Chicanonautica: Hanging with Alienígenas Americanos

by Ernest Hogan

It glowed on the library shelf. Another volume to help me practice my Spanish. And amuse me.

Alienígenas Americanos: La Historia Extraterrestre de Nuestro Continente by Juan Salfate and Francisco Ortega. Looked like it would be a fun way to practice my Spanish.

Also, I actually had what J. Allen Hynek called a close encounter of the first kind,  saw lights in the night sky, a UFO over the Superstition Mountains–emphasis on unidentified. I have no idea what that chingadera was. Local tribes say they are sorcerers. Flying sorcerers. Hmm . . .

Besides, I found in the past that UFO lit from the Hispanophonic world is a special kind of strange, full of things that are out of bounds to the puritanical Anglo-Saxon imagination.

I was not disappointed.

The authors–Ortega writes novels and graphic novels as well as “ufologicals,” and Salfate is a film critic\TV presenter–see the whole UFO/paranormal (how they have overlapped over the years!) subject as folklore, so it’s not a lot of paranoid conspiracy theory crap.

It turns out to be an excellent guide to reportage of the UFO phenomenon from mostly South America, though some of the material is from the North American continent up to the U.S./Mexico border, but then why should UFOs have a respect for the way we divide up this planet?

And to my delight and surprise, there were things I hadn’t run across in my lifetime of wallowing in the weird.

The stories go back to before Columbus brought those aliens over on his unidentified floating objects. They link to the local mythologies, and folklore, from the Virgin of Guadalupe to el Chupababra. They find pre-1990s precedents when I had thought that the Chupa was the result of Spanish language networks going intercontinental via satellites.

Made me rethink my preconceptions. Always a good thing.

There are also South American Roswells and encounters with military aircraft, with political implications, but the don’t get into QAnon territory.

The accounts are kept short, so there’s no obsessing over minutiae.

Of course, Erich Von Daniken and J.J. Benitez are cited, and there’s a detailed bibliography.

And there’s art, on the cover and inside, by Dadlov Maslov that keeps it fun.

There’s nothing worse than one of those books where the author is sure they’ve found the absolute truth and you’re doomed if you don’t believe it: “ THIS IS THE TRUUUUTH! YOU HAVE TO BELIEEEEVE IT!”

I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw an English translation someday.

Meanwhile, keep watching the skies, cabrones!

Ernest Hogan, the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, will be teaching his “Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style” class again at the 2024 Fall Somos en escrito Writing Workshop. 

News on La Bloga contributors; Call for Essays, Chica stories; & Latino poetry wanted

Over on Latino Books Examiner you can read more about La Bloga's own René Colato Laínez and his new children's book, René has two last names.

And check out Mayra Calvani's interview where Colato talks about his books, his writing habits, and his road to becoming a published author.

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Call for essays on Latin American literaries

Got something you've always wanted to share about where La Raza Cósmica is now? Never found a home for your piece on the Latino hero Subcomandante Marcos? Now's your chance:

ANTIQUE CHILDREN, which bills itself as "a mischievious literary arts journal," is preparing a special issue for February on Latin American Writers. (When you go to the site, click on "Quarterly" to see this info.)

"We’re looking for writers to pen creative essays on Latin American Writers or review their books. You may write a piece of fiction but it must envelop one of these writers and their selected book."

The writers and books include, among many others, Jose Donoso - Hell Has No Limits; Juan Rulfo - Pedro Paramo; José Vasconcelos Calderón - The Cosmic Race; Guatemalan writer Rigoberta Menchu; and Subcomandante Marcos.

Deadline is January 20, 2010, but for details you need to click here.

You'll also find the story Kind of Blue by La Bloga's own Daniel A. Olivas there.

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$2k Creative Nonfiction Award

If you don't mind, and in fact love the desert's searing heat, and a few cactus splines in your rump only inspire your Muse, you might be captivated by this, as I was: "A prize of $2000 will be given to enable a creative nonfiction writer to write in a desert environment. For more information, visit here. Deadline: December 31.

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Crafty Chica seeks sewing stories

Okay, this might be a lot more commercial than most calls-for-writers that we usually post, but the woman's got a great looking website and theoretically wants your stuff, if you're into this sort of thing:
"Kathy Cano-Murillo, a.k.a. The Crafty Chica, seeks very short—about a paragraph long--true sewing stories such as a favorite memory, a favorite book that has sewing in it, a lesson learned, etc. Selected stories will be included in her upcoming sewing book to be published by Random House. Go here to submit stories, etc. For more info on Kathy, click here. Deadline: January 4.

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Latino Poetry Award

And for the poet in all of you, comes this:
"The Andres Montoya Poetry Prize offers $1000 and publication by the University of Notre Dame Press for a poetry collection by a Latino poet who has not yet published a book." Deadline: January 15. For more information, visit here.

These last two announcements are reprinted portions from Marcela Landres's website, Latinidad®.

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Lastly, go here for an article that includes another La Bloga contributor, Michael Sedano. "It examines the pairing of a global writer like Irish writer Samuel Beckett with the cultural particularity or difference represented by a Chicano blogger like Michael Sedano."

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If today's post sounds somewhat like I'm tooting our own horn, please don't blame the messenger.

RudyChG