Friday, June 28, 2024

CHICANONAUTICA HANGS WITH ALIENÍGENAS AMERICANOS



Don’t know how legal they are, but they’re out of this world, from a book reviewed in Chicanonautica, at La Bloga.


We’re talkng UFOs:



Over South America:



And Mexico:



Plus chupacabras, and more:


Thursday, June 20, 2024

THE GONZO SCIFIISTA TEACHES AGAIN!


Are you a writer in the Latinoid Continuum with a dangerous imagination who missed my “Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style” class at the Palabras del Pueblo Writing Workshop in the Spring, or even if you know such a person, good news–I’m doing it again in the Fall!


It’ll be the first two weekends of October: October 5, 6 and October 12, 13 at 9am to 1pm Pacific. And it's on Zoom.

 


I’m sticking with the gonzo title because I figured I could keep plugging Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories, and I can keep it freeform, centering it on what the students want.


I could even talk about creative nonfiction with mentions of my piece in Our Creative Realidades, and Chicanofuturism, as in the upcoming Chicanofuturism: El Porvenir, ¡Ya!  II that will feature a new story about Paco Cohen, Mariachi of Mars. Yeah, it’ll get weird.


Just another way to help encourage fantastic fiction from brains infected by the Lationoid virus, to make culture on this planet spicier!



Friday, June 14, 2024

CHICANONAUTICA CHERCHEZES THE WHITHER GOEST THOU AMERICA WEIRDENESS

 


What’s Chicanonautica cherchezing over at La Bloga?


The election in Arizona:



Remember Trent Franks?

 


Who the hell is Abe Hamadeh?



And meanwhile, across the border . . .


Thursday, June 6, 2024

INSTAGRAMED AND WIKIPEDIAED



A publisher once dismissed my audience as a “noisy minority.” Since then I’ve been advising all minorities to make more noise. I make a lot of noise myself.


The recent post here featuring Jan Karlo’s post about Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories on Instagram shows how this can make things happen. Karlo has since posted another one about High Aztech, with another great quote:


Another great trippy sci-fi read that takes you to different cities and planets, painting a psychedelic world similar to blade runner. The virus that acts as the real main character is a great vessel for the theme and message of the novel.


When I put it on Facebook, it got more quotable reactions:


And it's true. You created an entire Genre! And will be remembered. Now if they could just heap that pile O cash at your feet now, that would be great! - Selina Phanara


And:


This novel is so f*&^%g good I once let two stoned guys at a Con talk themselves into believing that *I* had written it under my pseudonym of Ernest Hogan.- Don Webb


I will be exploiting them all soon . . .



And that’s not all, I’ve also been written into a Wikipedia article, Speculative Fiction by Writers of Color, in the section on U.S Latino Authors Contributions of Speculative Fiction:


. . . Ernest Hogan comments on how being Chicano helped his speculative writing because being a Chicano is a science fiction state of being, since Chicanos exist between two cultures. Hogan integrated his Chicano culture into his work to reflect how different worlds can collide into stories while highlighting the struggle of trying to feel connected to a specific culture.


 And in the Chicano Futurism Theme/Authors section:


Chicano futurism is an emerging and vibrant community within U.S. literature and media. Latino speculative fiction, in particular, has witnessed a remarkable surge in popularity and creativity. An illustrative example of this phenomenon is found in "Smoking Mirror Blues" by Ernest Hogan. This work not only captivates readers with its imaginative narrative but also delves deeply into the complexities of Western rationalism, which is deeply entrenched in the patriarchal history of modernity and colonialism.


Again, very exploitable, and fitting into my diabolical plans with my being in the forthcoming Chicanofuturism Now anthology . . .