GUERRILLA MURAL REVIEWS AND REACTIONS

Ever since Tor failed to send out review copies of High Aztech for mysterious reasons, I get anxious about reviews.

Seeing reviews, like holding a copy of a book in your hands, is more solid proof that, yes, this chingadera actually has been published. I’m a “real” writer, not some loser scribbling away for my own deranged amusement.

So far, there has only been one review of Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories, on Amazon, and it’s a good one:

 

Ernest Hogan is one of the best fiction writers you've probably never read; which is tragic, since you inevitably need more of what he has, guaranteed.

This is one of the best single author short story collections in the past decade.

There's cyberpunk, werewolves, Aztec gods, culture recomboid nuttiness, and just plain wild flights of imagination.

Non-stop fun, not a boring story in the collection.

Cheap at twice the price; Ernest makes fiction fun again!” 

- Paulie

 

My favorite kind of review, a string of quotable sentences. You’d be surprised how academics can write an entire paper, and not come up with one phrase that I can exploit.

 

Just one review, and two ratings on Amazon, and one rating on Goodreads. I need more. . .

Yeah, I understand that it takes time for professional reviewers to get around to something, but reactions are important to me. Writing isn’t alive until it’s touched someone.

Thank Tezcatlipoca for the social media. Just while I start feeling down, I get feedback.

Here are some from Facebook:

 

Like a Madhatter’s guided trip thru a kaleidoscope!

 - Laura Crawford

Congratulations to Ernest Hogan on his new collection of 15 gonzo science fiction stories, Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song. And I would be remiss not to mention the first edition of his novel, Smoking Mirror Blues, is still available through Wordcraft of Oregon. Read him and find much delight. 

- David Memmott 

 

I ordered this 3 days ago. Two days ago it was created in Monee IL and shipped, and it arrived today. Great stuff!  

- Chris DeVito

In case you were unaware, Guerrilla Mural of A Siren Song is on the BSFA Award longlist for Best Collection. 

Just bought it so I can read it before I make my nominations.

- Ole Andreas Imsen

 

I used the title story, "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song," in my Alien Contact anthology, which was published by Night Shade Books in 2011. 

- Marty Halpern

 

I love it! Fun, offbeat tales from a Mexican future. The old Gods are made new, the old haters find new tricks, and the vatos always find a path forward. Beautiful lush prose and crazy diversity in the storylines and characters. Thank you for enlightening and entertaining me. Your intros offer a revealing look into your twisted mind and in themselves are worth the price of the book.

 - Tom Banger

 

It's apparently Ernest Hogan day at the US Latinx Science Fiction Collection, and why not? His collection arrived among new books bought for archiving. It's been longlisted for Best Collection by the British Science Fiction Association and the stories I already know here are excellent--you should get your hands on it! I was also responding to edits on a chapter I wrote for Los Angeles: A Literary History, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, on Science Fiction in SoCal. I was happy to point to native son Hogan’s achievements--his novel Cortez on Jupiter (1990) is the first US Latinx sf novel from a major genre press--beside local sf luminaries from the LA Sprawl like Octavia Butler and Ray Bradbury. I'll be teaching his funny and profound "Chicanonautica Manifesto" next week in my Afro- and Latinxfuturisms course this term. And I know a student will pick this book for an assigned end of term video review! I advise you to check this book out! 

- David Sandner

Meanwhile, keep those comments coming.