Thursday, November 27, 2014

Chicanonautica: What Do You Want to Know?



2014 just wants to keep on running me ragged. Things keep happening (besides the riots and the racial strife). Not only is the new Digital Parchment Services/Strange Particle Press ebook of Cortez on Jupiter orderable, but the press release is available, so you can read about the impending soft-cover edition, find out where to write about getting review copies, and read quotes of wild praise for the book.

If that isn’t enough, Digital Parchment has started a new Ernest Hogan blog so they can promote their editions of my books. They also started an Ernest Hogan Tumblr. I’ll be posting stuff on both of them, so check ‘em out!

Which brings me to the main subject of this post . . . the writer Nalo Hopkinson, who teaches at UC Riverside, sent me a direct message on Twitter (most of my sales and gigs these days come through the social media) asking if I would be willing to lead a workshop “on writing Latino-focused SF/F/H,” because “The community has been asking for it.” Ever the professional, I asked if it was a paying job, and it is, so it looks like in February 2015 I’ll be teaching a  master class (hey! I’m an expert in the field!) as part of their Writer’s Week. I will provide more details as I get them.

2015 and February are coming at us fast. I need to think about it, and take some notes . . . I could fill the time with funny stories about my weird career, but since this is a university thing, I should probably ask the community that Nalo was talking about what they want. I’m assuming that a lot of you aspiring Chicanonauts read La Bloga.


So, what would you like to know about writing Latino-focused speculative fiction/fantasy/horror? Are there specific questions you’d like answered? Just what can I do for you?

I’ll be waiting for your comments . . .

Ernest Hogan has accumulated a lot of ancient Chicano Sci-Fi wisdom over the years. He’s willing to share it. Especially for money. Or food. Or cerveza. Oh yeah, feliz Día de Los Guajolotes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Impressive, Ernest. Well deserved.

So, I guess I call you Mr. Hogan now. Or Teacher. Or Prof. Or Master. Or Most Enlightened One. Or is Ese still OK?

Low Writer

ERNEST HOGAN said...

Nah. I ain't got no titles. I don't need no stinking badges. I'm just an undocumented intellectual who crossed borders without realizing it. Maybe people can learn from me. At the very least the will be entertained.

Giora said...

If I took this course I would like you as the teacher to talk about this:
1. The top ten (more or less) Latino focused books in these categories. Give a summary of each book and about their Latino features.
2. Talk about your own books in these SF/F/H and your experience as a Latino author and the response that you got from readers and reviewers.
3. Talk if Latino focused books in these categories are just about having Latino or Latina as main character ... or is there something special about Latino/Latina main character than makes them react differently to events in SF/F/H books
Best wishes with your course.

ERNEST HOGAN said...

Thank you, Author Giora. Your list will be a big help to me. It's also giving me ideas. It's the kind of stuff I was hoping for.