Here we are in the year of the conquistadors' calendar 2025. It sounds so sci-fi. And so does the news. Mysterious drones, exploding cars and immodest proposals to expand the United States of Norteamerica. Not to mention the mass deportations . . . at least not right now.
What’s a not-so humble Father of Chicano Science Fiction to do?
I checked the news feeds and found that good, ol’ Speculative Fiction for Dreamers made Reader’s Digest’s list of 36 Must-Read Books by Contemporary Hispanic Authors:
Yeah, there’s no mention of my non-Hispanic surname because that would cause confusion (that’s me, Señor Confusion) and “Those Rumors of Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” is a lot to put in a capsule description, but maybe it’ll sell a few copies of the book, and one of my best stories will find more readers.
Both the list and the anthology include other authors of the Latinoid Continuum, be they Hispanic, Latino/x . . . Hey, gente! Instead of the awkward, bureaucratic LatinEX why not say LatinEQUIS? It will also cause confusion as to how it’s spelled.
Ah, Tezcatlipoca would be proud.
The problem is, while we're all arguing about what to call ourselves, and what the chingada language to do it in, most of those who view us through the Anglo gaze can’t tell Hispano from Latin from Native as they contemplate how to figure out who to deport and how.
Meanwhile, I’ve got a novel and a bunch of stories that I’ve got to get published in a hostile cultural environment. Okay, in the past this has actually helped my career, and the Anglophone publishing world has never been very welcoming to me, ever, but this situation we’re hurtling into is different this time.
I’ve got some feelings in my guts . . .
I have no choice but to charge ahead. There will be some deranged adventures that I will report.
Also, I’ve got the beginning of a new story, “Once Upon a Time in a Mass Deportation” that I could have finished weeks ago, but I realized the situation is developing so fast, my original concept isn’t batshit crazy enough. I have to work hard so my Chicano sci-fi doesn’t come off like nostalgia for last month’s headlines.
I know, nobody said this was going to be easy.
And the pendejo hasn’t been inaugurated yet.
So, hang on to your sombreros, watch out for those drones, sharpen your sense of humor, fasten your seatbelts, it’s gonna be a wild four years . . .
Ernest Hogan is the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, author of High Aztech, Smoking Mirror Blues, Cortez on Jupiter, and Guerrilla Mural of a Siren’s Song: 15 Gonzo Science Fiction Stories. He is guilty as charged. Catch him if you can.
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