Chicanonautica: Sudden Changes, Gonzo Style

by Ernest Hogan

Honest, I had this whole other column ready to go, something happened concerning the projects I was talking about, so I’m putting that one on the back burner. That’s happening a lot these days. History. The future arriving. Maybe a rereading of Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock is in order.

So, what’s Chicanonaut to do?

Sometimes gonzo is the way to go . . .

I don’t quite feel ready to write up the political situation as it pertains to la raza in Arizona. We’re still a target, seen as part of the whole border problem. The Republican goon show had fish-faced cowgirls holding up MASS DEPORTATION NOW signs. Trump was sitting on top of the world with a bloody ear. Then Biden had to go and quit and ruin his plans. Who’s the least senile-sounding candidate now? His only hope is an economic crash and border crisis.

As for Harris, I’ll vote for anybody who’s running against Trump. And I am enjoying how she’s forcing the country into the 21^st century.

Meanwhile, I’m watching what’s going on in Venezuela.

Awk. I could go on, but then you could just plug into your favorite news source.

 

I do have some good news: Strange Particle Press (y’know, they published my novels and Guerrilla Muralof a Siren’s Song) is coming out with a new anthology Seven to the Stars. It’ll feature a story by me, “Radiation is Groovy, Kill the Pigs” a wild romp with my alter ego, Victor Theremin, the Chicano science fiction writer who lost track of where his life ends and the sci-fi begins, and mutant marijuana—excuse me, cannabis. My wife, Emily Devenport’s “Alternate Universe Ernies” will also be in there, and of course, any resemblance between me and any characters in these stories are purely coincidental, their being works of fiction. Science fiction, at that.

I'm paying attention, soaking it all in. My brain is mixing it up into something that sorta makes sense to me but will at least be entertaining. That seems to be my job. Too bad it doesn’t pay more.

So, be on the lookout for . . . everything.

Ernest Hogan is known as the Father of Chicano Science Fiction. His racial identity is more complicated than that of Kamala Harris. He hopes more people buy Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories—and review it.