Purchase

Writing

It’s That Time of Year: My 2018 Eligibility Post

Folks, it's awards season and it's time for me to submit my eligible stories for 2018. I humbly request you read them for consideration for the Nebulas, Hugos, Locus, World Fantasy or the Campbell (I'm in my last year of eligibity). At the very least, I'd love for them to be read and thought about again. Many thanks! My two eligible publications are in the Short Story Category (under 7,500 words): Writing for the End of the World - This appeared in Nature on March 7, 2018 (996 words). This is an origin story for post-apocalyptic fiction interwoven with one of my favorite jokes. Emergency Evaluation for Penny Ante, as Recorded by Cal-Q-Tron of the Benevolent Order of Heroes - This appeared in Galaxy's Edge #32, their May/June 2018 issue (999 words). Penny Macías, sidekick to Major Patriot is up for her her first job evaluation, and it turns out she's not the best fit for the job. Over at...

December 2, 2018
Awards Eligibility, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Writing
, , , ,

A Long-Awaited Acceptance

I am overjoyed at being able to announce the acceptance of one of my favorite stories, "How Juan Bobo Got to los Nueba Yores" to the Latinx Archive. I remember hearing Juan Bobo stories at my late grandfather's knee in his marquesina. He interspersed the Juan Bobo stories with his own memories of his childhood living in the mountains of Aibonito. I learned from him the fact that if you lived in rural Aibonito, you didn't wear your shoes to come down the mountain on your way to school. You slung them around your neck by their laces and walked barefoot to school. You could always wash mud off your feet at the pump in the schoolyard, but it wasn't so easy to do the same with your shoes. My grandfather's stories were so vivid, they stayed with me and meshed with his own experiences. This is what inspired writing...

July 23, 2018
Fantasy, Latino, Writing

Short Update: Named as a New Writer at Tor.com!

I was thrilled to find out I was included in a list of "new" writers over at Tor.com. I was in good company, including many of my colleagues on the writer's forum, Codex, as well as Sherri Cook Woosley, one of my fellow writers in our local group. She also has an exciting novel due to come out in September of this year! Being mentioned in an article in one of the largest publishers of speculative fiction made me realize, though, that I hadn't collected previous mentions of my work. I have since corrected that oversight and included a new page, titled "Press & Reviews" with links to any reviews on the Web. That's everything I wanted to discuss this week. See you all next time!...

June 18, 2018
Latino, Writing
, , ,

My New Story is Live at Galaxy’s Edge

My story, "Emergency Evaluation for Penny Ante, as Recorded by Cal-Q-Tron of the Benevolent Order of Heroes" is now live at Galaxy's Edge. Inspired by the dull format of a work performance evaluation, I paired this with something I always wondered about: how come so many superhero sidekicks never seem to get promoted to becoming superheroes? I've waited quite a long time to share this with all of you, and I hope you enjoy it!...

May 1, 2018
Science Fiction, Writing

“Writing for the End of the World” is Up at Nature

My story, "Writing for the End of the World" is up at Nature today. This was a lot of fun to write. From the inspiration for the story, to being able to integrate one of my favorite jokes as a type of parallel to the main story, everything came together in delightful fashion. The initial inspiration came from reading Beth Cato's wonderful little story, "The Library Is Open" over at Daily Science Fiction. It's not the first story of Beth's that deals with a post-apocalyptic world (she has at least two others I know of in the pages of Nature, as well), and what with all the types of apocalypses out there in books, movies and TV, I wondered where the modern end-of-the-world story came from. It's not a very well-kept secret certain more secretive government agencies invite science fiction authors to speak as "futurists" (to which I say: great gig if...

March 8, 2018
Science Fiction, Writing