Birthing a New Book

 

The typewriter owned by Michael Augustine Olivas

On Sunday, I received my copy editor's redline to my manuscript, How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories (University of Nevada Press), coming out in February 2022. The email included a lovely letter from my copy editor, Robin DuBlanc, that began:

“Congratulations on How to Date a Flying Mexican. Your stories are by turns intriguing, funny, poignant, charming, alarming, and above all human. I had to force myself to slow down while editing because I often had a tendency to rush to see what would happen next.”

And so, the birthing of my new book truly begins. This will be the twelfth time I’ve worked with a copy editor on one of my books (I’ve written ten books, and served as anthology editor for two), and each time, I get butterflies of anticipation. But this book is particularly special to me. As I explain in my introduction to the manuscript, my late father, Michael Augustine Olivas, loved the title story which is why I chose it to lead off the book and set the tone, if you will. I also dedicate the collection to him.

My father's declining health and my weekly visits with him inspired me last year to review my published stories of the last 20-plus years and choose my favorites for this collection. I then added two newer ones to complete it. My father, who passed away September 23, 2021, never lived to hear the news that a publisher enthusiastically accepted it earlier this year. But we had an opportunity to discuss my selection process which brought him great joy.

My father never got to publish his own fiction and poetry. He worked in a factory while he and my mother raised five children. But he wrote on a little manual typewriter when I was young and completed a novel and many poems. However, publishers rejected his submissions. I think my father was ahead of his time. Very few publishers would even consider a manuscript written by a Chicano who told stories and had themes that were not "mainstream."

He eventually destroyed his manuscripts and focused on getting his college degree and master's. So, when I became a published writer over 20 years ago, my father was so proud. Writing was our special bond. I miss him dearly.