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Where I Can Be Found at the Baltimore Book Festival

Now that the schedule is official, I'm able to talk about where I'll be during the Baltimore Book Festival this year. I'll be at the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) pavilion, located in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore. This year, I'll be participating in a couple of panels, which I'll detail below. Friday, September 28, 4:00 PM Hey, You: Why You Should Be Reading SF/F Even If You Never Have Before Don't consider yourself a genre reader? Let our panel try to convince you why you should be reading SF/F, and some of their favorite entry points and gateway books. With: Sue Hollister Barr, Vera Brook, Christopher Mark Rose, K.M. Szpara, Andrea Tang Saturday, September 29, 1:00 PM Short Fiction: The Beating Heart of SF/F Novels may get all the press, but some writers do their most interesting work at the shorter lengths, where they are free to be more experimental. Find out the...

September 5, 2018
Public Appearance
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To Strike Through The Pasteboard Mask of This World – Reading John Langan’s “The Fisherman”

On the last full day of vacation in Maine, I got "The Fisherman," by John Langan and started reading. Something about the languorous tone of Abe, the story's protagonist, and his tale of grief and loss drew me in. So much so that several hours later, when I put the book down to go swimming, I was 40% through the book. I wouldn't finish it until I got back to Maryland, driving for the better portion of a day, and passing over the Hudson River to get home. By that time, though, I'd already gotten to the story-within-a-story portion of book detailing the background of Dutchman's Creek, running from the Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskills. When we drove over the Tapan Zee Bridge in the early evening, with the last streaks of daylight dancing on the horizon, singing along with Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now," I could see why the Catskills...

August 19, 2018
Horror, Reading
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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
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The Politics of Disaster

This is a follow-up on my Hurricane Maria post. In recent days, a study conducted by a research team from Harvard University made plain what most people already knew: the death toll in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria was higher than the official tally of 64. Much higher. The study found the death toll could be 4.645 dead in the aftermath of the hurricane, as light, water and cellular services were interrupted in the wake of the storm. Thankfully, my partner and I were able to get most of my family off the island, and they--as many other Puerto Ricans--have decided to stay, leaving their lives there behind. In that respect, we have been very fortunate. My family was able to avoid the uncertainties of, say, Puerto Ricans granted vouchers to stay in hotels and motels in Florida and Connecticut. Overall, my family has been very fortunate, compared to many other Puerto Ricans. Why...

June 11, 2018
Latino
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