Chicanonautica: Mexican Gothic Rising

by Ernest Hogan

Let’s take some time to praise the most successful Latin (let’s also leave out any controversial suffixes for the moment) writer of the current generation. Her name is Silvia Moreno-Garcia, she was born in Mexico, and lives in Canada, and Mexican Gothic, her latest novel is a New York Times Best Seller is being developed into an original Hulu series by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.

It is not her first novel. She has been publishing for years, so often I’ve had a hard time keeping up. And what I’ve read is wonderful. Yeah, I’m a fan.

The secret to her success is that she’s one of the hardest working writers in the business. She also, along with having a day job, works in publishing as an editor (she’s published me), and is a curator of ebook bundles (which brought me some money) and other writing-related activities. This is all despite that struggling in Anglo-dominated publishing has been frustrating.

She has written all kinds of fiction from Latin points of view. With Mexican Gothic she has come up with something that has broken an important barrier. It’s surprising that we haven’t seen a Mexican gothic romance before. Mexico is a very “gothic” country, as viewing scenes from a from Mexican horror movies would prove. The sensibility was probably created about two thousand years ago in Teotihuacán.

The problem is that until very recently, the romance novel industry was so white-oriented that accusations of white supremacism may be justified. They are just getting used to the fact that black people exist; it may take them longer to get used to the rest of the human race. Mexican Gothic is great leap forward.

Wisely, it has been published not as a romance but as a mainstream novel, further breaking down barriers, crossing borders, tearing down walls.

The novel nods to the genre by presenting us with a nice heroine from a good family, that fits in the whole girl-in-a-spooky-castle format. Mexico in the Nineteen-Fifties is far enough away from the Norteamericano reading public’s stereotypical expectations about Mexico that it might as well be another planet. That pale-faced readers that Anglo publishers lust after will be lulled into a feeling of security.

But then there’s a lot of knowledge of Mexican—and Latin--realities in there. It gets weird, not just typical gothic. Race and eugenics are essential parts of the story. And then . . . well, let me say that fans of horror and science fiction will not be disappointed. The boy in me who enjoyed watching Caltiki, the Immortal Monster on a black and white TV set back in the Nineteen-Sixties was delighted.

There are some diabolical possibilities for the TV series.

I’m hoping that we can get enough people talking about Silvia Moreno-Garcia that people start buying her other works. It could happen. Her previous novel, Gods of Jade and Shadow, has been in demand at the library where I work.

And who knows? Maybe some of other Latinoid writers will get a chance.

Ernest Hogan will be involved in two Zoom events in October. Check him out on Facebook and Twitter for details.

How To Be Your Own P.R. Machine

Melinda Palacio

Photo by Anthony Posey

Sometimes writers wonder if their pages will make their way into a bound book for sale. If you're working at it every day, chances are your moment in the sun will come. When it does, be prepared. It's better to err on an optimistic side and start early than to be scrambling days, months, or heaven forbid, years after your book is old news. Here are ten tips to help you give your book a fighting chance in today's market.

1. Start a tour travel fund. Buy one less fancy food item at the grocery store and skip the extra pair of shoes that would match that one odd-colored dress in your closet. Whatever it is you occasionally splurge on, save it. Even if you sign books in town where friends and family live, you still need to get there and you will  incur more travel costs than you might think. Also not all venues will offer you honorariums and cover your travel expenses. You could choose to only settle for venues that will fund your book tour, but chances are there's one town where you aunt lives that has a great audience who always buys books and the events coordinator will make a good case for you doing the event without additional compensation to you.

2. Prepare a professional biography. Your bio should be in the same folder as your photo. Most likely, places will ask for your bio and photo. Keep a folder handy in your computer and in your email ready to go for moments when you are away from your desk, but have access to your phone or tablet. Prepare 3 versions of your professional biography, a short-short (50-words or less), a medium 150 word-bio, and a full page, listing important places you've been published in, books, and awards. The longer bio can also include details about your day job, home location, and hobbies. Keep information about your cute pets and children to a minimum.

3. Have a good photo ready. The minute you feel happy with your hair, your outfit, your acne-free face, take a photo. A selfie will do in a pinch, but professional hi-res photo will be even better. While on your book tour, newspapers and the local venue hosting you will want a photograph of your  head (head shot) to promote your event.

4. Prepare a one-liner or tag line for your book. Bookstores need help selling your book. For my upcoming book, Bird Forgiveness, I came up with : ecopoetry about diversity, love, and how migration transforms the expectations of what Latinx poetry should look like. Be creative, but true to your book.

5. Prepare excerpts of your work for your presentations and book signings. Reading your own work well will help sell books. Practice your poems or a short chapter or scene from your book. Memorize most of it. Engage the audience. Look up and don't stare at your pages the entire time. La Bloga's Michael Sedano is an excellent reading and performance coach.

6. You Tube-it. An extension of your reading preparation and a handy tool to show potential venues is your You Tube performance. Prepare your scene, poem, or book trailer and put it up on You Tube. Tell your friends. You can connect these videos to your website and social media pages.

7. The videos bring me to my next suggestion: a website, get one, make one, fake one. If the idea of making and maintaining a website causes night sweats and teeth grinding, it might be a good idea to hire someone to produce an easy to update website. A website is a static place where you can park information, articles, reviews, and tell people where they might see you on your book tour.

8. Reviews. Start thinking of places or people who might review your book. This must be done before the book comes out. If you wait too long, your new book will be old news and reviewers would have moved on to the next shiny new book. It's great if Terrance Hayes from the New York Times introduces one of your poems; the reviewers might come to you. But if he doesn't see your work, you and your publisher will have your work cut out for you.

9. Teamwork. Bookstores can selective about who will make it worth their while to keep the shop and staff beyond closing time. If you want to present your book in a town you've never been to, team up with local author. Chances are the local author will have a good relationship with their independent bookstore or with their city's colleges and universities. This is a great way for someone who is starting and for a more experienced author to help each other out. Thanks to Catherine Ryan Hyde, we have this beautiful expression, Pay It Forward.

10. Last, as Juan Felipe Herrera would say, gather your tortillas. Make sure your contacts are all in one database. If you're anything like me, you have cards and pieces of paper, and scattered thank you notes, but you have neglected to transcribe those emails and contacts into one single database.. I've noticed that more organized people ask folks to enter their contact information into a phone or tablet. In hindsight, I wish I would have done that. For now, if you haven't heard from me, but I've promised to let you know about my latest literary endeavors, it's because I've lost your card and have yet to enter it into my computer.

The more prepared you are, the easier all this PR or public relations or getting the word out about your book will be. Keep the faith. Your day will come and when it does, your book deserves a more organized you. Do as I say and not as I do is  the old yarn. After the last three books, Folsom Lockdown, Ocotillo Dreams and How Fire Is a Story, Waiting, I should have learned.