Monday, May 27, 2019

SKIN DRAGONS TALK IN THE AFROFUTURISM BUNDLE


He didn't want to give the guards one more chance to beat him to a bloody pulp. It would have made them far too happy. The dragons tattooed on his bruised arms and shoulders twitched and asked, What's so funny?


That's the first paragraph of my story, “Skin Dragons Talk,” originally published in the March 1998 issue of Science Fiction Age and later reprinted in Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond. It's set on a moon colony run by yakuza where an intelligent virus from deep space causes all hell to break loose.


For a limited time, Mothership can be purchased along with similar Afrofuturistic book as part of The Afrofuturism Bundle. You also books by Nisi Shawl, Bill Campbell, and many other books that take back the future and the imagination from white supremacy. What are you waiting for?

Friday, May 24, 2019

CHICANONAUTICA THINKS ABOUT LATINOFUTURISM


Chicanonautica is about Latinofuturism over at La Bloga.

Because I took part in an oral history project for the Smithsonian:


The National Air and Space Museum to be exact:


Got me thinking about futurism:


Can it get Latinoid?

Monday, May 13, 2019

A PREVIEW OF “PEACECON”



I sold another story! It's called “PeaceCon”--a slapstick comedy about social unrest and mind control starring my post-cyberpunk masked luchador, Steelsnake. It'll be in Unfit Magazine Vol.3.

Some of you may remember Steelsnake from my story “Novaheads” that can be found in the anthology Super Stories of Heroes and Villians, edited by Claude Lalumière.

And you can read a sample of “PeaceCon” now!

Meanwhile, stay tuned. I'll let you know how to get the whole thing as soon it's available.


Friday, May 10, 2019

CHICANONAUTICA TASTES SALSA NOCTURNA



Chicanonautica reveiws Daniel José Older's Salsa Nocturna at La Bloga.

Lucky for me, he has a lot of videos:


I agree with him on this:


He's from Boston:


And here he is reading from the book:

Thursday, May 2, 2019

LEPRECON REVELATIONS


While the cactus were blooming all over Phoenix, Emily and I went to another LepreCon, at the Doubletree, next to the library where I work, across the street from Hooters.


The hotel looked like the set of a sci-fi flick from the Seventies.


There was a Lyft station our front to remind us what century we were in while I took Kubrickian snapshots.


The con was small. A good thing, because so was the hotel. Most of the time you could walk around and not notice that there was convention going on.


The attendees were mostly older fandom. Our g-generation.


But there were younger folks, too, in costumes that seemed more eclectic than tributes to favorite franchises. One young woman showed off a shield she was making emblazoned with the word “fuckface” that was inspired by her baby, who she pushed around in a stroller. It was a flash of the old days when all this was considered a threat to polite society.


We had to talk about where the whole damn SFF kit and kaboodle is going. We can to the conclusion that it was all getting bigger and more diverse. We’re in for an explosion.


Later I got to talk about what the new classics could be (beats the hell out of me), and  bullshit about creativity.


Nobody had anything for me to sign, so I doodled at the signing. Note to writers: Unless you’re super famous and know there’s going to be a long line with stacks for stuff for you sign, bring along something to amuse yourself.


The audiences were small, were actually interested in books and wanted to talk about them. This got me thinking on the last day, Easter Sunday, while most folks were celebrating in honor of everybody’s favorite zombie: Just what is SFF/Fandom all about these days?


This was not just an excuse to eat at Chino Bandido.


Has it all been totally commandeered by big publishers, and corporate media franchises? Where are the new ideas coming from? Is anything important ever discussed at the newfangled “comic cons.” (Corporate lawyers please note the lower case letters, no hyphen, and quotation marks, no copyright infringement is intended--I’m just trying to say something so that people will understand it, godammit!)


People still find out about new and unusual books, and other interesting cultural phenomena at small, independent conventions, like Leprecon. We need them, but keep your funky subcultures going.


So support your local conventions!