PABLO CORTEZ IN POLAND

Yup, that's my name on the Hobbit-festooned cover of the January 2013 issue of Nowa Fantastyka – you can see if you squint hard enough. Inside you'll be able to find “Partyzancki Mural Syreniej Pieśni” – “Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song” translated into Polish!

Thanks to the story's appearence in Marty Halpern's Alien Contact, Marcin Zwierzchowski got in touch and asked for permission. I like it when they do that.

So Pablo Cortez has been turned loose on Eastern Europe. Maybe it will result in more copies of my science fiction novel/street art manual Cortez on Jupiter selling. Or there could even be interesting images mysteriously appearing on walls over there.

Let the art, life, and madness go on!

Just in time for the Great 2012 Holiday Crunch!

CHICHANONAUTICA CELEBRATES THE NEW BAKTÚN

At 6:12 A.M. Eastern Standard Time it happened – the Winter Solstice, and the end of the Mayan calendar. Some thought it would be the End of the World. It was actually the end of Baktún 13 and the beginning of Baktún 14, and the Long Count started over again. It is a new era – the Sixth Sun.

That's what my latest Chicanonautica over at La Bloga is all about. Here are some videos to watch as the world keeps going on:

A lot of folks were as hot for the End of the World as Major Kong was for the Bomb:

They're probably feeling like Skeeter Davis today:

Arthur Brown also blew relationship troubles up to apocalyptic proportions:

And Barry McGuire thought it was the Eve of Destruction:

But that was a long time ago and, of course, he was wrong.

As for the Maya:

So have a great Baktún14! Welcome to the Sixth Sun!

MAKING THE COATLICUE/GUADALUPE CONNECTION BEFORE THE NEW BAKTUN

The Holiday Season is upon us. Or as I like to call it – the Holidaze.

It's a little crazier this year, since the end of the Mayan Calendar has a lot of misinformed people thinking that it means asteroid collisions and the zombie apocalypse, when it's just the beginning of a new baktun.

But there are a lot of other holidays in this season (not to offend some Christians who dream of world domination). I seem to discover a few new ones each year.

A young, upstart holiday that deserves some attention is December 12, Virgin of Guadalupe Day.

In my novel High Aztech (manifesting as an ebook soon!) I pointed out that the Virgin seems to be standing in for the Aztec Goddess Coatlicue.

Lately, I've been pleased to see that others have been pointing out the Mother Goddess connection.

My wife said that that the Virgin seems to be a user-friendly version. At least, more so to our culture.

It's like the Virgin was an updating of the software for a changing world. Software that updated itself. I wonder what kind of technology we're dealing with here?

And the world is changing. Again. As usual.

I wonder if what kind of updating we'll see in Baktun 14?

CHICANONAUTICA LOOKS BACK AT THE DARK AGES OF LATINO WRITING

In response to the question “Is this a Golden Age for Latino writers?” Chicaonautica, over at La Bloga looks back at my adventures as a young Latino writer back in the 20^th century.

This was a time when most Americanos thought of Chicano culture in terms of Cheech and Chong:

And the ol' Brown Buffalo, Oscar Zeta Acosta, AKA “Dr. Gonzo” was stomping the terra:

South of the Border, René Cardona was commitng some of the most outrageous acts of cinema ever. This one has nudity, fake gore, and real heart transplant footage:

And let's take the opportunity to pay tribute to the great Spain Rodriguez, who died recently:

SECRETS OF MY AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

I finally got my Amazon Author Page done. It's a good guide for those of you who are collecting my work, or planning on giving the gift of Ernesto this Christmas/Atemoztli/New Baktun Season.

Most obvious are my novels Cortez on Jupiter, and Smoking Mirror Blues now available in Kindle Editions. Yeah, High Aztech is coming soon – I'm working on it, proofreading that Españáhuatl until my eyes are bloodshot. Stay tuned for details and updates!

The other items on the page are anthologies and magazines I have contributed to, so some explanation is required.

Alien Contact, edited by Marty Halpern included my story “Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song” – the story that I later exploded into Cortez on Jupiter.

My most infamous story, “The Frankenstein Penis” once again available in Love that Never Dies edited by M. Christain, an anthology of paranormal erotica on Kindle. And if you'd rather have it in hardcopy, the original Semiotext(e) SF edited by Rudy Rucker, Robert Anton Wilson, and Peter Lanborn Wilson is still available.

“Plan 9 in Outer Space,” a collaboration with my wife, Emily, is in Space Horrors: Full-Throttle Space Tales #4, edited by David Lee Summers. It's a tribute to Edward D. Wood, Jr. with zombies on a spaceship. Need I say more?

2020 Visions, edited by Rick Novy not only has my wild romp about radioactive marijuana, “Radiation is Groovy, Kill the Pigs,” but also my wife's speculative weight-loss drama, “If the Sun's at Five O'Clock, It Must be Yellow Daisies.”

Angel Body and Other Magic for the Soul, edited by Chris Reed and David Memmott, has an ahead-of-its-time satire of Arizona and border hysteria called “Burrito Meltdown.”

“Coyote Goes Hollywood” that plugs Native American mythology into Hollywood cartoonery is in Witpunk, edited by Claude Lalumière and Marty Halpern.

Tales of the Talisman, Volume 6, Issue 3, is where you can find “The Great Mars-A-Go-Go Mexican Standoff,” where I introduce Spike Gerswhin, interplanetary gumshoe.

In Voices for the Cure: A Speculative Fiction Anthology to Benefit the American Diabetes Association, edited by James Palmer, I introduced another character, Victor Theremin, the science fiction who writer who can no longer tell his life from sci-fi. He was also in the abovementioned “Radiation is Groovy, Kill the Pigs.”

All these stories have that special Ernesto madness, so consume away! Keep the Americano potlatch flowing!

CHICANONAUTICA FACES THE ARIZONA ELECTION FALLOUT

My latest Chicanonautica over at La Bloga looks at the fallout of the election in Arizona – and of course, it spills over beyond the borders.

This one goes out to Joe Arpiao on his re-election:

Here a flash of the reaction at the University of Mississippi:

Meanwhile dissatified Americanos in all fifty states 
have signed petitions to secede from the Union:

I think everybody's gotta lighten up:

KEEP ARIZONA WEIRD!

Yá át ééh, amigos!

Yes, I live in Arizona.

You've been hearing a lot about this state in the news lately.

People often ask, “How can you stand living in such a horrible place?”

Actually I love living here.

The current politilcal turmoil is just the frosting of a layer cake that goes down to the center of the earth, and back before dinosaurs roamed these deserts.

Weirdness all the way down, and all the way up into outer space.

It's inspiring!

Everywhere I go in Arizona, I find something that sends my sci-fi Chicano mind spinning off into a creative tangent.

The landscape itself is hallucinogenic.

And what it causes human beings to do!

It allows me to be the best rampaging, dadaistic, hoodoo Chichmec that I can be.

Keep Arizona weird!

CHICANONAUTICA REPORTS ON ARIZONA ELECTION DELIRIUM

Over at La Bloga, Chicanonautica reports on how the election is affecting the psyches of the citizens of Arizona.

Here' a salute to how things use to be:

And Joe Arpaio is still protecting Maricopia County:

After all, there's a border war going on:

And what about those aliens?

Even fast food corporations are eager to cash in on the situation:

PRIZE-WINNING JOURNALIST INTERVIEWS ERNESTO

DA Kentner got in touch with me just in time for Dead Daze. I reveal inside information about my career, and tell of upcoming projects while trying to be witty. Read it now!

FREE SMOKING MIRROR BLUES ON DEAD DAZE!

Got a Kindle? Get Smoking Mirror Blues for FREE! $0.00!

Hurry, because this deal is only happening from October 31^st – Halloween – to November 3^rd – NOT the 4^th like I mistakingly said in a couple of postings (I really should catch some rest this weekend). This takes us through los Días de los Muertos, with an extra Saturday. Download early and often.

Yes, Dead Daze is alive and well . . .

SEXY SMOKING MIRROR BLUES GUEST POST ALERT

I've got a guest post over at the Sleeping Hedgehog telling the inside story of how the tantric sex scene in the beginning of Smoking Mirror Blues scared away a cover artist. It's called “Curse of the Glittering Vagina, Or, How Tantric Yoga Cost Me a Cover.”

This was the first edition of Smoking Mirror Blues, a trade paperback that's still available from Wordcraft of Oregon.

I didn't think I was writing a “dirty” book, but it's amazing how many of the reviewers thought to warn potential readers about the sex:

There are touches of erotica here too, which might offend some longtime SF readers . . . James Palmer, Strange Horizons 

Hogan comes right at you with graphic depictions of sex . . . Jack Mangan, SF Reader.Com 

. . . really brings the diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation of the characters. SciFiLatino.com

. . . full of sex of many kinds, including tantric . . . Green Man Review

So, consider yourself warned.

CHICANONAUTICA ANNOUNCES THE SMOKING MIRROR BLUES/DEAD DAZE DEAL

Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga, is announcing a special Dead Daze deal: From October 31^st to November 4^th you'll be able to get my novel Smoking Mirror Blues for free! It's chock full of Sex! Violence! Religion! Politics! Brain-zapping music! An Aztec god running amok in a futuristic Hollywood! Just the thing to read on your Halloween/Días de los Muertos weekend!

To get you in the mood here's some Dead Daze-y videos:

Here's the traditional Días:

And the Dead Daze interface:

Megaofrendas are growing into marco-ofrendas:

And going wild in the streets:

PREHISTORY OF SMOKING MIRROR BLUES

Smoking Mirror Blues has a long prehistory, and went through some bizarre transformations before it became the novel it is today. An earlier, shorter version of it was published back in the July 1993 issue of Science Fiction Age thanks to editor Scott Edelman.

Here's a closer view of the corner with my name:

“Cybergod in L.A.” is headlinese for the actual title of the story, “Tezcatlipoca Blues.” According to Jamie Todd Rubin, "This was the first and only Ernest Hogan story that I have ever read and at first I didn't think I was going to like it but in the end I did."

I was struggling to sell it as a novel with that title. After a few phone calls in which I got to hear New Yorkers struggle to pronounce Tezcatlipoca, I decided to translate the wizard/warrior's name into English.

“Tezcatlipoca Blues” has a wonderful illustration by Fred DeVita

Fred called the painting “Beto.” I have a framed copy of it in my house. His electronic teponaztle and Beto are pretty much dead on.

Fred has dropped off the interweb radar. Anybody know what happened to him? I can't seem to take a few steps without running into another mystery.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's Tezcatlipoca.

CHICANONAUTICA MEETS THE RETURN OF SMOKING MIRROR BLUES

This time Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga, is devoted to the return of Smoking Mirror Blues as an ebook on Kindle Select. Click over there for all the exciting details.

Have a good look at the mask of Tezcalipoca, the novel's “hero.” Yes, it is made out of a real human skull:

And here's a musical tribute to the Mirror That Smokes, and a few other Aztec gods:

Since it's all about the collision of Halloween and Día de los Muertos, fusing into Dead Daze:

Did you know about megaofrendas?

Getting sci-fi futuristic, how about ofrenda art out of recycled materials?

SMOKING MIRROR BLUES ON KINDLE!

Tezcatlipoca is smiling. Smoking Mirror Blues is back via Kindle KDP Select, so you can not only buy it, but Amazon Prime members can borrow it through the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, and I'll be doing a special Dead Daze giveaway promotion during the Halloween/Día de los Muertos weekend.

Though if you can't wait, go ahead and buy it. Tezcatlipoca and I will both smile.

This is an experiment to see how the KDP Select thing works. Everything is experimental these days – especially if you're a writer. I'll report on how it works out.

Meanwhile, I'll be doing some serious self-promotion. Or is that book promotion? Or Tezcatlipoca promotion?

Let the games begin!

RIDING WILD DOWN HIGHWAY 60

“She was such a pretty corpse that I kept her around for a while.”

Em was talking about a praying mantis she once saved from a black widow. After that, the mantis would ride around on her shoulder when she worked in the garden.  Eventually she died, and Em kept her body until it disintegrated.

We were zooming down Highway 60.

We passed a place that was freshly painted white with huge, bright red letters that said JESUS SALVA. “Jesus Saves” in Spanish. Or was it somebody's name? A religious retreat? A cult headquarters? Or the location for a horror movie?

When we arrived at the Nature Conservancy's Hassayampa River Preserve, I noticed a head stone with MURDERED on it. It was the final resting place of the Barney Martin, his wife, and two sons who were killed in 1886. A bit of bloody Wild West history.

In the preserve's visitor's center Em said,“What a pretty tarantula!”

We had to wait for a pair of cows to move on before we hit the trails. “It'll be okay, as long as you stay out of their line of sight,” a volunteer said. It got me thinking about the mechanics of bullfighting, as we passed the RATTLESNAKE ALERT sign.

I wasn't expecting to find datura here, but it was all over. At one point, it was a jungle with the devil's trumpet as far as the eye cold see. This is what the plant does in its natural habitat. Some of the flowers were as big as four inches across. Black insects crawled on the white petals.

There was also a marijuana-like scent in the air. And spectacular fungal colonization of certain trees. And lots of large ants, black and red, scrambling around the trails where a lot of the footprints were non-human.

There was place full of giant, rust-covered dinosaurs as we entered Wickenburg.

“We better not stop there,” said Em.

“Yeah, we may find something we want,” I agreed.

We were also greeted by an abandoned motel with a RE-ELECT SHERIFF JOE ARPIO sign, and a tire place with an inflatable Bigfoot.

In town, we kept mistaking painted statues in of Old West characters for real people. One was chained to Wickenburg's Jail Tree, where outlaws were chained “for lack of a hoosegow” from 1863 to 1890. They say no one ever escaped.

After chicken-fried steak sandwiches at the Golden Nugget Restaurant, we got back on Highway 60, and discovered that a section of it was adopted by The Doom Family. Could it be the Doctor Doom? We looked carefully, but there was no sign of Doctor, the Missus, and the little Doomies picking up roadside litter.

We had trouble finding Vulture Mine Road, and Vulture Peak Road, but eventually found the trailhead near the volcanic neck, were we got our tramping-through-the-desert fix before zigzagging our way back to Phoenix.

It was a pretty day.