FIVE TO THE FUTURE—THE PAPERBACK

 

Even in this age of the ebook, there's nothing like feeling a book in your hands with your words in it. That's why I'm delighted to announce that Five to the Future, is also available in paperback, and in stock at Amazon.

It includes a new novelette—both a dystopia based on current events, as well as a phantasmagorical Chicano futuristic vision--by me.

There's also one by my wife, the fabulous Emily Devenport. And Cynthia Ward, Arthur Byron Cover, and editor M. Christian.

(And, pssst! Don't tell anybody, but for the time being, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can get the ebook for FREE!)

If you're interested in reviewing it, please do. You can still be the first to do it on Amazon. Or get in touch with M. Christian.

I'm reading it right now, and would be praising it, even if I weren't a contributor.

CHICANONAUTICA GIVES A POST-CINCO DE MAYO REPORT FROM TRUMPTOPIA

Chicanonautica looks back at the first Trump Era Cinco de Mayo, over at La Bloga:

As usual, a history lesson is in order:

For those of you who don't believe in the gun-toting, blackfaced transvestites:

Meanwhile, corporate recomboculture mutates on:

And there is fear, and loathing:

STRANGE HORIZONS REVIEWS HIGH AZTECH

Good reviews for High Aztech keep coming in! The latest is in Strange Horizons, written by Dara Downey, who lectures at Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. And I'm delighted that there are some quotes that I can exploit for my nefarious purposes:

Ernest Hogan’s High Aztech is in many ways a hybrid creature—a mixture of the hard-boiled cyberpunk associated with William R. Gibson and his ilk, and a reasonably optimistic fantasy about the end of religious intolerance. 

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. . . the emphasis on globalisation, on post-secularism, and on a riotous celebration of cultural relativism also feels very relevant, even urgent, in a world seeing the return of far-right sensibilities and serious back-pedaling on environmental and socially progressive issues. The book is therefore both very much of its time and remarkably prescient, not to mention really very enjoyable . . .

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Like Victor Frankenstein’s creation, High Aztech is a queasy patchwork of genres and ideas that combine to make something radical, unsettling, and quite possibly monstrous, but by no means in a bad way. 

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For this reviewer at least, this linguistic and stylistic labyrinth is a large part of the book’s ideological thrust—and indeed its charm.

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Displaying as it does a real knack on Hogan’s part for packaging progressive politics in imaginatively lively and entertaining ways, I’ll certainly be looking for more.

So, ticmotraspasarhuililis, nenatzime!

CHICANONAUTICA ANNOUNCES ALTERMUNDOS

Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga, announces Altermundos, still another anthology that I'm in. This time there's stuff about my work, too.

The cover is based on a Jesús Helguera painting:

And it covers a whole lotta Latinoid culture that's getting speculative:

Of course fantastic Latinoid visions are nothing new:

Maybe those visions are the future:

ALIEN CONTACT ON SALE!

That's right. You can get down and dirty with entities from other worlds for just $1.99!

Well, actually, it's the Kindle and epub versions of the anthology Alien Contact edited by Marty Halpern that's on sale for $1.99.

It includes my story "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song," that I later exploded into my first novel Cortez on Jupiter. A little piece of Chicano sci-fi history that you may have missed. Resistance is futile, I tell you.

And if that isn't enough, there are also stories by a whole lot of science fiction masters, who will make this worth your bucks even if I'm not your favorite writer. Just look at that cover! Those names!

This sale won't go on forever, so do it now!

CHICANONAUTICA PREVIEWS UNO! . . . DOS! ONE-TWO! TRES! CUATRO!

There's a preview of my Five to the Future story in Chicanonautica, over at La Bloga.

I stole the title from the intro to a Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs song:

It was inspired by our newfangled sci-fi reality:

And other possibilities:

It's a real “a Chicano fiesta of multicultural caliente salsa:”

EMILY MAKES A DEAL

My wife, the fabulous Emily Devenport (pictured above with the Mongolian Death Worm) is at it again. Look at this announcement she posted on Facebook:

So I guess I'll stop being a weenie and just tell you guys what's going on, because I got the editing letter already and my editor has made the announcement to LOCUS, etc. I sold two SF novels to TOR: THE SERVANT and a sequel. They're based on the novelette Neil Clarke published in Clarkesworld Magazine in August 2015. It seems unlikely the whole thing will evaporate at this point, so it's an official YAY now. (Thank you for your patience).

Many thanks to Neil, because having my story available online helped to clinch the sale. : )

Here's a link to that original novelette in Clarkesworld.

Stay tuned for more details!

LOOK OUT! FIVE TO THE FUTURE IS HERE!

That's right, Five to the Future, another anthology with a new story (actually a novelette) by me has been unleashed. My contribution was inspired by the current political situation in the United States of America. It also features a character based on my infamous Calacanaut drawing/logo.

There's also a novelette by my wife, the fabulous Emily Devenport!

And much, much more!

Here's the official announcement:

Digital Parchment Services (distributed by Futures-Past Editions) and M.Christian are pleased to announce the imminent release of a brand new science fiction anthology edited by M.Christian:

Five To The Future

All New Novelettes of Tomorrow and Beyond

Featuring never-before-published work by Ernest Hogan (Locus Award Finalist), Arthur Byron Cover (Nebula Award Finalist), Emily Devenport (Boomerang Award winner), Cynthia Ward (Asimov’s SF Magazine), and M.Christian (Lambda Award Finalist):

Here’s what editor M.Christian says about this new anthology:

And here we are: a Chicano fiesta of multicultural caliente salsa from Ernest Hogan, a soul-touching tale of furry friends and bittersweet affection by Emily Devenport, a neon-highlighted 80s love letter to a classic anime by Cynthia Ward, a multi-dimensionally kaleidoscopic tale of love beyond reality by Arthur Byron Cover, and even my own modest contribution in four stories as one, about the Soviet-era practice of smuggling Western music impressed onto discarded X-rays.

About the contributors to Five To The Future:

Extensively published in science fiction, fantasy, horror, thrillers, and non-fiction, it is in erotica that M.Christian has become an acknowledged master, with more than 400 sales in such anthologies as Best American Erotica, Best Gay Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bisexual Erotica, Best Fetish Erotica, and in fact too many anthologies, magazines, and sites to name.

But M.Christian has other tricks up his literary sleeve: in addition to writing, he is a prolific and respected anthologist, having edited twenty-five anthologies to date including The Mammoth Book of Future Cops, The Mammoth Book of Tales of the Road (with Maxim Jakubowksi); Confessions, Garden of Perverse, Amazons (with Sage Vivant), and many more.

As a novelist, M.Christian has shown his versatility with books such as the queer vamp novels Running Dry and The Very Bloody Marys; the erotic romance Brushes; the science fiction erotic novel Painted Doll; and the rather controversial gay horror/thrillers Finger’s Breadth and Me2.

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Arthur Byron Cover is a former bookseller, critic, and big mouth. He published several sf novels in another era. He was raised in Tazewell, Virginia, which is in Tazewell County, which was named after a man who opposed the formation of the county until he learned it was going to be named after him. He is one degree of separation from F. Scott Fitzgerald, former President Clinton, Nelson Mandela, and a whole lot of rich and famous people in liberal Hollywood, many still alive. He currently lives with his wife and six pets in the middle of nowhere called Packwood, Washington, where the elk roam and the volcanoes haven’t erupted for thirty years.

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Nine of Emily Devenport’s novels were published in the US by NAL/Roc, under three pen names. She has also been published in the U.K., Italy, China, and Israel. Her novels are Shade, Larissa, Scorpianne, EggHeads, The Kronos Condition, GodHeads, Broken Time (which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award), Belarus, and Enemies. Her newest novels, The Night Shifters and Spirits of Glory, are in ebook form on Amazon, Smashwords, etc. She is currently working on a novel based on her popular novelette, “The Servant.”

Her short stories were published in Asimov’s SF Magazine, the Full Spectrum anthology, The Mammoth Book of Kaiju, Uncanny, Cicada , Science Fiction World, Clarkesworld, and Aboriginal SF, whose readers voted her a Boomerang Award (which turned out to be an actual boomerang). She blogs at www.emsjoiedeweird.com.

One day Em hopes to become a geologist. She volunteers at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and works in the Heard Museum bookstore (Books & More). She is married to artist/writer Ernest Hogan, and they live in Arizona, the Geology Capital of the World.

And she really loves cake. You should send her cake. (But not pineapple upside-down cake. That’s fake cake.)

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Ernest Hogan is a six-foot tall Aztec leprechaun who was born in East LA back in the Atomic Age. His mother’s name was Garcia, and his parents weren’t aware of Ernest Hogan, the Father of Ragtime. He grew up in West Covina, considered to be one of the most boring places in California. Monster movies, comic books, and science fiction saved his life. Because he is the author of High Aztech, Smoking Mirror Blues, and Cortez on Jupiter, he is considered to be the Father of Chicano Science Fiction, though there hasn’t been any kind of DNA test. His short fiction has appeared in Amazing Stories, Analog, Science Fiction Age, and many other publications, His story “The Frankenstein Penis,” has been made into student films. He is also an artist and cartoonist. He has been recently been discovered by academia, which may bring about the end of Western Civilization. His “Chicanonautica Manifesto” appeared in Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies. He is married to the writer Emily Devenport.

They live in Arizona, and enjoy exploring the Wild West. He blogs at mondoernesto.com and labloga.blogspot.com. Currently, he’s trying to finish several novels, but keeps getting distracted by all kinds of weird shit.

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Cynthia Ward has published stories in Asimov's Science Fiction, Shattered Prism, Weird Tales, Athena's Daughters (Silence in the Library Publishing), and other anthologies and magazines. Her stories "Norms" and "#rising" made the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List for 2011 and 2014. She edited the anthologies Lost Trails: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West Volumes One and Two for WolfSinger Publications, and has a pair of anthologies forthcoming in collaboration with Charles G. Waugh, the first science fiction professional she ever met. With Nisi Shawl, Cynthia co-created the groundbreaking Writing the Other fiction writers workshop and coauthored the diversity fiction-writing handbook Writing the Other: A Practical Approach (Aqueduct Press).  Her short alternate-history novel, The Adventure of the Incognita Countess, is now available from Aqueduct Press. She lives in Los Angeles, where she is not working on a screenplay.

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Five To The Future will be formally released in April, 2017. Pre-release copies for review are available now by writing M.Christian: mchristianzobop@gmail.com.

ISBN (print): 978-1544125367
PRICE: (print) $14.99/(ebook): $2.99 (free on Amazon Unlimited)
eBook and Trade Paper Editions available April, 2017

Distributed by Futures-Past Editions

https://futurespasteditions.com
Twitter: @futurespasted
Facebook: Futures-Past-Editions

Digital Parchment Services is a complete ebook and print service for literary estates and literary agents. The founders of Digital Parchment Services are pioneers in digital publishing who have collectively published over 2,500 ebooks and PoD paperbacks since 1998.

DPS clients include the estates of multiple Hugo winning author William Rotsler, and science fiction legend Jody Scott; authors such as Locus Award finalist Ernest Hogan, Hugo and Nebula nominee Arthur Byron Cover, prize winning mystery author Jerry Oster, psychologist John Tamiazzo, Ph.D., award winning nutritionist Ann Tyndall; and Best of Collections from Fate Magazine and Amazing Stories.

http://digitalparchmentservices.com
Twitter: @DigiParchment
Facebook: Digital-Parchment-Services

CHICANONAUTICA FINDS CYBER BEYOND PUNK CON LATINOIDS

Chicanonautica reviews the anthology Cyber World, over at La Bloga.

Remember cyberpunk?

Everybody knows what it looks like:

Well, there's been some mutation going on:

Because we need brave new art for brave new worlds:

REPORT FROM A BLAZING SPRINGTIME

The Metro Phoenix Area has skipped spring, and gone directly to summer. I've broken out the luau shirts, unfashionable cargo shorts, and chanclas. Some folks are saying that it'll cool off again, but it looks to me like we're in for a long, hot summer.

What else could we have in 2017?

Birds are still shitting on the head one of the Buddhas in our backyard. I don't consider it to a tragedy or an outrage. It's really funny in a zen-like way. I enjoy contemplating the slow disintegration of the bird turds in the heat and ultraviolet radiation.

Yeah, weirdness abounds . . .

The other day, not far from our favorite burger joint on Glendale Avenue, around the corner from a bearded homeless person in a dress, we saw a van customized to look like a pig – a remnant of a defunct business.

Later, there was a stretched, bent Hummer parked in front of Safeway. A Latinx bride, groom, and wedding party, all in formal attire, wandered the aisles.

And our neighborhood rooster has been sleeping in, and not crowing until after eight a.m.

I know that this sounds like notes for the script for a surrealistic art film that's maybe a little too derivative of Un Chien Andalou, but that's the world we're living in. Reality doesn't care if it doesn't make sense. And it doesn't give a damn about aesthetics. 

At least we aren't buried up to our waists in the sand, being devoured by insects. Yet.