Getting your only unpublished story published

Last fall I posted A taste of 3 Chicano spec stories, with the openings to three of my unpublished spec-fiction works, including, "How Five-Gashes-Tumbling Chaneco Earned the Nickname." Last week it was announced that WolfSinger Publications will include it in their Diverse Weird Western anthology (title, TBA), edited by Cynthia Ward. It will be about my tenth traditionally published piece of fiction.

For me, this is a great accomplishment because it's the last(!) of my oldest unpublished short stories, not counting a collection about Weird Ronnie [one of which won first prize in Britain] that you might yet read one day. This leaves me with only two newer ones seeking homes in print.

That accomplishment doesn't make me special, but it should send a message to all writers to not give up. To revise. To improve their art. To send stories out. To not give up, no matter how unprivileged you might rightly feel.

The setting that inspired 5-Gashes

I might be a little special in the number of genres I've covered: sci-fi, magical realism, fantasy, alternate-world, detective, children's fable (in Spanish), historical fantasy, fabulism and horror. You can find out about them online.

Among the twenty-one authors in this WolfSinger volume will also be stories by Kathleen Alcalá and bloguero Ernesto Hogan. Closer to publication we'll provide more information, especially the title, pub date and availability.

I wrote How Five-Gashes-Tumbling Chaneco Earned the Nickname as an experimental piece that I call "cross-genre mestizo/Mexica/alien/Diné/folklore/SF/F." It's a prosing rollercoaster that blends "Western," Spanish, Indio, Mexican and mestizo histories in a way that White-Guy-Rides-to-the-Rescue stories never imagine. It's got Juan de Oñate, Grand Canyon shamans, lost journalists, pumas and jaguars and, well, you can still get a taste of it, or wait for the anthology.

From Editor Cynthia Ward about this anthology: "Ah, the 'Western frontier' was full of brave white American pioneer men killing the native inhabitants, who didn't realize the land they'd occupied for millennia belonged to the newcomers.  It was full of heroic white American gunmen shooting each other in high noon standoffs or over cattle. Those few characters who didn't fit the above templates were generally, helpless Mexican peasants; treacherous Mexican bandits; or the occasional rancher's wife, school marm, or prostitute. Omitted from the history lessons and the movies and TV shows were--the whole wide world. For this anthology, we’re looking for stories about everyone else, stories that reflect the complex historical realities and diversities of the North American 'Western frontier.' Stories about marginalized and under-represented groups."

About the editor: "Cynthia Ward writes science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction. With Nisi Shawl, she co-authored Writing the Other: A Practical Guide (Aqueduct Press)."

About the publisher: "WolfSinger Publications is a micro-press company, of on-line magazines The Lorelei Signal and Sorcerous Signals, as well as the print compilation, Mystic Signals. WolfSinger also publishes short novels, preferred genres are Science Fiction and Fantasy, and will consider any genre except erotica and children's."

Caravana 43 coming to your area

The CARAVANA43 of Ayotzinapa families and students are touring many cities throughout the U.S. in the coming weeks, telling their stories and experiences surrounding the disappearance of the 43 Mexican students, presumed murdered.

Caravana43 will travel in three routes, as well as make multiple visits to Washington, DC. It began March 15 and will continue until the end of April. The first visit to D.C. is today, March 20th.

The route is complicated and the information on their site (like the tour itself) is a work in progress. Here you can find the information--links, emails, phone, dates, sites--to connect to people and events in your community. Please help and welcome them in whatever ways you can.

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Es todo, hoy, because it's a spring Friday afternoon out on my front patio in Denver, drinking with whoever shows up today to charlar.

RudyG

a.k.a. Chicano spec-lit author Rudy Ch. Garcia, author of two unpublished short stories--one on time travel, and the other, a cross-genre mestizo/Mexica/alien/Diné/folklore/SciFi/Fiction tale