A year ago, I started this blog. I explained my Puerto Rican background, and wondered where I could find Latinx Fantasy and Science Fiction. At the time, I offered some examples of recent authors who not only are Latinx, but also write from their experience, such as Silvia Moreno García.
Since then, there have been some changes. Strange Horizons ran an entire issue of Spanish Science Fiction, for instance, and I found works by Joe Iriarte in Daily Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and Terraform. M.C.A. Hogarth is acting as Vice President of SFWA. I’m sure there are many, many others which I’ve missed. Please forgive me–this is very much a summary, attempting to make one point:
It’s a start.
I would love to see more. Not only stories, but other venues. I see FIYAH Magazine as a response to Fireside Fiction’s survey on black writers, and wonder if something similar couldn’t be done for Latinx genre fiction. So much Latinx fiction is independently published, or not paid at professional rates that I would love to see a venue not only publish Latinx genre writers, but pay them pro rates. It would follow that SFWA would have much broader representation if said venue (or venues! Why dream small?) from Latinx writers.
With many authors at different levels and points of their writerly careers in SFWA, perhaps we can dispel the notion that SFF is a closed-off playground where a select few folks play.
It would also put to rest the ridiculous notion that the only genre stuff Latinx people write is magical realism.
As 2017 starts, I wonder if the time hasn’t come for the dream to come to fruition.