Elliott Turner's Blog
January 21, 2020
That "Book"
If you are as online as I am, you are well aware of "that" book which has a movie deal, was an Oprah Bookclub pick, got a seven figure advance, and has been slated by almost every single Latinx author and reviewer in the English language bookworld.
I don't care to join the pile on in this space, though. Rather, I want to talk about positives. About writing as an ally to an oppressed group. Even if this unfortunate novel preyed on stereotypes and gore porn, here are examples of people writing across difference that succeeded.
First, Rebecca Makai wrote a moving novel about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Chicago in the 1980's. Here she talks about the depths of her research.
Second, Lisa Ko's excellent novel The Leavers was inspired by a headline and then story about an undocumented mother and her child. However, she did not hastily cobble together violent story arcs to fabricate a plot. Instead, she took 9.5 years to carefully piece together a complex tale.
Third, Shanti Sekaran wrote a wonderful story that compares and contrasts the South Asian and Mexican diaspora experience and immigration challenges in Lucky Boy.
As you can see, authors are capable of writing across difference when they put in the time and effort. Years of research and editing are essential.
I don't care to join the pile on in this space, though. Rather, I want to talk about positives. About writing as an ally to an oppressed group. Even if this unfortunate novel preyed on stereotypes and gore porn, here are examples of people writing across difference that succeeded.
First, Rebecca Makai wrote a moving novel about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Chicago in the 1980's. Here she talks about the depths of her research.
Second, Lisa Ko's excellent novel The Leavers was inspired by a headline and then story about an undocumented mother and her child. However, she did not hastily cobble together violent story arcs to fabricate a plot. Instead, she took 9.5 years to carefully piece together a complex tale.
Third, Shanti Sekaran wrote a wonderful story that compares and contrasts the South Asian and Mexican diaspora experience and immigration challenges in Lucky Boy.
As you can see, authors are capable of writing across difference when they put in the time and effort. Years of research and editing are essential.
July 17, 2019
Midyear reading evals
About once or twice a year, I like to look back at my reading habits and sift for big picture patterns. The goal? Ensure that diversity is there or, if not, make corrective measures. Thus, I recently looked at the 63 books I have read so far this year.
I then made notes on how many were written by people who identify as women, as queer, and of color. I also read in Spanish and kept track of that. And please note that "of color" is a term that is amorphous at times. It includes people who identify as black, native, Asian, and also Latinx in the US. However, for authors who wrote in Spanish and live in LatAM and/or Spain, I don't assume they identify as "of color "
Here's the verdict:
33 of the books read were written by women.
8 books were written by LGBTQ individuals.
34 were written by people of color.
20 were written in Spanish.
Clearly, the problem is that I am not reading enough queer fiction. While, yes, individuals who identify as queer may be a fraction of a general population and perhaps slightly higher fraction of published authors, 12% is a super low, inexcusable and disappointing stat.
The other stats are not alarming per se, even if we should all be tilting our shelves to greatly favor women authors until they are equally paid/get equal opportunities in the publishing world.
Also, I need to read more indie publisher titles!
I then made notes on how many were written by people who identify as women, as queer, and of color. I also read in Spanish and kept track of that. And please note that "of color" is a term that is amorphous at times. It includes people who identify as black, native, Asian, and also Latinx in the US. However, for authors who wrote in Spanish and live in LatAM and/or Spain, I don't assume they identify as "of color "
Here's the verdict:
33 of the books read were written by women.
8 books were written by LGBTQ individuals.
34 were written by people of color.
20 were written in Spanish.
Clearly, the problem is that I am not reading enough queer fiction. While, yes, individuals who identify as queer may be a fraction of a general population and perhaps slightly higher fraction of published authors, 12% is a super low, inexcusable and disappointing stat.
The other stats are not alarming per se, even if we should all be tilting our shelves to greatly favor women authors until they are equally paid/get equal opportunities in the publishing world.
Also, I need to read more indie publisher titles!
June 12, 2019
Some Great Reads
Hey y'all,
it is summer, which can often mean beach reads aka campus novels with love triangles, grocery store checkout aisle and airport bookstore worthy romantic pageturners with a sprinkling of wit. Unless, of course, you are me.
Here are three kick ass books that will never be confused with commercial fiction.
Leonora
If you can read in Spanish, then you should read this award-winning biographical and historical novel about Leonora Carrington, the British-born surrealist painter who lived in France during World War II, was abused in a mental asylum in Spain, and finally landed in Mexico City.
Leonora was the muse of a few male Surrealist painters, but refused to linger in their shadow. Her drive to create art and grapple with the pros and cons of her English countryside cottage (privileged) childhood delves into mythology in a very cool way.
And, buey, there are more Mexican and Chilango americanismos than you can shake a stick at.
Sabrina & Corina
I know, I reviewed this story collection for Latino Book Reviews, but it deserves all the plugs, accolades, praise. Each and every one of these tales will make the hair on your arms and neck stand on end. The physical violence against women is never glorified and also overcome - due to the strength and determination of the protagonists - but you will never read or watch another "Western" the same ever again.
America is not the heart
If I had to make a bucket list of what I love in a novel, this would have ticked them all off. A complex tale of migration? The Philippines to the U.S. (and back). CHECK. A strong sense of place? The South Bay near San Jose. CHECK.
There are also beepers and landlines and TV's with rabbit ear antennas, so the 90's vibe is spot on, as are the music references. This is a great story about a young woman from the Philippines trying to restart her life in the US with extended family, and how gender identity and sexual orientation can still serve as barriers to acceptance both subtly and overtly.
it is summer, which can often mean beach reads aka campus novels with love triangles, grocery store checkout aisle and airport bookstore worthy romantic pageturners with a sprinkling of wit. Unless, of course, you are me.
Here are three kick ass books that will never be confused with commercial fiction.
Leonora
If you can read in Spanish, then you should read this award-winning biographical and historical novel about Leonora Carrington, the British-born surrealist painter who lived in France during World War II, was abused in a mental asylum in Spain, and finally landed in Mexico City.
Leonora was the muse of a few male Surrealist painters, but refused to linger in their shadow. Her drive to create art and grapple with the pros and cons of her English countryside cottage (privileged) childhood delves into mythology in a very cool way.
And, buey, there are more Mexican and Chilango americanismos than you can shake a stick at.
Sabrina & Corina
I know, I reviewed this story collection for Latino Book Reviews, but it deserves all the plugs, accolades, praise. Each and every one of these tales will make the hair on your arms and neck stand on end. The physical violence against women is never glorified and also overcome - due to the strength and determination of the protagonists - but you will never read or watch another "Western" the same ever again.
America is not the heart
If I had to make a bucket list of what I love in a novel, this would have ticked them all off. A complex tale of migration? The Philippines to the U.S. (and back). CHECK. A strong sense of place? The South Bay near San Jose. CHECK.
There are also beepers and landlines and TV's with rabbit ear antennas, so the 90's vibe is spot on, as are the music references. This is a great story about a young woman from the Philippines trying to restart her life in the US with extended family, and how gender identity and sexual orientation can still serve as barriers to acceptance both subtly and overtly.
May 14, 2019
Reviews and fiction
Hey y'all,
I am happy and proud to announce the first ever print issue of Latino Book Review! I am on the masthead as a contributing editor for all the reviews I've done, and my take on Natalia Sylvester's "Everybody Knows You Go Home" made it into Issue One. You can order it here.
Also, for those of y'all that speak Spanish, my short story castellano debut is in Azahares Issue Eleven! It's a family tale about the violent assault on Managua by Ortega's forces in the 80's, and the lengths one mother went to to care for her family and survive. There's lots of voseo and modismos pinoleros.
You can also check out the digital edition free here. The tale is only about 2.5k words long and written in dialogue form ala Puig and Gaddis, two of my idols.
I am happy and proud to announce the first ever print issue of Latino Book Review! I am on the masthead as a contributing editor for all the reviews I've done, and my take on Natalia Sylvester's "Everybody Knows You Go Home" made it into Issue One. You can order it here.
Also, for those of y'all that speak Spanish, my short story castellano debut is in Azahares Issue Eleven! It's a family tale about the violent assault on Managua by Ortega's forces in the 80's, and the lengths one mother went to to care for her family and survive. There's lots of voseo and modismos pinoleros.
You can also check out the digital edition free here. The tale is only about 2.5k words long and written in dialogue form ala Puig and Gaddis, two of my idols.
April 25, 2019
Losing in translation
Hey y'all,
I have been busy these past two months, working with an editor buddy based in Peru, on translating and tweaking several of my short stories that I wrote about life in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley).
I am doing the translations from English to Spanish, but am not fluent in RAE rules by any measure. Also, I've lived in the US with my family for almost six years - a super long stretch of time - and my prose en letra castellana is a bit rusty.
Thus, I need and am getting a second set of eyes to review those accursed tildes (accents).
What's been most charming about this process is that I am finding things in the English language versions to improve both in terms of dialogue and plot, but also a few grammatical errors! And that's including stories already published! D'oh!
I also had two stories from this era that I abandoned in English, but have taken on new life in Spanish. Thus, these are in this weird neither world: are they translations? If the first incomplete draft is in English and serves as the structure/outline, does that count?
In a few days or possibly weeks, one of my short stories written in Spanish - Nicaraguan - will be published by the literary magazine Azahares. I also am close to landing a home for an excerpt from a Spanish language novela that is about to go out on submissions.
Thus, dear friends, brush up on that conversational Spanish y'all. Go to your fav taqueria and order sal-sa pi-co-sa in Es-pan-y'all. I really am not sure when/if I will be writing fiction in English anytime soon.
*And am aware of the irony of writing this in English.
**And I have 6 short stories in English that have been out on submission for about 1.5 years, so yeah hopefully one will find a home soon.
I have been busy these past two months, working with an editor buddy based in Peru, on translating and tweaking several of my short stories that I wrote about life in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley).
I am doing the translations from English to Spanish, but am not fluent in RAE rules by any measure. Also, I've lived in the US with my family for almost six years - a super long stretch of time - and my prose en letra castellana is a bit rusty.
Thus, I need and am getting a second set of eyes to review those accursed tildes (accents).
What's been most charming about this process is that I am finding things in the English language versions to improve both in terms of dialogue and plot, but also a few grammatical errors! And that's including stories already published! D'oh!
I also had two stories from this era that I abandoned in English, but have taken on new life in Spanish. Thus, these are in this weird neither world: are they translations? If the first incomplete draft is in English and serves as the structure/outline, does that count?
In a few days or possibly weeks, one of my short stories written in Spanish - Nicaraguan - will be published by the literary magazine Azahares. I also am close to landing a home for an excerpt from a Spanish language novela that is about to go out on submissions.
Thus, dear friends, brush up on that conversational Spanish y'all. Go to your fav taqueria and order sal-sa pi-co-sa in Es-pan-y'all. I really am not sure when/if I will be writing fiction in English anytime soon.
*And am aware of the irony of writing this in English.
**And I have 6 short stories in English that have been out on submission for about 1.5 years, so yeah hopefully one will find a home soon.
February 22, 2019
The Easy Part and the Hard Part...
I am happy to report that I have found homes for two short stories! Neither of these tales is the conventional mini-novel we have come to expect in American letters with the Part I: Hook, Part II: Backstory, and Part III: Resolution.
The first, written in English, is called "Chuey and Me." It is barely five pages long, but took me years to write and rewrite and edit. Why? Because I wanted to pen a tale of friendship severed by substance abuse, but in paragraph long vignettes.
Here was the hard part: half the vignettes go forward in time, and other half go backwards in time. And they alternate. Confused yet?
Yeah. In addition to finding the right episodes per vignette and maintaining some semblance of pacing, which took about two years, I then struggled mightily with form. I tried numbering each graf. I tried the whole * stuff so popular in 2012. I indented the alternating grafs.
I was happy with how the great editorial team at Barren set things up online - WP is a pain in the arse. They also helped get the very last draft over the finish line and clean up the denouement.
Here is a link.
The second story is in Spanish, and Nicaraguan Spanish. In my vain attempt to emulate Manuel Puig and William Gaddis, it is entirely in dialogue form. I wrote it when my Twitter pal Miguel Morales told me about an anthology of writing for the Nicaraguan protesters.
The tale is based largely on an experience from my wife's family during the violent fighting in Managua during the last Civil War, and I wrote it in a handful of days. I submitted it to the anthology, never heard back,tweaked it, and submitted to Azahares, a lit mag that's part of the University of Arkansas.
It blows my mind that I wrote something in December and it got accepted in February and will be published in print and digital in April. The normal turnaround time for the Submittable hustle is much much longer.
The first, written in English, is called "Chuey and Me." It is barely five pages long, but took me years to write and rewrite and edit. Why? Because I wanted to pen a tale of friendship severed by substance abuse, but in paragraph long vignettes.
Here was the hard part: half the vignettes go forward in time, and other half go backwards in time. And they alternate. Confused yet?
Yeah. In addition to finding the right episodes per vignette and maintaining some semblance of pacing, which took about two years, I then struggled mightily with form. I tried numbering each graf. I tried the whole * stuff so popular in 2012. I indented the alternating grafs.
I was happy with how the great editorial team at Barren set things up online - WP is a pain in the arse. They also helped get the very last draft over the finish line and clean up the denouement.
Here is a link.
The second story is in Spanish, and Nicaraguan Spanish. In my vain attempt to emulate Manuel Puig and William Gaddis, it is entirely in dialogue form. I wrote it when my Twitter pal Miguel Morales told me about an anthology of writing for the Nicaraguan protesters.
The tale is based largely on an experience from my wife's family during the violent fighting in Managua during the last Civil War, and I wrote it in a handful of days. I submitted it to the anthology, never heard back,tweaked it, and submitted to Azahares, a lit mag that's part of the University of Arkansas.
It blows my mind that I wrote something in December and it got accepted in February and will be published in print and digital in April. The normal turnaround time for the Submittable hustle is much much longer.
January 28, 2019
Looking Ahead to 2019
Hey y'all,
I'm a bit late to the "monster new books preview game", but I would like to highlight some books coming out this year that I'm excited about. I cannot name each and every single title, so please don't take any omissions as a low key diss.
Here goes:
Tears of the Trufflepig
This novel, kinda spec fic-y, is set in the RGV and is written by LatinX author Fernando Flores who is a bookslinger at the lovely Malvern indie shop in Austin. For my event there last year, Fernando tried to tactfully warn me about the nearby burrito place and I summarized up: "yeah it's like Chipotle burritos for white people, I'm fine with that."
I then ate a burrito there.
The World Doesn't Require You
Award-winning African American author Rion Amilcar Scott has another story collection coming out, and I'm very excited. His debut, Insurrections, showed the many facets of life in a fictional town that mirrors the black experience in the Washington, DC metro area (VA and MD included).
Cross River, Maryland is a place where the middle class and even a few lowlifes try to find redemption against the weight of history which still presses too hard.
They Could Have Named Her Anything
Debut novelist and Latina Stephanie Jimenez tackles race and identity in this story about privilege and snobby private schools in New York. As someone with friends that went to Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, I am eager to read a bit more about their lives and the ways NYC compartmentalizes itself based on race, nationality, ethnicity, and class.
This is another novel coup by Little A, who has done a great job of nurturing lit fic authors of color. But please note I reserve the right to diss all other aspects of Amazon at all times (even though they own GoodReads lol).
713 Books on Tap
Indie Press 713 has two debut books coming out that have pique'd my interest.
The first, Not Everyone is Special, is a story collection with plenty of flash by Josh Denslow. Expect some delightfully wry humor.
The second, Portrait of Sebastian Khan, by Aatif Rashid, is about a young Muslim-American man who is about to finish college, but not quite ready to settle down.
A Lot to be excited about
Houston writer Bryan Washington's debut story collection has everybody super excited in bayou city. Just check out this tale in The New Yorker. Bryan's best work chronicles the intersection of black and Latinx lives in the US's third largest city, while also blending queer bildungsroman goodness.
The over/under on some bicurious Rice Undergrads popping up at House of Pies (aka "of Guys") at 2am in at least one tale is, like 4/10, but I expect reviews for this collection to be in the 9/10 territory.
Sabrina, not the teenage witch
Latinx writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine has a debut collection, Sabrina and Corina, coming out that sheds a new light on the American West's illusory promises and exasperating realities. Latina women face upheaval in the forms of gentrification, relocation, and a sense that "renewal" does not include them.
You have probably read a few of these stories in a top literary mag. They are soooo worth a second, third, and fourth read.
I'm a bit late to the "monster new books preview game", but I would like to highlight some books coming out this year that I'm excited about. I cannot name each and every single title, so please don't take any omissions as a low key diss.
Here goes:
Tears of the Trufflepig
This novel, kinda spec fic-y, is set in the RGV and is written by LatinX author Fernando Flores who is a bookslinger at the lovely Malvern indie shop in Austin. For my event there last year, Fernando tried to tactfully warn me about the nearby burrito place and I summarized up: "yeah it's like Chipotle burritos for white people, I'm fine with that."
I then ate a burrito there.
The World Doesn't Require You
Award-winning African American author Rion Amilcar Scott has another story collection coming out, and I'm very excited. His debut, Insurrections, showed the many facets of life in a fictional town that mirrors the black experience in the Washington, DC metro area (VA and MD included).
Cross River, Maryland is a place where the middle class and even a few lowlifes try to find redemption against the weight of history which still presses too hard.
They Could Have Named Her Anything
Debut novelist and Latina Stephanie Jimenez tackles race and identity in this story about privilege and snobby private schools in New York. As someone with friends that went to Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, I am eager to read a bit more about their lives and the ways NYC compartmentalizes itself based on race, nationality, ethnicity, and class.
This is another novel coup by Little A, who has done a great job of nurturing lit fic authors of color. But please note I reserve the right to diss all other aspects of Amazon at all times (even though they own GoodReads lol).
713 Books on Tap
Indie Press 713 has two debut books coming out that have pique'd my interest.
The first, Not Everyone is Special, is a story collection with plenty of flash by Josh Denslow. Expect some delightfully wry humor.
The second, Portrait of Sebastian Khan, by Aatif Rashid, is about a young Muslim-American man who is about to finish college, but not quite ready to settle down.
A Lot to be excited about
Houston writer Bryan Washington's debut story collection has everybody super excited in bayou city. Just check out this tale in The New Yorker. Bryan's best work chronicles the intersection of black and Latinx lives in the US's third largest city, while also blending queer bildungsroman goodness.
The over/under on some bicurious Rice Undergrads popping up at House of Pies (aka "of Guys") at 2am in at least one tale is, like 4/10, but I expect reviews for this collection to be in the 9/10 territory.
Sabrina, not the teenage witch
Latinx writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine has a debut collection, Sabrina and Corina, coming out that sheds a new light on the American West's illusory promises and exasperating realities. Latina women face upheaval in the forms of gentrification, relocation, and a sense that "renewal" does not include them.
You have probably read a few of these stories in a top literary mag. They are soooo worth a second, third, and fourth read.
December 7, 2018
Apogee Journal!
Hey everybody,
first, I had to cancel the event in Kansas City this December at Our Daily Nada, a kick ass book store-bar in Rivermarket. This was due to a family situation and travel arrangements - I was super stoked by the trip, Our Daily Nada is amazing, and I hope to read there some day!
second, I have a short story in Issue 11 of Apogee Journal. It is called "Borders." Basically, an undocumented Mexican woman lives in McAllen and her father passes away in nearby Rio Bravo. She can't attend, so her husband and two kids go as surrogates.
Her husband, though, is Filipino-American and gets severely hassled at the border crossing when coming back.
A lot of the details for this story came from my own family trips to Ciudad Juarez when I was little, recent events in the RGV and border crossings there, and meticulous research and conversations with FilAm amiguis and a buddy that's also a studly beta reader.
This story took years to write and rewrite, but, to be honest, my short story process is super not rushed: I pen a first draft, sit on it a few weeks, copyedit it, send it to beta readers, take into account their feedback, then I wait a few months to read it again with a fresh set of eyes.
Then, once a story reaches a certain level, I submit. I normally submit to 2-3 journals at a time, carefully researched, and wait patiently. Apogee got back to me quickly - only a few months - and working with Dennis and then Mina/Crystal (indirectly) was a total breeze.
You can check out Apogee Journal here. Digital subscriptions start at only $3 and $5.
first, I had to cancel the event in Kansas City this December at Our Daily Nada, a kick ass book store-bar in Rivermarket. This was due to a family situation and travel arrangements - I was super stoked by the trip, Our Daily Nada is amazing, and I hope to read there some day!
second, I have a short story in Issue 11 of Apogee Journal. It is called "Borders." Basically, an undocumented Mexican woman lives in McAllen and her father passes away in nearby Rio Bravo. She can't attend, so her husband and two kids go as surrogates.
Her husband, though, is Filipino-American and gets severely hassled at the border crossing when coming back.
A lot of the details for this story came from my own family trips to Ciudad Juarez when I was little, recent events in the RGV and border crossings there, and meticulous research and conversations with FilAm amiguis and a buddy that's also a studly beta reader.
This story took years to write and rewrite, but, to be honest, my short story process is super not rushed: I pen a first draft, sit on it a few weeks, copyedit it, send it to beta readers, take into account their feedback, then I wait a few months to read it again with a fresh set of eyes.
Then, once a story reaches a certain level, I submit. I normally submit to 2-3 journals at a time, carefully researched, and wait patiently. Apogee got back to me quickly - only a few months - and working with Dennis and then Mina/Crystal (indirectly) was a total breeze.
You can check out Apogee Journal here. Digital subscriptions start at only $3 and $5.
October 18, 2018
Miami Book Fair!
Hey everybody,
NOTV came out way back in June of 2017. Almost 16 months have passed. Yet here I am, still plugging this mother.
And in that regards, I can reveal that I will be at the Miami Book Fair in November! Saturday November 17 and Sunday November 18 I will be rolling with the ILBA crew. For those not in the know, that's Int'l Latino Book Awards, so search for me at one of the Mi Libro Hispano tents dressed in an expensive, tailored all white Armani three-piece suit and sipping a glass of wine made from grapes planted shortly before the birth of Christ.
Well, the last three sentences of that paragraph may not be all true. Still, come say hi or slide into my DMs on Twitter (@futfanatico). I love meeting readers/writers/tweeters in person and disappointing you with my sloppy appearance and nasally midwestern American English accent!
NOTV came out way back in June of 2017. Almost 16 months have passed. Yet here I am, still plugging this mother.
And in that regards, I can reveal that I will be at the Miami Book Fair in November! Saturday November 17 and Sunday November 18 I will be rolling with the ILBA crew. For those not in the know, that's Int'l Latino Book Awards, so search for me at one of the Mi Libro Hispano tents dressed in an expensive, tailored all white Armani three-piece suit and sipping a glass of wine made from grapes planted shortly before the birth of Christ.
Well, the last three sentences of that paragraph may not be all true. Still, come say hi or slide into my DMs on Twitter (@futfanatico). I love meeting readers/writers/tweeters in person and disappointing you with my sloppy appearance and nasally midwestern American English accent!
August 15, 2018
Austin Book Event
Hey y'all,
my publicist was able to book a reading & signing at the excellent Malvern Books in Austin for September 5 (Wednesday) at 7pm.
I'm excited to see old friends and make new ones, and also to see the first copies of the award-winning NOTV paperback 2.0 go out into the world. 2.0 has some blurbs, an award sticker on the cover, and the contraportada copy has a big change: Manny is clearly identified as undocumented.
Remember, NOTV was written in 2013, edited heavily in 2014, and for the June 2017 publication date, everything was set in motion by the Summer of 2016. This was well before Trump's America and xenophobia became rampant/fashionable.
I hope to see y'all there - in sum, I promise to only read for about 10-15 minutes, and then answer any and all questions that do not revolve around my reverse-perv shaming tweets. I promise "An Evening with Elliott Turner" will not disappoint.
my publicist was able to book a reading & signing at the excellent Malvern Books in Austin for September 5 (Wednesday) at 7pm.
I'm excited to see old friends and make new ones, and also to see the first copies of the award-winning NOTV paperback 2.0 go out into the world. 2.0 has some blurbs, an award sticker on the cover, and the contraportada copy has a big change: Manny is clearly identified as undocumented.
Remember, NOTV was written in 2013, edited heavily in 2014, and for the June 2017 publication date, everything was set in motion by the Summer of 2016. This was well before Trump's America and xenophobia became rampant/fashionable.
I hope to see y'all there - in sum, I promise to only read for about 10-15 minutes, and then answer any and all questions that do not revolve around my reverse-perv shaming tweets. I promise "An Evening with Elliott Turner" will not disappoint.
