My post last week about Project Hieroglyph and People of Color (PoC) is one more nail in the coffin (okay, maybe just a tiny tack) of privileged publishing of speculative lit exclusion of U..S. minorities. [Spec = sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, horror, fables]. Members of Hieroglyph decided to answer in detail the questions I posed. I did mean to stir the waters, but not for my individual benefit. For the purpose of helping break down the cement ceilings in U.S. publishing, cracking under their own exclusivity. I'll post their response when it comes in. Or join Hieroglyph and add to their discussion.
PoC seem to be a hot topic, especially in spec lit. Rumors circulate about an East Coast anthology written by diverse authors. Also, the 2015 Spokan, Washington, WorldCon is named Sasquan, which should open up possibilities to Native American writers. Since the 2013 WorldCon in San Antonio included a dozen "Spanish" workshops, Sasquan would do well to build on its progressive moves to attract a more diversified attendance, especially from the black and latino writers concentrated in Calif.
However, it's not simply that dark people are trendy. Opening the U.S. publishing doors to PoC would definitely inject perspectives and worldviews into genres that some, like Hieroglyph, believe have become overly pessimistic, gloom-and-doom, robbing spec lit of vitality, instead of portraying futures of many possibilities, and Hope. YA lit is not the only genre thirsting for that.
As a former student and instructor of Clarion West describes it: "I am all for utopian visions of the future. We ARE the future. As children and grandchildren of immigrants and those who have worked the land, survived great hardships, and learned not to rely on the dominant society, Latinos are ideally positioned to inherit the earth, deal with cultures that differ greatly from our own, and take innovative approaches to high tech, low tech, and all the little techs in between. - Kathleen Alcalá
What she expressed about Latinos, applies as well to other PoC. We should not just see what develops. We should move to develop it. Join in where and as you can and bring along your bro's or amigos, including the progressive white ones. Here's Ernesto Hogan's take: "This all keeps giving me flashbacks to the beginning of my career thirty years ago. You should let Hieroglyph know there are a number of diversity-oriented movements (postcolonialism, Afrofuturism, Latinonautica . . .) going on right now, in fact it seems to be the coming thing. The new generation, no matter of what ethnic group or where they live, sees technology as part of their natural environment, rather than a tool the oppressors are using to keep them down. And our Cultura tends to be anti-dystopian, pleasure-generating--we've won themover with our music, food and art in the past and present; this will continue. Maybe we can not only save science fiction from it's own stereotypes, but literature from being a means of expressing clinical depression. I better stop before I this becomes a silly manifesto."
I didn't think any of this was "silly."
Diverse stories wanted for Weird Western Antho
Another example of PoC-generated activity in the spec lit world came from a lively Facebook discussion this week. Cynthia Ward began with, "I would be curious to see a Weird Western anthology that didn't feature mostly white male writers." Over 130 posts later, she initiated a possibly breakthrough anthology. So, if you're not in it for the money, consider sending, or writing, your Weird Western short story, soon. Yeah, Cynthia's white, but knows it. That won't satisfy Sherman Alexie, but she has at least one story in Indian SF.
What's Weird Western? - A literary sub-genre that combines elements of the Western with another literary genre, usually horror, occult, or fantasy. Steampunk has been added, SF could maybe get in.
Cynthia explains, "I want to put out this anthology with Native American contributors. Mexican, Chicano, Nuevo Mexicano, Californio, and other Latino/Latina/Hispanic perspectives are not only wanted, but necessary. I'm defining multi-cultural inclusively, not that a story featuring nothing but straight white cis-gender men is going to get in. I hope the anthology will prove worthy of the interest it has generated and hope it proves worthy of interest, attention, and excitement."
Initial guidelines: diverse authors/characters/viewpoints/perspectives [not the usual straight, white, able-bodied cis cowboys/ranchers/pioneers/etc]; approx 1k - 10k words; reprints preferred; pays $5/story + royalties; published by WolfSinger Publications. One story submission at a time, in DOC or RTF; time period(s) should be 1600s CE-1910s CE, although earlier time periods will be considered.
Setting(s) should be primarily in the US/Territories west of the Mississippi, northern Mexico, and/or in western Canada). E-mail for questions and submissions.
Cynthia Ward on her credentials for editing a multi-ethnic antho: "I'm a straight white/Anglo cis woman, which may be an element some writers will weigh when considering whether to submit a story. Also, I'm OK with people sharing considerations I should bear in mind as editor, given my various privileged statuses and the fact that, although I was born in Oklahoma and lived in the West for nearly all my adult life (since 1983), I'm not a life-long resident."
As author of this post, I'll say that until we have many PoC editors with the publishing resources and connections, Anglo editors progressive enough to publish us will be an avenue we might want to take advantage of. I'm going to attempt that.
If you have questions, you can contact Cynthia at marketDoTmavenDoTsubscriptionsATgmail.com or check her lit credentials.
Rushdie on Márquez
Speaking of PoC having unique perspectives, you'll probably enjoy Salman Rushdie's piece on Gabriel García Márquez, Magic in Service of Truth, where he re-examines magical realism. Two excerpts, but the entire piece is enlightening.
"In the Macondo of Gabriel García Márquez, imagination is used to enrich reality, not to escape from it."
"No writer in the world has had a comparable impact in the last half-century. [Márquez] was the greatest of us all."
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| Naia - one scientist discovers her male whiteness |
BUT, white-male-dominated perspectives continue, with one scientist
A 12,000-year-old female skeleton found in Yucatan (that's in dark-peopled Mexico, scientists) was named Naia, but in describing HER, one scientist said SHE, a Native American, resembled the actor Patrick Stewart, a white male, who's not even indio or mexicano. Really?
Es todo, hoy,
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Last week at the Day of Latino ScienceFiction panel sponsored by UC-Riverside, I was one of a half dozen Latino spec lit authors who gathered for a small but precedent-setting event. The fact that six, culturally connected authors composed the entire panel was its own phenomena, given the white ceiling all of us have faced in our publishing lives. I’ll play the card now—Racism. A.k.a. prejudice, exclusion.
It’s in the news. In the NBA, in the #WeNeedDiverseBooksCampaign with its 87,000 posts, and on the “Get rid of the poor Hispanics. White power” signs some idiot posted last week near by a bilingual elementary school a few blocks from my house. (Some Denver Post readers commented, “Is that really racist?” And others said the signs fell under “freedom of speech” or were just “political opinions.”Facebook provides American examples of PoC being denigrated or shot to death, every day.
That racism, deliberate or unintended, is present in sci-fi and spec publishing is an extension of something white America has neither defeated nor rid itself of. PoC don’t always bring up the question or use the word among Anglo audiences, but it pisses us off, not only that is exists, but that many Anglos don’t recognize it.
The #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign began this month in response to “the whitewashed lineup of guests at the BookCon convention in NYC, the end of this May. Out of that a couple (?) of panels were added to accommodate a few PoC authors, including Chicano author Matt de la Peña. That it took a Tumbler campaign of 23,275 people to force the issue is an indication of the BookCon organization’s previous white-blindness.
From the Campaign website, comes this: “The #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign will reveal further news and action plans at 10:00 a.m. during the BookCon diversity panel in room 1E02 at the Javits Center, 655 West 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan.” That such is needed is a fact about publishing in general in the U.S. If you haven’t joined the Campaign, do so, no matter your ethnic background.
Last year at WorldCon’s sci-fi/fantasy convention in San Antonio, I along with author Guadalupe Garcia McCall and poet Reyes Cardenas, and others, were invited to speak on panels. The WorldCon organizers haven’t been lauded enough for creating the “Spanish strand,” an attempt to bring more Latinos into their convention, including holding about a dozen workshops devoted to Latino issues. While the attendance fell way short of what might have been, I sent my ideas for what they could do in the future to better effect Latino attendance.
Right before the UC-Riverside workshops, sci-fi author/editor Eileen Gunn sent me a message concerning Latino participation in an initiative called Project Hieroglyph, out of ASU. By my count at the time, of over 300 participants, almost no Latinos had joined Project Hieroglyph.
Eileen Gunn is a good person, not only for providing a blurb for my novel, but for even taking the time to do so for an unknown, first-time, Chicano author of an alternate-world novel with a Chicano protagonist. (She wrote, the book is “a polyglot tornado of words, in which magic realism meets punk and develops an attitude. Dizzying!”) Eileen is respected in the sci-fi/fantasy world for, among other things, having won the 2004 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and has been nominated for Philip K. Dick, Nebula, and Locus Awards.
The mission of ProjectHieroglyph is to revitalize American sci-fi, away from the dark dystopias currently dominating genre literature—“a return to inspiration in contemporary science fiction.” The Project focuses on issues of reinterpreting technology and science to drive this inspiration, reminding me of a hard-science attempt to deal with social and political manifestations in sci-fi. I wonder whether gloom and doom can be fixed by a new rocket or toaster.
Putting that aside, my answers to Eileen are intended for the white-dominated establishment of American sci-fi, and fantasy. Here are Eileen’s points:
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| Eileen Gunn |
“You're right to identify Hieroglyph as a potential opportunity, and I respect both your wariness and your optimism. The reality of Hieroglyph, in my opinion, is that it will become what the participants make of it. It is waiting for adherents. I think the newer writers who are still discovering their own areas of interest can benefit from it. It offers an opportunity, right now, for POC, including scientists and social activists as well as writers, to get in on their own terms and include themselves.
“I'll be meeting with the folks at ASU next month at Stanford, and I'll be on a panel about Project Hieroglyph at the Nebula Awards weekend in San Jose.
“Are there issues that you, Rudy, and Carl Brandon Society [a largely black sci-fi/fantasy organization] members would like me to address with the ASU folks? Are there issues that could be brought up on the Nebula weekend panel? What are the things that ASU and Project Hieroglyph could be doing that would increase participation by people of color?((The panel is Sunday, May 18, at 10 am, the Nebula weekend.)”
Okay, Latino spec lit authors and readers—here’s an opportunity. Eileen will advocate for inclusion and participation of PoC. How do we answer her? Send me (or her) comments and I’ll forward them to her. Below, I elaborate on ideas I suggested to WorldCon organizers about their "Spanish strand." (The concept was great but needed adjusting to increase Chicano, mexicanoor Latino participation.) The Hieroglyph Project and all future cons would do build on WorldCon’s ideas in their organizational structure and projects.
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| Project Hieroglyph logo |
1. When PoC visit the Project Hieroglyph website, will a Search for “Latino, Chicano, black, PoC, etc.” result in anything? Are there groups or activities dedicated to recruiting PoC members, developing topics to appeal to PoC, or discussions going on among Hieroglyph membership to diversify itself? Yes, these are questions for Anglo members to answer for and about themselves, if they choose to do so.
2. Economics is power. ASU assumedly has funds that will pay for speaker fees, travel expenses, and other monies to promote the Project. Are mechanisms in place to insure that PoC, whether famous authors or not, will be candidates for such funds? The fact that PoC in general, including sci-fi/fantasy lit authors, dominate the lower end of income levels is a reality that needs addressing, especially when funds are distributed.
3. Are there plans for publications like future anthologies not only to include PoC, but also devoted to them? For instance, I don’t think the anthology the Project is producing this year includes any Latino. Hopefully, there’s at least one black author. If we want a future that reflects the diversified U.S. in the 21st Century, it should be evident in the Project’s publications.
4. At the high school and college level, will there be deliberate efforts to recruit Latino and other PoC students? Scholarships, contests, writing cons and workshops specifically designed to aid those students have largely been developed by PoC. If Project Hieroglyph seeks younger fans, it could design some components aimed at increasing PoC membership from schools.
5. When more of the famous spec-lit authors, like Eileen, come forward to address issues of inclusion, other and new authors and fans might follow. David Brin has personally encouraged me in posts about Latino inclusion, but I also talked privately with others who expressed similar views. To diversify the sci-fi world requires the open support, advocacy and participation of many more Hugo, Nebula and other award-winning writers. They have the power and influence to accelerate this process, within Project Hieroglyph and at every sci-fi/fantasy con in the U.S.
A week and a half after The Day of Latino Science Fiction, I remember my impressions from the event. There was a camaraderie of shared exclusion and cultural identity, as well our literary ties. We are accustomed to being by ourselves. If the sci-fi/fantasy world doesn’t change more, it will lead to the creation of a Latino SF/F organization. We don’t join where we don’t feel welcomed. What we don’t get invited to. Where we aren’t asked to speak or to contribute to anthologies. Multinational gatherings are what all spec lit people should want and join. Hopefully, Project Hieroglyph might become that.
Es todo, hoy,
