Spic vs spec - 3. Chicanos/latinos & sci-fi lit

by Rudy Ch. Garcia
continued from last week's post. . .

In the previous installment of this series, I promised to go into the importance of Guadalupe Garcia McCall's [Pura Belpre Award Winner] statement: "We definitely, absolutely, positively need more Hispanics writing SF."

There's nothing esoteric to her words. But, to better explain their import to Latino writers who don't write SF, I'll use an article by Nebula Award nominee, Jason Sanford, who asked, "Where Are All the Science Fiction Readers?" Understand that in the main, the readers he refers to are Anglo. I bolded relevant sections that could interest you the Latino writer.

"In the 1940s and 50s, the 'Heinlein juveniles' by Robert A. Heinlein introduced an entire generation to science fiction. This also laid the groundwork for science fiction’s domination of the literary best-seller lists in the 1970s and early 1980s. During this time authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, and others routinely published best-sellers and were paid massive advances for their novels. The reason for this was simple: The audience for these authors had been introduced to science fiction as young people. Now that they were grown up, they wanted more science fiction and had the money to buy what they desired.

"My own view on why most people don’t read science fiction literature is that 1) There are few entry-level science fiction novels being published these days; and 2) Many of today’s science fiction novels require a certain level of SF literacy before you can read them.

"There's a famous saying in SF fandom that 'the golden age of science fiction is 12,' meaning readers first learn to love science fiction as young people. However, in today’s marketplace there are relatively few current SF novels aimed at young readers (with the exception of dystopian novels, like The Ember series by Jeanne Duprau and The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, and movie tie-in novels related to Star Wars and Star Trek). Contrast this with the fantasy genre, where it sometimes seems like half of all the novels published are aimed at young readers.

"Unfortunately, without entry-level science fiction novels to read, newcomers can find it difficult to learn to love SF."

A 2001 National Science Foundation survey stated this in other terms:
"Interest in science fiction may be an important factor in leading men and women to become interested in science as a career. . . Scientists often say they were inspired to become scientists by their keen interest in science fiction as children. . . The positive relationships that exist between reading science fiction and level of education, number of math and science courses completed, and attentiveness to science and technology are … predictable."

There's also a tie-in to how few of brown children strive for careers in science, technology, engineering and math [STEM], relating to low high school graduation rates and generally doing poorly in math and science. So that, "Getting Latino kids excited about science and math seems daunting."

How bad has this been? Of the 15,000 PhDs in science and engineering in 1975, only 151 were granted to latinos--1%. In 1989, of over 15,000 PhDs, 387 went to latinos - 2.6%. In 2009, of 21,000 PhDs, 5.4% or 1,131.

If we tie all this together, here's what I come up with:

• There's a big niche today in YA sci-fi lit
• This niche once provided a market for bestsellers
• There's a huge niche in latino sci-fi of all age levels
• Writing sci-fi for a YA audience has led to an adult market in sci-fi
• Reader interest in YA sci-fi can lead to STEM careers
• STEM professionals have jobs and money to buy adult books.

The national association SACNAS [advancing Hispanics, Chicanos and Native Americans in Science] originated out of the 70s political movements. [Remember:151 latino PhDs in '75!] Based on the above information, they should be interested in promoting sci-fi literature, from a long-term standpoint. You latino writers who created El Movimiento might have the same interest, in the short term, as well.

What I've presented above is no scientifically based survey nor dissertation-level proof of why present-day latino writers should take advantage of these niches. There are of course contemporary conditions that make us different from the last century. But the economy is NOT one of them. "There are 3.2 million available jobs in this country in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. Right now. Today. This moment."

Those, and future jobs, will be filled by someone who will likely have an interest in sci-fi lit. If they are latino and there are no latino YA and adult novels for them to buy and read, they will turn elsewhere for books, as Ernest Hogan and I were forced it.

Am I suggesting that latino writers suddenly focus on sci-fi? Not necessarily. However, I'd expect that Junot Diaz's use of sci-fi [and fantasy] in his Oscar Wao will attract some sci-fi latino readers and possibly create others. That alone works toward building a readership today, and in the future. What I am suggesting is for established authors and aspiring writers not to automatically discount this genre as being irrelevant to latino readers. There are also different sci-fi elements that can be used in stories. Every tale doesn't need to be rocket-science level.

If we wait for new young latino writers to appear who do have that interest, we'll possibly have only limited our present-day prospects. In the meantime, if a flurry of Anglo authors turn their interest in this direction, I really don't want to hear criticism about how they should stick to their own. Literature, like Nature, abhors a vacuum; it gets filled by those who get there first, and best.

[to be continued next week, here]

And always remember to "make good art."
Es todo, hoy,
RudyG

Rudy Ch. Garcia's magic realism tale, Mr. Sumac, about an old guy who raises the tree-weed will appear in AQC Books' journal, Kingdom Freaks and Other Divine Wonders, altho he's not been informed if it's featured as one of the freaks or the wonders. You can go here to preview it or here for a lit bio.