by
Ernest Hogan
So
it's not just me. Things are happening here in Azltán, the Aztec
homeland, the part of the United States of America that was once
Mexico. The future has arrived, and it's firing imaginations.
It
started with a post by Rudy Ch. Garcia, Spic vs spec – 1. Chicanos/latinos & sci-fi lit, in La Bloga about his
story “Last Call for Ice Cream” in the webzine Flurb. A
critic said, “It has so much slang that it become tiresome very
quickly.” After a few brain clicks, Rudy asked, “Do
Chicanos/latinos read sci-fi?” and “How many are writing sci-fi?
Should more latinos be writing it?
This
got responses from science fiction writing Latinos that triggered
Spic vs spec – 2. providing some
background, and answering questions from the readers.
So
I had to devote my next Chicanonautica column (every first and second
Thurday in La Bloga), to Sci-Fi Evolution and Revolution in the Global Barrio in
which I gave examples of science fictional art and even polticial
discussion, gave some advice to aspiring scifiistas, and even plugged
The Future Fire and
We See a Different
Frontier.
In
Spic vs spec – 3. Rudy went on to ask about where
science fiction readers are (both Anglo and Latino), the need for
entry-level books in the genre, and that “future jobs will be
filled by someone who will likely have an interest in sci-fi lit.”
The
series ended with Spic vs spec – 4.
Rudy got a response from a publisher that was interested in, and
had published multicultural science fiction and fantasy for, the young adult audience and gave a nod to David Macinnis Gill's Black
Hole Sun, a YA about a Latino
mercenary on Mars.
I
went on with another Chicanonautica, Chewing Scifiista Holes in the Tortilla Curtain with links to blogs dealing with
science fiction, fantasy, and horror in Spanish, plus a few others to
help rescue sci-fi from the monocultural ghetto.
And
not to be outdone, Rudy announced the approaching publication of his
novel, The Closet of Discarded Dreams, a post-cyberpunk tour-de-force that boldly demonstrates how
Chicano is a science fiction state of being.
Things
have being stirred up. I hope some writers who hadn't considered
science fiction as a possibility are creating visions of the future
the likes of which no one has ever seen.
And
I encourage those of you who haven't checked out La Bloga to do
so. Some very interesting things are happening there.
Ernest
Hogan is the author of the pioneering Chicano science fiction novel
Cortez on Jupiter.
His infamous short story “The Frankenstein Penis” has recently
become available in the anthology Love That Never Dies.
His blog is Mondo Ernesto.