Saturday, June 28, 2014

Vegas Latino Book Awards & Una en Canadá

When my first novel The Closet of Discarded Dreams, a Chicano fantasy, received honorable mention last year, I felt lucky and honored. I'm not a contender this year, since I haven't had a novel published since. Still, on-screen, I can remember the feeling and hope some of my acquaintances do well, in my place. But only this year, remember.

Over the ruido of Las Vegas slots, the 2014 International Latino Book Award finalists will be announced this weekend. Here's some special Gritos! for books of friends, and contributors to La Bloga (may they have better luck on-stage than they do at the roulette table):

Señor Pancho Had a Rancho, René Colato Laínez

Noldo and his Magical Scooter at the Battle of The Alamo, Armando B. Rendón

Our Lost Border: Essays on Life Amid the Narco-Violence, Sarah Cortez & Sergio Troncoso

What the Tide Brings, Xánath Caraza

Good Money Gone, Mario Acevedo [w/Richard Kilborn]

Mañana Means Heaven, Tim Z. Hernandez

Desperado: A Mile High Noir, Manuel Ramos

The Old Man’s Love Story, Rudolfo Anaya

Ghosts of the Black Rose, Land of Enchantment 2, Belinda Vasquez Garcia

Reyes Cárdenas: Chicano Poet 1970-2010, Reyes Cárdenas


Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Another latina finalist. In Canada!

The novel This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was short-listed for The Sunburst Award Society for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, 2014.

The Sunburst Award jury said: "Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s short story collection This Strange Way of Dying is a grimoire of the beautifully macabre, capable of summoning up strange worlds imbued with the secret fears and thrills we try to bury in shadow. Moreno-Garcia’s words on the page whisper sweet seductions, inviting the reader to open doorways to her or his subconscious and become familiar with things that have been estranged.

This Strange Way of Dying bridges the divides between science fiction, horror, and fantasy, opening readers to the overall power of the uncanny, whether through Lovecraftian stories of summoning darkness, feathered snakes, vampires, necromancers, resurrected soldiers, witchcraft, or tales of murder and betrayal. Silvia Moreno-Garcia makes the mundane magical, the normal strange, and points out the macabre foundations of our social myths. This Strange Way of Dying opens funhouse mirrors, revealing for the reader her or his own distorted image, changed by the experience of reading.

Sylvia Moreno-Garcia is a writer, editor, and publisher who was born in Mexico but now lives in British Columbia. This Strange Way of Dying is her first collection; her debut novel, Signal to Noise, will be published in 2015.

BIG Lástima:

On Facebook I claimed I'd be featured in an NPR broadcast yesterday. I lied. Due to broadcast quality, it didn't happen. Sorry, because it might have been my fault, what with doing the phone interview outside on the patio and my dog's barking.  See last Saturday's post for info I would've given.

Es todo, hoy,
RudyG, aka Chicano fantasy author Rudy Ch. Garcia

2 comments:

Giora said...

As a Canadian writing a romantic novel set mostly in Mexico, it's nice to see Sylvia Moreno-Garcia from Canada doing well with her novel. And, one of the best Mariachi Band from Canada was invited recently to tour in China.

Anonymous said...

gracias for the plug on reyes' book, carnal rudy. he won honorable mention. hope you and your familia are doing well. juan