Dos Santos and John Picacio were nominated this year and last year, with Picacio taking it in 2013.
However, latinos haven't always followed the exact path of Anglo writers, and this speaks to why we may not need to and maybe shouldn't follow in their footsteps.
Anglo sci-fi lit arose in the 1930s with John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Damon Knight, Frederik Pohl, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury. They called it the Golden Age of science fiction--golden as in blond-haired--with stories centered on scientific achievement and progress, like at the first World Science Fiction Convention held in NY in 1939.
 |
| 5 of the 6 Latin@ authors |
My father grew up in those times and with that technological awareness; he read SF pulps every day. He never became a Rudy Rucker mathematician or David Brin scientist and never wrote SF. He rose as he could, up to supervisor of military jet maintenance, a prestigious position for a tejano in the 1950s. But, as a Mexican, he was tracked into Tech High School, otherwise he might have graduated from college and written SF, and I could've pimped off his fame.
Decades later, the "forward-thinking" SF establishment opened its white-man's club to women and then, people of color. The rear, kitchen door was always open, but now the front door is ajar. Now that Latinos have a foot in the door so they can't close it on us, what directions will we take or even create?
In a recent interview, YA novelist Matt de la Peña asked, "Where's the African-American Harry Potter or the Mexican Katniss?" Elsewhere, author Armando Rendón asked where are the "guidelines appropriate to writing aimed at Latino children, created by Latino literati who understand their needs?" And a member of our better, mestizo half, Sherman Alexie, said, "I want to see more brown kids as characters!" Such statements made me begin to wonder if there are different paths Latino SF could take.
We know Latino youth need Latino-authored stories about Latino heroes and heroines. If you need backup to convince your principal, school board or politicians, just check the recent and ongoing #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign.
Focusing on mainstream, YA sci-fi (and fantasy), there are five, frequent themes: Good vs Evil, Love Triangles, Paranormal Beings, Dystopian futures and the Superhero. What perspectives do Latinos bring to these themes? I'll skip the struggle of good vs. evil that could be the topic of a whole conference. I'll also skip Twilight's love triangles of two hunky boys competing for one hot girl because I was never the former nor did I get the latter.
 |
| Ernesto Hogan & Mario Acevedo |
#3. Paranormal beings, like aliens, vampires, werewolves, mermaids, zombies, shape-shifters, fairies. Latinos bring indigenous Taíno zemí spirits and the huracán god, and La Llorona and El Cucui from Mexican heritage. But we didn't stop there, even as Anglo SF writers appropriated our monstruos. Mario Acevedo gave us a Chicano vet bitten by an Iraqi vampire. Ernesto Hogan gave us sentient, gaseous life-forms on Jupiter. Magical realism regularly emerges from the latino heritages.
Theme #4 in YA SF- Dystopia, which includes futuristic, dismal settings where teens battle tremendous odds, and sometimes, adults, in order to save humanity. What I'd like to see from Latinos is more about ourdystopias. A future where there's no electricity, no lights or power, no gas for cars or food on store shelves? Hey, Latinos (and all the poor) have been living that dystopia before Anglo SF writers even knew how to misspell the word.
What about portraying the barrios, when mamá can't pay the utilities because she only has a lowly typist job. Zombies stomping all around in the future? Try making it to the baño in the middle of the night when the rats are playing all over the sink, without crunching the cucarachas that're running all over the floors! You want hunger games? How 'bout your familia doesn't qualify for food stamps, and the only things in the cupboard is cans of lima beans and garbanzos. I don't think Latinos have even begun to exhaust the contemporarydystopias we could write for mainstream U.S. readers.
I believe theme #5 is the biggest challenge--and opportunity--for Latino SF writers. The lone hero on a quest to save the world or to defeat the forces of evil.
 |
| Only a part of the Riverside audience |
To take just one old white-guy SF, R.Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, the character Michael Smith was raised by Martians to have psychic powers and superior intelligence and battles evil, church forces and starts a new religion that will remake and save human, gringo society. In another of my favorite readings, The Foundation Trilogy, Hari Seldon develops the statistical math to save the intergalactic empire but he's outflanked a human mutant named The Mule, who's even more gifted and powerful.
Catniss in Hunger Games (2008) or Frodo in Lord of the Rings (mid 50s) are slightly different. These heroes need allies because they are not superhuman enough to accomplish their deeds, alone. They need help, they need to gain or win friends for that. They're like today's kids. Actually, they're also like my 30-year-old kids when they were growing up with friends of other colors--white, Asian and multi-ethnic.
So what can Latinos bring to this theme? In Afro-6, maybe the first Chicano SF novel, blacks form a military alliance with Latinos of NYC, the Boricuas. Think on that for a second. The first latino SF book. Wasn't just about Latinos. It was not about a Latino Robin sidekick for an ethnic Batman vato--it was about two ethnic groups, communities uniting, about black and brown solidarity.
In another examples, Jesus Treviño's screenwork includes Ed Olmos in Battlestar Galactica--as the admiral, not a drug lord. Treviño also wrote for the multinational cast of Star Trek.
Afro-6didn't come out of the civil rights struggles; it pre-dated them. However, ethnic mixing is not surprising for NYC. Remember, the book Afro-6 came out 50 years ago. Realize how many decades it took the old white-guy SF writers to have characters, peoples cross that line. Some still never leave their fictionally colorless Gringolandia where many characters are still college-educated scientists. So, what different routes have Latinos taken?
As in all Latino lit, our SF includes the successful, middle-class Hispanics. But a lot of it doesn't. Looking at today's panelists, The Techosand Migros in Lunar Braceros were the homeless and unemployed; Mario Acevedo's Felix Gomez character and my protagonist didn't graduate from college; Ernesto Hogan's character Pablo Cortez, a self-educated dropout, probably spent most of high school in detention or suspended. And Jesus Treviño's characters in The Fabulous Sinkhole live in a poor, border town colonia. Qué. Curioso. Somos. How different the Latino SF protagonists--no?
 |
| Jesús Treviño on media panel |
The indio Sherman Alexie also said, "With YA, you can make real, significant, social change." In general, the same is possible with sci-fi and spec lit. Latino SF is politically and socially more progressive because of our shared histories dominated by U.S. Manifest Destiny, oppression and exclusion. Again, looking to the panelists' novels, this is developed in Lunar Braceros to a great degree. Cortez on Jupiter is about a Chicano artist dealing with an unbelieving, white establishment. The Chicano protagonist of Nymphos of Rocky Flats doesn't just get screwed over like so many latino Iraqi War vets, he returns home vampire-bitten! And my hero in The Closet of Discarded Dreams has one goal--to get out of a mad, consumer-goods-worshipping world where americanos' dreams are his nightmares.
But speaking about the lone hero in SF, in Afro-6, Lunar Braceros and in my novel, there's something else--united action, popular uprisings, mass movements like those of the 60s and 70s. The last Hunger Games novel has rebellion and urban guerilla warfare and the defeating of the establishment, much like Afro-6. But that's still an old, white-guy SF story. It's not new.
I'll pimp my novel to get to a new theme different from the lone hero. Not to do a spoiler, in the book, the hero is only part of a mass movement. That movement is spontaneously organized, works by democratic consensus and volunteer brigades. They don't have Twitter or Facebook, but they use a crowd-sourced Grapevine to organize themselves. The multinational population divides up based on their skills and abilities. Their efforts succeed in helping stall the forces of evil long enough for others to realize how my hero plugs into their struggle. If the book had been published when I finished it, I could have taken credit for predicting the Occupy Movement.
I don't think Latino SF writers have tapped into our roots of communal action enough yet and there's reasons we should. From our indio roots, come many traditions of councils of elders, some matrilineal, where it wasn't just one, big warrior who saved his people. Also, all latinidad have familial, even clan, traditions where mass action helps everyone survive (not to romanticize us as perfect). From the annual communal clearings of acequías in the Southwest to almost magical way families contribute to a tamalada, we have historically proven methods of accomplishing almost anything. If you've never seen one, try describing the dynamics of an Easter celebration at abuela's house.
One great, black author who went beyond the lone hero theme was Octavia Butler in her Parable of the Sower series where the Oya heroine begins a religion, a movement to "shape God and the universe." Now there's something mass(ive)--a peaceful, though not passive, movement.
Some Latino SF writers will explore developing our own themes to shape the future, something going beyond the lone hero, however much the Hero's Quest must be used as a narrative approach. I don't know all of what might come out of that. I do know the Afro-6 revolution isn't necessarily it, but not because I'm a pacifist. My first published novel began my thinking that I further developed in a just completed YA manuscript, Hearts bruised, dreams mended.
 |
| UC-Riverside grad students on panel |
But we don't need a new jefe, caudillo, chingón Supermacho imposing his will, followed around by his bodyguards, having his pick of the women, and leading and saving his people. A female one, either. We need Latino heroes and heroines for the 21st Century.
Dystopia, economic collapse, unaffordable college, homelessness, Global Warming catastrophes, even the heightened racism against immigrant and "legal" Latinos--this isn't some futuristic SF, it's what many young people face now and for their foreseeable futures. In our small way, Latino SF writers can give allchildren something--new themes, methods, paths. Hope. Esperanza. Poder. Fuerza. We can't follow in the footsteps of the East Coast, Anglo-male dominated publishing industry, anymore. We need our own Latinonautica, we need to show others a multinational effort for change, what Ernesto Hogan terms, "an international, Latino New Wave in speculative fiction."
2. La Bloga Spec Lit Directory
[Speculative literature = science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, a lo menos]
Below is the latest list of Latino spec novelists, only their first books, publishers, and websites in chronological order. I welcome contributions to making this more complete and current and will periodically update.
[Self-described: Chicano, Cubano, Hispanic, Mexicano, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Sudamericano, American y más, expanded as needed. ?? = undetermined by us. Publisher in parens.]
1922Campos de Fuego - breve narración de una expedición a la región volcánia de "El Pinacate", Sonora Gumersindo Esquer [M]. "A Mexican Jules Verne." This came out after the Border got put up, but we could claim Esquer as a precursor.
1969Afro-6, Hank Lopez. [MA?] (Dell Publishing) According to NYTimesobit, Lopez was "born in Denver of parents who had emigrated from Mexico." A futuristic thriller about a Black, armed take-over of Manhattan. [Copyright includes Harry Baron, not listed as co-author.]
1972 Bless Me, Última, Rudolfo A. Anaya (Ch] (Quinto Sol) http://www.neabigread.org/books/blessmeultima/readers-guide/about-the-author/
1976 Victuum,Isabella Rios. (Diana-Etna Inc.) Where psychic development epitomizes with the encounter of an outer-planetary being. O.O.P. 1978 The Road To Tamazunchale, Ron Arias (Ch) (Bilingual Press) http://www.amazon.com/Tamazunchale-Clasicos-Chicanos-Chicano-Classics/dp/0916950700
1984 The Rain God: A Desert Tale, Arturo Islas [Ch] (Alexandrian Press) http://business.highbeam.com/4352/article-1G1-18616692/historical-imagination-arturo-islas-rain-god-and-migrant"
1984 The War of Powers, Victor Milán [??] (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.) http://www.victormilan.com
1990Cortez on Jupiter, Ernest Hogan[Ch] (Tor Books) A Ben Bova Presentspublication. "Protagonist Pablo Cortez uses freefall grafitti art--splatterpainting--to communicate with Jupiter's gaseous forms of life." http://www.mondoernesto.com
1992 Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist, Kathleen Alcalá [Ch] (Calyx Books)
1993 Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel [Ch] (Random House Black Swan)
1993 Afterage, Yvonne Navarro [A] (Overlook Connection Press) http://www.yvonnenavarro.com/ Dark fantasy & horror.
1995The Fabulous Sinkhole, Jesus Treviño [Ch] (Arte Público Press) "Stories into magic realism: spunky teen Yoli Mendez performs quadratic equations in her head." Film/TV Director/Writer of Prison Break, Resurrection Blvd. Star Trek Voyager, Babylon Five, Deep Space Nine. http://chuytrevino.com/
2000 Clickers, J.F. Gonzalez [??] (DarkTales Publications) Horror. http://jfgonzalez.com/
2000Places left unfinished at the time of creation, John Phillip Santos [Ch] (Penguin Books) "A girl sees a dying soul leave its body; dream fragments, family remembrances and Chicano mythology reach back into time and place; a rich, magical view of Mexican-American culture." http://provost.utsa.edu/home/Faculty_Profile/Santos.asp
2000 Soulsaver, James Stevens-Arce [PR] (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) www.stevens-arce.com
2001 The New World Border, Guillermo Gomez-Peña [??] (City Lights Publishers) News reports from a borderless future where whites are a minority and the language is Spanglish.
2003 Matters of the Blood, Maria Lima (Cu-Am?] (Juno Books) http://www.marialima.com/
2004 Unspeakable Vitrine, Victoria Elisabeth Garcia [??] (Claw Foot Bath Dog Press) Chapbook collection of short magic realist fiction
2004 Devil Talk:Stories, Daniel A. Olivas [Ch] (Bilingual Press) These twenty-six stories bring us to a place once inhabited by Rod Serling . . . only the accents have changed; Latino fiction at its edgy, fantastical best. http://www.danielolivas.com
2004 Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys, Xavier Garza (Piñata Books)
2005The Skyscraper that Flew, Jesus Treviño (Arte Público Press). An enormous crystal skyscraper mysteriously appears in the Arroyo Grande's baseball field. Then the stories begin. http://chuytrevino.com/
2006 The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, Mario Acevedo [Ch] (Rayo Harper Collins) http://marioacevedo.com
2006Gil's All Fright Diner, A. Lee Martinez [A] (Tor) Born in El Paso, he has other books, but may not consider his books or himself anything latino. http://www.aleemartinez.com/
2007 Firebird, R. Garcia y Robertson [A] (Tor)
2007 Abecedarium, Carlos Hernandez [??] [w/D. Schneiderman] (Chiasmus Press) 2007 Moon Fever, Caridad Piñeiro [Cuban American] (Pocket Books) http://www.caridad.com/bio/" Paranormal romance.
2008 Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, Marta Acosta [L] (Pocket Star) http://www.martaacosta.com
2008 The King's Gold: An Old World Novel of Adventure, Yxta Maya Murray (Harper Paperbacks)
2009Lunar Braceros, Rosaura Sanchez, Beatrice Pita & Mario A. Chacon. (Calaca Press)
2012 The Witch Narratives, Belinda Vasquez Garcia, [??} (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform) http://www.belindavasquezgarcia.com/ The little-known world of Southwestern witchcraft.
2012 The Closet of Discarded Dreams, Rudy Ch. Garcia [Ch]. (Damnation Books) A Chicano alternate-world fantasy. Honorable Mention, SF/F category, 2012-13 International Latino Book Awards. Discarded-dreams.com 2012 Spirits of the Jungle, Shirley Jones [H] & Jacquelyn Yznaga [H] (Casa de Snapdragon)
2012 Virgins & Tricksters, Rosalie Morales Kearns [PR +Dutch] (Aqueous Books) Magic and folklore pop out of everyday encounters. http://rosaliemoraleskearns.wordpress.com
2012 Joe Vampire, Steven Luna (Booktrope Editions) [??] thestevenluna.wordpress.com
2012 Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall [Ch] (Tu Books) Pura Belpré Award winner; Andre Norton Award nominated. http://www.guadalupegarciamccall.com .
2012 Roachkiller and Other Stories, R. Narvaez [PR] (Beyond the Page Publishing) Winner of 2013 Spinetingler Award for Best Anthology/Short Story Collection and 2013 International Latino Book Award for Best eBook/Fiction.
2012 Salsa Nocturna, Daniel José Older [??] (Crossed Genres Publications) http://ghoststar.net
2012 Dancing With the Devil and Other Tales From Beyond, René Saldaña Jr. [MA] (Pinata Books) http://renesaldanajr.blogspot.com
2012 Ink, Sabrina Vourvoulias [L] (Crossed Genres Publications) http://followingthelede.blogspot.com
2013 The Miniature Wife & Other Stories, Manuel Gonzales [??] (Riverhead Books) www.facebook.com/pages/Manuel-Gonzales/110962335695879
2013 Spirits of the Jungle, Shirley Jones & Jacquelyn Yznaga [??] (Casa de Snapdragon)Kindle version, 2012.
2013 The Odd Fellows, Guillermo Luna [?] (Bold Strokes Books) http://friendshiploveandtruth.blogspot.com
2013 This Strange Way of Dying: Stories of Magic, Desire & the Fantastic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia [M] (Exile Editions) silviamoreno-garcia.com. Collection of fantasy, science fiction, horror—and time periods.
2013Infinity Ring: Curse of the Ancients, Matt de la Peña [??]. (middle-grade, Scholastic Inc.) "Sera sees the terrifying future, but can’t prevent the Cataclysm while stranded thousands of years in the past. The only hope lies with the ancient Maya, a mysterious people who claim to know a great deal about the future." http://mattdelapena.com
3. Websites relevant to the Latino SF workshop:
"Speculative fiction is at its core syncretic; this stuff doesn’t come out of nowhere. And it certainly didn’t "spring solely from the imaginations of a bunch of beardy old middle-class middle-American guys in the 1950s." from N.K. Jemisin's Continuum GoH speech last year in Australia, calling for "a Truth in Reconciliation commission, such as encouraging blind submissions, demanding diverse characters on book covers. Women and people of color have our own suggestions for change. . . . Who has the greater stake in teaching mainstream U.S. sci-fi "how to be multicultural, and in tune with the world?" Women and POC have learned from the mistakes and successes in sci-fi "to truly become the literature of the world’s imagination."
"55% of young adult books purchased in 2012 were bought by adults between 18 and 44 years old, according to Bowker Market Research.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG aka Rudy Ch. Garcia
By: Contributing Bloguistas:,
on 2/28/2014
Blog:
La Bloga
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Mario Acevedo,
speculative fiction,
Rolando Hinojosa,
writers conference,
Ernest Hogan,
jesus treviño,
chicano authors,
beatrice pita,
guillermo luna,
latino sci-fi,
odd fellows,
rosaura sanchez,
Add a tag
Latino Sci-Fi1-day Conference!
University of Calif.-Riverside
Wed. April 30, 2014
To my knowledge, this is the first event dedicated to Latino Sci-Fi Lit. I'm excited by the possibilities. Given some of the presenting authors, I would guess that other Latino Spec Lit might also be discussed.
Please help spread the word to those interested in Latino SciFi. If you are in the L.A. area and can attend, come and add your input, por favor. You can check the presenters' websites for their works.
The event will be free and open to the public. More info on LaBloga as it becomes available and at UC-Riverside's calendar.
by Guillermo Luna
[What follows is a response to Rudy Ch. Garcia’s blog post, A Latino’s Chance in Hell of getting published? La Bloga understands that every author's career is unique. Some La Bloga's authors have agents or are seeking one. This guest post describes Luna's experience with the companies mentioned and the decisions he made about lit agents.]
I found Rudy Garcia’s post interesting because I was able to get my book published in December of 2013 and it was the first book I had ever written. In retrospect, it wasn’t nearly as hard as it should have been. The way I went about getting published was like this: first, I tried to figure out what would be commercial. I was reading Draculaby Bram Stoker at the time so I figured maybe I should write a book about a monster. You can’t go wrong with monsters, right? I also had no desire to write literary fiction since “pretty” sentences aren’t my game. I’m too manly for pretty sentences. Snork!
My writing began in 2008 but the biggest surprise about the whole writing process occurred in 2010 when I bought the 2010 Writers Market book and subsequently discovered that nobody wanted to read my book. The nobodies I’m referring to in that sentence are agents.
In 2010 my book, The Odd Fellows, wasn’t ready to be read by anyone but like all first time writers I was eager to get it published and fantasized that my book would sell millions of copies. Wisely, I wasn’t completely delusional and continued to rewrite my book for another 2 years even as I sent it out. I created an excel spreadsheet in order to keep track of where my book went and how the individuals who received it responded. I would suggest all writers do this.
Agents and publishers usually wanted between 5 pages and the entire book submitted to them for review. That’s what I sent to a total of 26 agents and publishers. (I submitted my book to Arte Publico Press twice because I was sure they would publish it. I was wrong. Foundry Literary+Media responded twice even though I only submitted once. They wanted to drive home that “no,” I guess.) I did receive a yes from Txxx publishing (even though they hadn’t read my entire book) but they required that I pay a fee to have my book publish. I don’t remember how much it was but it was somewhere around $2,100.00. I said, “No, thank you” but I did, crazily, consider it.
I also received a yes from Axxxxxxx Bay (even though they didn’t read my entire book either) but that publisher wanted to know how many Facebook friends I had and wanted me to acknowledge everyone I knew in the book’s acknowledgements because, “each and every one of those people will buy a copy of your book.” Also, he didn’t want to edit my book. He wanted me to find someone to edit my book (and pay for this service). I figured if I was going to pay to have my book edited I should self-publish and take all the profits. The final strike against this publisher was when I looked at the mug shots of the writers on the publisher’s website. All had long, unhappy faces. I’m way too happening to be part of a group like that!
Ten months later I signed a contract with Bold Strokes Books. I was certainly apprehensive about signing the contract (because I had never been in this situation before) and it took me almost a month to sign but it was a very smart move on my part. At every step along the way Bold Strokes Books allowed me to have the final say. The book that I wrote and that Bold Strokes Books published, The Odd Fellows, is the book I wanted “out there.”
The Odd Fellows is the book that was in my head. I’m very fortunate that I found a publisher for my book and what helped me get there was a book called, Ditch the Agent by Jack King. If I hadn’t stumbled upon his website I might still be unpublished. It never really occurred to me that publishers might look at a manuscript without an agent yet some publishers are willing to do just that. Jack King’s website pointed that out to me. I stumbled upon Jack King’s website sometime in September of 2011 because from that point on I no longer contacted agents. Instead, I contacted publishers. Between September 2011 and June 2012 I contacted six publishers, two said yes and I signed with one of them, Bold Strokes Books.
Advice I would give new writers would be:
1) Continue to rewrite your book even as you send it out. It can always be better.
2) Make an excel spreadsheet of who you send it to and their response. This alleviates confusion.
3) Don’t waste time trying to get an agent. Go directly to publishers.
I honestly feel God was looking out for me the day I stumbled onto Jack King’s website. I don’t know if Heaven is a place on earth but it felt like I was in heaven when I held my book in my hands for the very first time.
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG
