Ernest Hogan's Blog, page 70
September 27, 2013
CHICANONAUTICA EXPOSES THE CREATION OF CHICANO SCI-FI

Find out how I accidentally created Chicano Sci-fi in Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga.
I also admit that I think she's hot:
Aren't transformer lowriders are the mad scientists of the barrio?
Remember, Chicano is a science fiction state of being:
And, sci-fi never had any trouble crossing borders:
Published on September 27, 2013 08:33
September 23, 2013
DÉJÀ VU IN A SCI-FI DIVERSITY TIME WARP
Maybe it was the Spanish strand panels at LoneStarCon 3, or Postcolonial and Afrofuturist anthologies that have come out, or maybe the time has come, and there's just something in the air all over the planet, but suddenly there was a whole lot of chatter about diversity in science fiction on the social media.
It's exciting.
It also gives me déjá vu.
I had heard – and even said – a lot of this before, a long time ago in a subculture not far away.
I started writing, and got involved with fandom, back in the Seventies – that's Nineteen-Seventies, back in the Nineteen-Hundreds. We'd just been through all those protests, riots, and stuff of the Sixties. I didn't think that being a Chicano would be an issue in my ambition to become a science fiction writer. We'd been to the Moon, we were beyond primitive things like racism.

Besides, I was living in a multiracial, multicultural world: Southern California. Browns, blacks and yellow were everywhere. I didn't have to go far to see signs in Spanish, Japanese, Korean . . . and the recombocultural sparks that flew when these cultures rub against each other!
You can read about it in my fiction. My nonfiction, too, now that I think about it.
The popular vision of an All-White Future couldn't possibly last much longer. Earth had never been Planet of the White People. All I had to do was look around at the world I was living in to see it. Surely, science fiction was just about to catch on . . .
But it seems that a lot of folks believed that science fiction was properly by and about Western Civilization and white people. I was frustrated with science fiction magazines that aimed at a white, middle class audience. After, this was a genre for educated people with an interest in science . . .
Editors would tell me that their readers just wouldn't relate to my stories, and “I wouldn't want to meet any of your characters in a dark alley.”
When Elinor Mavor, Ben Bova, and Scott Edelman published me, others would say things like:
“You're brave, writing about blacks and minorities – they get offended you know.”
It wasn't just me who was getting this treatment. On the cover of Steve Barnes' Streetlethal , the hero's face was re-done so, even though his skin was dark, he didn't look “Afro.”

My wife's novel Larissa , was about a black woman. When thebook came out the character looked like this:

Yeah, kids, whitewashing isn't anything new.
This was all justified as commercialism: “Americans just like books with white people on the covers.”
This was also the time was science fiction was being transformed into Nerd Lit, and back then, nerds were perceived as white.
As for what happened if you wrote something that was too diverse, I've written about what happened with my novel High Aztech elsewhere.
Oddly enough, the tide turned when Will Smith saved Earth from aliens in Independence Day.
And now, the times they are a-changing. With the coming of ebooks and the collapse of traditional publishing, the market is no longer centered on the caucasian-dominated, Anglophone corner of the planet. We aren't there yet, but we are entering the age of postcolonial global marketing. Goodbye, Planet of the White People. The All-White Future is obsolete.
Traditional publishing outlets will either adapt, or die in the new configuration, and it's about time.
Still, it gives me déjà vu.
Guess that's what I get for being so futuristic.

Published on September 23, 2013 08:45
September 13, 2013
CHICANONAUTICA PAYS TRIBUTE TO JESÚS MURCIÉLAGO VELAZQUEZ

In honor of the publication of my lucha libre sci-fi story Novaheadsin Claude Lalumiere's new anthology Super Stories of Heroes and Villains , Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga, pays tribute to Jesús Murciélago Velazquez.
Here's some background en español:
Get a load of Murciélago going mano a mano with Blue Demon:
Raygun-totting mamas interfere with this color rematch:
For further reading – and lots of spectacular pictures – on Mexican wrestling, I recommend Dan Madigan's Mondo Lucha A Go-Go:
Published on September 13, 2013 08:41
September 9, 2013
THE SECRET ORIGIN OF STEELSNAKE

My story Novaheads, is in Claude Laumière's new anthology Super Stories of Heroes and Villains . It's about a masked Mexican – well, Chicano, if want to be precise – wrestler named Steelsnake.
Why would I write about such a character? Believe it or not, my motivation was money. All I had to do was to create a superhero in a deranged postcyberpunk world spiced with Chicanismo, sell the comic book, television, and movie rights, quit the day job . . .
Unfortunately, as often happens with me, I was ahead of my time. This was the Ninteen-Nineties. The speculative/fantasy genre wasn't going all gaga over diversity. I gathered the usual pile of rejections slips. Seems my characters weren't right for “the audience.”
One editor even said, “This kind of noir is going out of style.”

I kept trying, though. Finally, Claude Lalumière bought it for his now-defunct LostPages.net. Yes, kids, actual money was involved.
Recently, Novaheads was accepted by Álvaro Rodríguez, who wrote the movie Machete, for an anthology to be titled Border Noir. I signed a contract and everything. Unfortunately, the book was canceled due to mysterious circumstances.
Suddenly, none other than Claude Lalumière swooped down to save the day, and bought it for Super Stories of Heroes and Villains!
Publishers Weekly calls it, “the best superhero anthology around, and a must-read for comic book fans.”
Steelsnake may become a profitable franchise yet. I've been thinking about more stories about him. Anybody out there want to buy a superhero?

Published on September 09, 2013 08:34
August 31, 2013
GET PHYSICAL ON A DIFFERENT FRONTIER

Good news dead-tree fans! You can now get We See a Different Frontier as an old-fashioned, physical book, as well as a newfangled ebook! Go postcolonial now! Pancho Villa's Flying Circus included!
Published on August 31, 2013 12:03
August 30, 2013
CHICANONAUTICA DRINKS TO PANCHO VILLA ON A DIFFERENT FRONTIER

The current Chicanonautica over at La Bloga is in honor of my story Pancho Villa's Flying Circusappearing in the new anthology We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Fábio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad, and featuring stories by writers from all over the planet . . . and that I didn't know that Pancho didn't drink.
How was I to know? People name drinks after him:
And their bars:
His troops were known to smoke and sing about marijuana:
But he did have aircraft, just not airships:
Published on August 30, 2013 08:58
August 27, 2013
TWO ERNESTO STORIES AVAILABLE!
Look out world, two of my stories are freshly available:
My postcyberpunk lucha libre noir tale Novaheads is in Super Stories of Heroes and Villains.
And Pacho Villa's Flying Circus, an alternate history, postcolonial spaghetti western is in We See a Different Frontier.
Buy 'em, read 'em, enjoy 'em!

My postcyberpunk lucha libre noir tale Novaheads is in Super Stories of Heroes and Villains.

And Pacho Villa's Flying Circus, an alternate history, postcolonial spaghetti western is in We See a Different Frontier.
Buy 'em, read 'em, enjoy 'em!
Published on August 27, 2013 08:08
August 16, 2013
CHICANONAUTICA REVIEWS THE QUIXOTE CULT

I review Genaro González' novel about Chicano Militants, The Quixote Cultthis time on Chicanonautica over at La Bloga.
Becoming Chicano usually starts with a revelation:
And Chicano militancy can get funny:
But seriously:
So, where are they now?
And don't forget who we are:
Published on August 16, 2013 08:48
August 8, 2013
DELL HARRIS AND THE AMAZING HIGH AZTECH E-COVER

The original Tor cover for High Aztech was good, but I also considered it a little bland. The colorful razzle-dazzle of my Aztecan future was muted into the the sort of military-industrial sci-fi that's supposed to be do damn commercial. Folks expecting nerd lit were confused. Seekers of postcolonial gonzo splendor had no way of knowing.

The Mandarin cover was better, though the gold breast plate is actually Mixtec, not Aztec, but most folks probably can't tell the difference.
I was tempted to do the cover for the ebook myself, but wasn't sure what to do – then I saw Dell Harris' painting Scorpio.

It's like a scene form High Aztech come to life. I couldn't think of another image as the cover. So I bought the rights from Dell.
I must admit, it's better than anything I could have done.
And from the copyright notice, it was painted in 1990 – when I was working on High Aztech. Dell and I must have been thinking along the same lines.
Dell and I also go way back together. We both broke into science fiction in the March, 1982 issue of Amazing Storiesthanks to editor Elinor Mavor, who had the courage to buy my outrageous story and the vision have Dell illustrate it. Dell, Elinor, and I were pioneers of Afrofuturism.

That table of contents not only includes my first published short story and a detail of Dell's illustration, but Harlan Ellison, A.E. Van Vogt, and Barry N. Malzberg.

The Rape of Things to Come is probably too much for today's tender sensibilities and politically-correct doctrines – and it did offend people at the time.
Dell's reaction was:
"This is Wild!" This wasn't like the science fiction I grew up reading. This had a different vibe to it that was refreshing. I totally enjoyed trying to translate the characters from Ernest's text, hoping that I captured its raw tone. I couldn't have asked for a better baptism into the world of science fiction illustration.
Looking back, I stand by it – what I was doing was groping for Afrofuturism and postcolonialism, and punching back at the alarms and defense mechanisms that go off whenever I set foot in territories that some some fools still in 2013 think are the domain of white people.
That has been a major theme in my work – and life. In the next few months, stories of mine will be in Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond , We See a Different Frontier , and one featuring a Chicano superhero in Super Stories of Heroes and Villains.
The struggle goes on.

Published on August 08, 2013 07:50
August 2, 2013
CHICANONAUTICA SEES STORM CLOUDS OVER ARIZONA

Chicanonauticalooks to the sky – and the political climate of Arizona at the La Bloga.
Death threats ain't gonna stop Sheriff Joe:
Don't worry, Johns McCain and Kyl are on the job:
And remember, this is Indian country:
Meanwhile, back in the future:
Published on August 02, 2013 08:26