domingo, 29 de mayo de 2016

¡Estoy en un Top Ten Marciano de cuentos! ¡Y en qué compañía!

Se acerca Marte a la Tierra y pasan cosas extrañas y maravillosas... 

Como que en Book-Riot otra columnista haya vuelto a recomendar mi novellette MEMORY junto a verdaderos titanes de la Ciencia Ficción (héroes personales míos, en muchos casos) como el Gran Maestro Samuel R. Delany, la escritora premiada Mary Robinette Kowal, el talentosísimo Geoffrey Landis, ¡o Kage Baker!

THE RE(A)D PLANET: 10 SHORT STORIES ABOUT MARS

Mars is super-close to Earth this week; the closest it’s been in 10 years. On May 30, it will be about 46.8 million miles away from Earth, which means that all this week, you can go outside and get a pretty good look at it with the naked eye until June 3.
There are hundreds of science fiction novels about Mars: Heinlein, Asimov, Bova, Bradbury, C.S. Lewis, Butler, Burroughs, Robinson, Clarke, Lao, Bear and, most recently, Weir have written novels about it. There are enough books about the Red Planet to stock an entire library.
You know what else there’s a lot of? Short fiction about Mars.
To celebrate this year’s close approach*, here are some short works written by authors who’ve stared up at that red dot in our sky and speculated about who might be on Mars, looking back at us, the blue dot in theirs.
memory by teresa mira de echeverriaMemory by Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría translated by Lawrence Schimel: Memory begins with Jebediah, a small boy on Mars. He lives in a mining colony with his father. One day, he meets a native, one of the genetically modified people who were created to terraform the planet, and he falls in love. Ajax is one of only 40 members of his race, and has his own mission, which is focused on Jebediah. This novelette is an exploration of oppression, freedom, love, polyamory, memory, and time itself.
Bajo un Cielo Ajeno by Bernardo Fernández (BEF): I’m including this one with a caveat: This is a piece for Spanish-speakers, since it hasn’t been translated yet. The hero is Juan Brigada, a Oaxaca native, who is part of a work program on Mars. The work allows him to support his family on Earth, but by going to Mars he’s sacrificed his right to come home. This story is available in BEF’s anthology, Escenarios Para el Fin Del Mundo.
The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal: Elma led the first expedition to Mars. Now she’s in her 60s, and she lives there. Elma loves flying, and when she’s offered a mission she has to choose between her dying husband and her last chance to get out into space and fly. Set in what seems like an alternative present (Elma’s memories and the technology seem to come from the early ’60s), this story examines our space program and the choice between work and family.
Falling Onto Mars by Geoffrey Landis: When the governments of the world abolished the death penalty, they all clapped themselves on the back and congratulated themselves. But there was still crime, and so Earth decided to send its convicts to Mars. This story is short enough to read on your lunch break (if you can eat lunch while reading the subject material) and gives a short history of the transportation and liberation of Mars.
Mars is No Place for Children by Mary A. Turzillo: Kapera Smythe is a six-year-old on Mars. She’s got leukemia and when she finds out that her parents are planning to have her treated on a station in Earth orbit (which means she’d never see her father again) she makes other plans: to run away. This story, which won the Nebula in 2000 is available in the The Nebula Awards Showcase 2001 collection.
the horsemen of mars by codex regiusHorsemen of Mars by Codex Regius: The first Mars expedition encounters the titular “horsemen,” a deadly St. Elmo’s fire-type phenomenon native to Mars.
This novella, which won an award in Germany the year it was published, was written by a married couple in Europe who are scientists and translators.
High Weir by Samuel R. Delany: An expedition finally finds what it’s been looking for: evidence of a past civilization. The linguist on the mission is at loose ends, though, because there’s no record of written language. But, the team finds that there is, in fact a record that’s been left behind. It’s just not what they expected.
the empress of mars by kage bakerThe Empress of Mars by Kage Baker: In this novella, the U.K. is the nation that’s planted a flag in Mars.
Mary Griffith was a xenobotanist for the British until she was let go, so she makes a living for herself and her family by opening the only bar on Mars. The novella has since been expanded into a full-length novel.
I Walked the Planet Mars  by Scott Key: This is a story so short that you can read it on your lunch break. Hell, you can read it on a smoke break. It’s so short that I’m afraid to summarize it and give too much away, but here goes: a young man from MIT finds himself suddenly on Mars, John Carter-style. I love the way the story is influenced by Burroughs, and the way it subverts Burroughs.
The Janitor on Mars by Martin Amis: One day, in 2049, a robotic janitor on Mars contacts Earth. He invites a delegation from Earth to come meet him on Mars and tells them about the rise and fall of the Martian race and about Earth’s inevitable end. Meanwhile, in an orphanage, a young boy has been raped and the janitor there takes it upon himself to find the perpetrator. This story is available in Amis’s collection Heavy Water, but if you have a New Yorker subscription, you can find it there, too.
*(Reading this later? Do not despair. You can catch the next close approach on July 31, 2018.)



viernes, 20 de mayo de 2016

Si te comparan con Ray Bradbury y Thomas Mann: ¡FELICIDAD ABSOLUTA!

Speculative Fiction in Translation, un página de EEUU, hace una reseña de mi novela corta MEMORY (traducida por Lawrence Schimel y publicada por Joanne Merriam).

 Y compara su estilo con el de Ray Bradbury en Crónicas marcianas, y a sus tópicos con los de Thomas Mann en Muerte en Venecia...

¿Se puede estar más feliz?
(Encima se encuentra entre una reseñas de Agustín de Rojas y una nota al genial Thomas Olde Heuvelt!) 

Muchísimas gracias a Rachel Cordasco por esta hermosa nota.


echeverriatranslated by Lawrence Schimel
Upper Rubber Boot Books
July 27, 2015
46 pages

There are so many reasons why I love this novelette, but the main one is that Argentine author Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría subverts expectations so gracefully and expertly (and this comes through clearly in Lawrence Schimel’s translation from the Spanish). Originally published in Terra Nova: An Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Science FictionMemory functions well as a free-standing novelette, raising numerous tantalizing questions and ideas in the reader’s brain without offering much closure.
And while Memory is labeled “science fiction” because of its Martian setting, genetically-engineered characters, and discussions of terraforming (and its reverse!), it is ultimately a book about love that transcends genre. Here we have the story of a human boy (Jedediah) who is drawn to a Martian “native” (Ajax)- one of the genetically-engineered humans sent to Mars hundreds of years before to terraform the planet. These natives are ostracized by the humans living on Mars, and they live in their own peripheral communities.
Jedediah grows up determined to leave his neglectful father and join Ajax to work with him on returning Mars to its pre-terraformed state. Ultimately, Jedediah and Ajax acknowledge their mutual love and commit themselves to one another for life. Mars, though, is not Earth, and its inhabitants are not bound by traditional human beliefs about marriage and binary relationships. Rather, this new civilization forged by native-human relationships is all about multiplicity and generosity. Many of the family units contain three, four, and even five members who have committed themselves to one another. The children that they have are raised by the entire unit.
What makes this story especially compelling is Ajax’s ability to see his memories of the future: as he explains to Jedediah, “One part of my memory works forwards…Glimmerings of you have always accompanied me.” Memory, for Ajax, then, is not simply a calling-up of the past, but also a way to choose a specific future, one that includes a beloved partner. In this way, memory is an active thing: the natives can choose certain paths based on a preferred future, just as they can reverse the terraforming process that they themselves initiated hundreds of years before. A memory of Mars as it once was informs their drive to take it back from Earth, even though the natives themselves came from Earth, too.
In many ways, Memory reminds me of Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles in terms of the latter’s use of Mars as a kind of exotic backdrop to the human drama that plays itself out. De Echeverria, like Bradbury, is interested less in the science of Mars and more in what it means for humans to colonize and change another planet- what does this do to humans’ perceptions, beliefs, and desires? How does a radically different environment change how we think about what it means to be human?
Most interesting of all, to me, is how much Memory makes me think about a famous novella (Death in Venice) by my favorite author of all time (the German writer Thomas Mann). Mann’s story, too, explores desire and “unconventional” love and its connections to art, memory, and death. Unlike Memory, though, Death in Venice despairs for a world in which love isn’t policed and bounded. De Echeverria’s story, in its lyrical and ultimately positive portrayal of non-binary, expansive love, seems like the answer to Death in Venice‘s question.
Memory would work wonderfully expanded into a full-length novel, since it seems so compressed in its current form (jumping ahead over years, etc.). Nonetheless, de Echeverría offers us a unique vision of human evolution- both biological and social- and she does this with lyricism and grace.


jueves, 19 de mayo de 2016

Cuento en colaboración con Guillermo Echeverría en NM

  La revista NM, dirigida por el editor y gran conocedor la ciencia ficción, la mitología irlandesa, y excelente persona: Santiago Oviedo, cierra sus puertas luego de 10 años más que fructíferos.
  Para la literatura fantástica hispanoamericana va a ser una pérdida enorme, y aunque reconocemos y respetamos la decisión de Santiago, no deja por eso de sentirse que un espacio más para la buena literatura de género ha quedado vacío.
  Sabemos que es un luchador y que seguramente estará haciendo nuevas cosas por la literatura, pero NM será extrañada de muchas maneras.
  Tanto Guillermo como yo publicamos muchas cosas en esa estupenda revista, y muchas de las mejores alegrías surgieron de allí, como nominaciones y premios internacionales.
  Varios de nuestros hijos literarios han encontrado su destino en NM. "Hijos" muy queridos que Santiago supo apreciar, sacar lo mejor de ellos y publicarlos en una revista que jamás cobró por difundir la literatura de género escrita en castellano.

  Ahora, Guillermo y yo tenemos el honor de ser publicados en el último número de NM, el #40
con nuestro cuento/novelette 
(que pueden leer, como siempre, gratuitamente, haciendo click aquí)




  Gracias, Santiago Oviedo por estas oportunidades y la distinción de tu amistad.
  ¡Larga vida a NM!



miércoles, 11 de mayo de 2016

Mi primera novela en salir al público: LUSUS NATURAE (como un regalo)

Bueno, mi primera novela en salir completa al público (no la primera escrita, pero sí una muy, muy especial).
Quería que fuese así, un regalo, porque tengo mucho que agradecer a mis lectores. Muchísimo.
Así que espero que les guste.

Gracias a la edición de José Antonio Cordobés Montes, quien la saca en Ficción Científica. Y a la portada-inspiración del artista Alejandro Marco que enaltece la obra.

Ambas personas muy generosas conmigo.


Como diría el buen Dr. WHO, definitivamente hay gente "más grande por dentro que por fuera"... 

DEDICADA A Guillermo, Olga, Héctor, Miguel Ángel, Omar M., Roxana L., Inés S. e Inés G., Paula A., Jorge K., Marcelo (Lex), Facundo C., Federico C., Rolando (Rolcon), Andrea F., Bernardo N., Sandra L., Eva K., Cristina J., Elias C., Verónica V., Jonathan (Jhon), Pedro P. y Lawrence S.; incondicionales ayudas en el camino… desde hace mucho y desde hace poco, quienes son capaces de ver belleza donde otros sólo verían “bichos raros”. A José Antonio C., Alejandro M., sin los cuales LUSUS NATURAE no existiría. Y también a Arrate H., Isabel S. y Ale D., quienes conocí después de terminada esta novela...

LUSUS NATURAE (la novela completa)
pueden descargarla gratis en formato PDF, EPUB o MOBI, 
pinchando aquí





viernes, 6 de mayo de 2016

Qué hago, Quién soy...

AQUÍ ESTOY, ESCRIBIENDO: YO. ES LO QUE SOY.

El ser distintos es la riqueza de la igualdad: igualdad en la diferencia.

Este es mi CV como escritora (porque lo mismo sucede con los géneros literarios: NO quiero abolirlos, al contrario, me encanta que se mantengan como variantes y opciones... pero, ¿por qué no jugar con ellos y sus límites?):

Alguna vez Pilar Pedraza me llamó buceadora intensísima... 
 -Escribo Ciencia Ficción (y la "C" a veces es matemática, a veces física, a veces filosofía, a veces antropología), o sea escribo CF dura y blanda y emotiva y no-emotiva, bastante erótica. A raudales queer. 
 -También escribo un pelín de Fantasía
 -Algo de New Weird... bah, bastante. 
 -Y MUCHA, MUCHA mezcla de géneros, porque me parece que en la variedad, en TODA VARIEDAD está lo bueno. (Amo a los escritores Roger Zelazny y Octavia Butler y Úrsula Le Guin y China Miéville y sus mezclas de géneros...)

¿Resultado?
Editores como Cristina Jurado, Leticia Palomino, Laura PonceJoanne MerriamRicardo Acevedo EsplugasJosé Antonio Cordobés MontesLuis Pestarini, Mariano Villarreal González, Santiago OviedoCarlos Daniel J. Vázquez o quienes confiaron en mí como Elias F. CombarroLawrence Schimel oAlejandro Marco o Arrate HS o Ale Decurgez o Néstor Darío FigueirasEl Negro VigliettiPedro PauneroCarlos E. Ferro o Rachel Cordasco (y perdón si con la vehemencia me olvido de alguien más) parecieron no tener problemas con mi eclecticismo.


¡Así como infinidad de lectores!

De modo que me cuesta esto de fluir... pero prefiero el agua cambiante y fertilizadora, a las piedras impolutas y marmóreas que jamás innovan.


(Gracias a Dios tengo un grupo de amigos que me apoya a full y a veces hasta lloramos juntos: Mis gigantescos amigos de LOS CLANES DE LA LUNA DICKEANARol ConCarlos DanielDuende AteoMarcelo C. Cardo, Guille, Jorge Korzan, Facundo CórdobaFederico CaivanoAdrián ParedesAleIsabel SantosArrateLauraVerónica VázquezGrendel BellaroussePaula Andrade, Roxana Lozano, Gaiane Turian).

Y por si se necesita mi CV de "humano", sigo este mapa imperfecto:

Magnífica ilustración de Antoni Garcés para la portada del
 libro de Joanna Russ: "El hombre hembra" 

 -SEXO BIOLÓGICO:  femenino
 -GÉNERO:  persona (gracias a mis maravillosos padres).
 -GÉNERO DE IDENTIDAD:  fluido.
 -EXPRESIÓN DE GÉNERO:  como puedo y me sale (enamorada de Guille).
 -ORIENTACIÓN SEXUAL:  bisexual/pansexual.


Creo que soy un ser humano, me gustaría que me vieran así, como decían Virginia Woolf o Simone de Beauvoir...

Mi obra refleja lo que soy... 

Me identifico con la gigante de Pilar Pedraza Martinez: "escribo raro". 
Y, tal como ella nos dijo: "Amazonas, a dar la brasa hasta que dejen de prohibirnos formar parte de la nave Argo como hicieron con Atalanta. Pero una cosa os digo, como lo prohíban de nuevo, se quedan sin barco y sin Vellocino."
Y como me dijo en persona (junto a otros escritores) la inmensa de Angélica Gorodischer en su casa: "si no escribimos estamos jodidas".

Así que: A escribir...

A resistir.