27 thoughts on “The Mexicanx Initiative”

1. I’m a first gen Mexican/Puerto Rican American woman from the borderlands of Southern California. I’ve been writing my entire life and publishing since 2005. I consider my work mythic fiction, informed by the wonderful wild familia and our bruja lineage. Some people call it magical realism, I call it life. I’ve published in various literary journals, anthologies and newspapers. I work construction to pay the bills. I have a fantasy trilogy based on pre-contact mesoamerican mythology that will go on sub soon; pyramids and jaguars instead of castles and dragons, with brown skinned warrior women. I’ve written these books for the nerdtastic brown girls who want to see themselves in high fantasy and have never had the chance. I would LOVE to attend WorldCon. Please consider me, thank you!

2. Message received, Lizz. I’ll have a look at this later tonight. Gracias!

3. I’m Monica Robles Corzo AKA Monarobot, I’m a full time Mexicana indie artist from Chiapas, I make monsters inspired in Maya culture, aesthetic and mythology, I’d like to attend this con because I’m a science fiction fan and I’ve been developing Maya inspired sci-fi works myself!

4. Hi, Monica — I see you! I’ll check in with you later tonight. Appreciated! Gracias. 🙂

5. My name is Bibiana Camacho. I’m from Mexico City. I’d like to attend this Worldcon because my literature (I’ve published four books, two novels and two tale collections) mix science fiction, with contemporary horrors, insanity, solitude and mystery. And I’d love to meet other authors, discover other worlds and stories.

6. Gracias, Bibiana! I will have a look later tonight. Appreciated!

7. Hi, my name si Gabriela Frias Villegas. I am a Science Communicator who studied literature and mathematics. I am the curator of Science Fiction Science (Ciencia Ficción Ciencia) a festival in which writers, scientists and artists discuss science fiction subjects from their perspectives. I would love to go to Worldcon because I want to meet authors and other creators who have new and exciting ideas. Currently I am
   working in a book about how science and science fiction ingfluence and interact with each other, and it would be great to discuss the subject with other people interested on it.

8. I couldn’t answer sooner than today because i was in the California desert conducting readings at anonymous’ immigrant cemeteries, scouting the water canals and holding cross-border “Tierra y Libertad” flag-making parties at Mexicali, and I’m really glad there’s an extension to the deadline! Why would I love to be in WonderCon? Well, I love cons, and I love speculative fiction and have written and published stories in both English and Spanish, and I’ve even conducted a crazy two-month extravaganza of science fiction interventions right on the San Ysidro border crossing, so I really appreciate to talk and exchange ideas with people who are as involved in the subject as me. Why speculative genres? Because they provide the most amazing toolkit with which to analyze, understand and change our contemporary, globalized, and highly-unequal world.

9. Hello and thank you for your actions, John.

   A friend of mine contacted me yesterday and told me about this, and after careful consideration, I decided to not follow on his proposal for me to take a shot at a sponsorship, but I will sure let my fellow Mexican creators know about this opportunity over my social networks and personal contacts.

   Once more, thank you for your efforts in making our community more visible to the larger worldwide audience.

   All best to you and your loved ones, and I sincerely hope to meet you sometime in the near future.

   Love,
   Txabier.

10. Hi, my name is Adam Gallardo. Why do I want to attend World Con? To connect with a larger community that, in broad strokes, operates in the same world I do. As a second-generation Mexican-American who grew up in an almost all-white city, I felt more than a little isolated. Then I decided to pursue life as a writer, and that was even further isolating. I just want the chance to mix with people who will understand at least one of the worlds I occupy. And, thanks to this initiative, it sounds like there might also be a larger Latinx presence at the con as well, which would just be icing on the cake.

    I’ll be honest, I have struggled with my cultural identity my whole life – hell, I white-washed my own first novel – and now I want to strive to make my personal identity more a part of everything I write.It would certainly be nice to connect with other Latinx creators and fans.

    I can give you a link to my Amazon Author page if you’d like, or my CV is on my blog.

    Thanks for this opportunity.

11. Hi! My name is Iliana Vargas. I was born in Mexico City, in 1978. Since my childhood I’ve seen an alien at the mirror, and that image has guide me to the literature and other creative expressions about science fiction and all the ways of fantastic imagination. I have published 3 tale books in which you can find hybrid beings and monsters; bizarre places, languages and atmospheres; entities from other dimensions and personages who are lost between the dream-world and the wakefulness.

12. And I would love to go to WorldCon because I want to share the things that I like to imagine and to write, and to know the creations, dreams and nightmares of the people who also loves the several worlds of science fiction and the power of the imagination.

13. Hi. My Name is Edgardo E. Pérez , I’m from Hidalgo, Mexico. I spend my life study Physics. I love Science and I love the Science Fiction. Some cientifics have a bad idea abut that fantastic world of fiction. They say, the cience get stoped and hinder by the brains fulled of fantasies. I think it is in other way. I study Physics, i mean, I study the real wolrd but I read science fiction to expand my mind because I remember that words from la Barca: “the reality before to be reallity, was a dream”

14. Angela Lujan

    At my first Worldcon, Renovation, I saw panels with professional writers, I saw the Hugos and writers gaining recognition for their work. I realized for the first time that professional writer was not just fantasy. This was something I could actually become.
    I’m now at the University of Nevada, Reno, where I am majoring in English Writing. I’ve published works in the school’s literary magazine, Brushfire and I’m currently the staff writer for the school magazine, Insight. While attending UNR, I’ve taken courses that have helped me to understand my intersecting identities as a woman who is Mexican and queer. I’ve made it my goal as staff writer for the magazine to use my platform to bring some awareness of diversity issues to campus. This means I’ve written about gender nonconforming faculty, and lectures addressing issues of race and gender. I’ve written about local nonprofits and how they help marginalized groups. I try to write about people who help people. People who are trying to bring their dreams into reality.
    When I first picked up a science fiction book, Have Spacesuit-Will Travel, I thought that science fiction was about dreaming of distant galaxies, adventures that inevitably involved lasers, and alien creatures. As I navigate my life, and my town, and meet people who try to create a better future, I’ve come to think of science fiction as the dreams these people have; dreams of helping people, dreams of more inclusive communities, dreams that will someday come true.

15. Hi, all — I wanted to stop by here and say that I see ALL of you above and I’ll be following up with each of you, as I continue making decisions in the days ahead. I’m receiving a tsunami of submissions via my email too, and I’m carefully reviewing every submission, including yours. Thank you for your patience and I hope to check in with each of you soon. 🙂

16. Hello John. Extraordinary endeavor. Thank you very much for the initiative.

    My name is Medardo Landon Maza Dueñas from Texcoco (very near Mexico City). I am a writter of epic fantasy. I have a degree on Creative Writting from the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (UACM).

    ACHIVEMENTS:
    -First honorable mention for the novel “Hadas en Chapultepec” in the 12 Premio Internacional de Narrativa Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (2015)
    -Wiinner, with the essay “El Quijote y Sancho & Frodo y Sam” of the X Premio Aelfwine of the Sociedad Tolkien Española (2014)
    -Accesit award for the fan-fiction novel “La Partida de Celeborn” of the Premio Gandalf 2011 of the Sociedad Tolkien Española

    BOOKS:
    1. “Hadas en Chapultepec” (2015) Fantasy novel
    2. “Póquer de Cuatrillizos” (2014) Fantasy novel
    3. “Castillo Hueco” (2013) Short novel, fantasy
    4. “Bosque adentro” (2013) Fantasy Children´s Book
    5. “Bajo la colina” (2013) Fantasy Children´s Book
    6. “La diminuta mariposa morada” (2012) Short novel, fantasy
    7. “Vampiros, licántropos y otras infamias” (2012) Fantasy Bestiary
    8. “Unicornios, dragones y otros portentos” (2008) Fantasy Bestiary
    9. “Elfos, trasgos, gnomos, trolls y otras criaturas del rincón” (2017) Fantasy Bestiary
    10. “Hadas: Damas de Poder” (2007) Fantasy Bestiary.

17. Hi, John!
    My name is Libia Brenda. I have been a sci-fi reader since I was a girl. I started to write in my teenage years and I belive that one of the subjects that most puzzled me was to discover (in my 20´s) that science fiction was considered as something not-too-serious. What on Earth can be more serious than the especulation, the vision of the effects of our actions in the Universe, the extrapolation of what humanity can do? Of course I didn’t belive then, and less then ever, now.
    I now belive that us, writers of “a larger reality” (Ursula K. Le Guin´s words), are a great bunch of people in which company one can have the best time. I´m also convinced that to meet all kinds of writers and imaginators it’s one of the best ways to establish a real dialogue, and the best way to have access to others visions and ideas. That is one of the reasons because I want to attend the Worldcon 76, the other main reason, appart from the fact that sometimes for people in Latin america is not so easy to attend such beautiful events, is that we need to encourage the presence of female authors, woman who create, who do wonderful stuff and sometimes don’t feel supersure that the world is going to embrace them (it’s a bit my own case). So that: mostly, I want to know other women in Science Fiction, I know that there are going to be a lot of guys, as always 😛
    I have some short stories publish in anthologies from Mexico and Spain, some translated to the Italian, in a couple of books; some other short stories (and articles) in the web. And I am a memeber of a nerdy collective call “Cúmulo de Tesla” (Tesla’s Cluster?), conformed by artists and scientists dedicated to talk, write, study and enjoy the dialogue between science and art. THank you for open the door to us! Cheers 🙂

18. I realize I might be late for this but in case there’s still time… I’m a filmmaker and VR/AR content creator, born and raised in Mexico City and have been living in Los Angeles CA for the past 10 years. I am also a puppeteer and learned about this opportunity through my friend Mary Robinette Kowal. I would love to attend Worldcon because I feel it would be a great opportunity for me to meet other science fictions creators and talk about where are our fictional worlds taking us. We are responsible for the worlds we are putting out there and the futures we are imagining and placing on people’s minds. We have to make sure that those futures are full of hope and innovative ideas that can help others imagine a better world.
    Thanks! Tanya Leal Soto http://www.tanyalealsoto.com

19. Hello, my name is Enue Reynaldo, I’m from Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. I am a geneticist and molecular biologist. In addition, I have written science fiction stories like “The Last Project” included in the anthology “The Prometheus Mirror”. I would like to attend this Worldcon, because I want to meet people who have dedicated themselves to the development of science fiction and share with them my experience as a scientist who has written science fiction. Since I was a child, science fiction inspired me to become a scientist. I think every child who wants to be a scientist is because he or she has interacted in some way with the world of science fiction and was fascinated by it. Also, I think Mexican children could be more and better scientists if we write more hard science fiction in Mexico. Thanks for your attention.

20. Hi, my name is Francisco Javier Gonzalez, I am a science fiction writer from Tijuana. My last novel is set in a futuristic city where two drug cartels are fighting each other, one side configured by politicians, soldiers and drug dealers; the other one by a group of narco-zombies. It is a tale that does not defend the narco-culture that surrounds it, but instead, makes a statement against drug wars and necropolitics, altogether. A very relevant topic to the city I grew up in. You can take a peek at it right here: https://www.amazon.com/Muerto-despu%C3%A9s-Spanish-Gonz%C3%A1lez-C%C3%A1rdenas/dp/1492290734 I have written several other science fiction stories, as well, centered around an array of different futuristic topics. I am right now working on a series of Sci-Fi short stories centered on man and machine hybridizations and how this reflects human kind’s relationship with machines and technological mechanisms. I just found out about your membership sponsors. I am very interested in meeting other science fiction writers and exploring new Sci-Fi perspectives. I know I’m a bit late, but if so happens that a spot would open I hope you can consider me as a 76th Worldcon attendee.

    Sincerely, Javier

21. Hello John,

    Just sent an email to you with my thoughts. There is a link to my website in the email signature for more info on my works and recognitions.

    Thanks again,
    Veronica Stich
    http://www.ronniestich.com

22. I have written and published a book of science fiction in 2010 with the title “Último Edén” and it was hard to sell in Mexico, place where I live, but I think it is worth the while to be published in the USA. I live in Mexico City. Right now, it’s in the slush pile of two publishing houses, but because of my limited English language skills, it has been hard for me to find a publisher or someone who can believe in me. You can check a review and an interview of my book published in La Jornada in 2010. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2011/01/09/cultura/a04n2cul
    “Último Edén” (Last Eden) is a science fiction novel and a caustic satire, a dystopia situated in the Third World in which our present civilization of Internet trends and culture, gadgets technology craze, and capitalist greed is distorted and taken to extreme levels. It’s a bizarre mix between Sartre’s “La Nauseé” and Easton Elis’ “American Psycho”, but also mixed with teaspoonfuls of a la Burroughs’ derision and scorn, but with a plot.
    The @taraxy is the employee of the future. They have a PC integrated into their brain to be more intelligent and productive, eliminating interfaces as they remove healthy eyes and ears just to be updated with the novelest and state-of-the-art technological advances. But they have been immunized against their fellowmen pain and suffering, with the result the world could be going straight to hell and they go on with their lives happy-go-lucky, care freely and nonchalantly.
    Genocide of unemployed masses, or lumpens, has been legalized to eliminate overpopulation and social unrest. Fascist ©orporations have overthrown the national States and immortality is available downloading minds into genetically enhanced bodies that can live four hundred years. But for that to happen one has to have lots of money.
    That is why SAX wants to be one of the @taraxy, one of the winners, because this is the only way he could have something like a future. Unfortunately, he can’t afford the OS @taraxy that allows all of this to happen. So then, he gets it illegally from the dark internet, since Companies prefer the @taraxy when they choose the employees that will be hired and who will not, leaving the rest of humanity doomed to unemployment and death.
    That is just the beginning of his ordeal, because, when he tries to get a better job, the hirers discover his ploy and denounce him to the Neuronal Police. Now, sax must figure out how to save his hide. Sax is involved in a spy ring and high politics where he must make use of all his cleverness and wit to escape from the fate of the lumpen, the lowest of the low, which is death and extermination.
    I have a bachelor degree in Journalism and Collective Communication from National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as a diploma in Creative Writing in the SOGEM School of Writers (the General Society of Writers of México). I am member of a narrative workshop directed by the writer Mario Gonzalez Suarez. Ediciones B México published my first book, Last Eden, (Último Edén) which is a science fiction novel, in 2010.

23. Desde el jueves pasado he pensado de que servira la fantasia y la ciencia ficcion en nuestras vidas, no porque no lo fuera para mi y sin embargo hoy despierto como si viera por vez primera sus posibilidades. Todo eso apartir de la llamada de un amigo diciendo que viera esta nota http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2018/05/30/cincuenta-mexicanos-protagonizaran-la-convencion-mundial-de-ciencia-ficcion-1589.html
    Y que deberia escribirte porque piensa que tengo posibilidades (dije que lo haria sin tomarlo muy enserio).
    Comenze a ver tu trabajo y paso por la cabeza esa emocion que me produce leer ciencia ficción …en estos ultimos años con poco animo, talvéz porque las historias distopicas que inventaba en la imaginación son ahora palpables… pero a la véz, al ver tu obra recorde mucho la “pintura fantastica”: Boris Vallejo, Rowena Morril, Larry Elmore, Frank Frazzeta, Jeff Esley, Kent Kelly y más. Crecí viendo su trabajo ilustrando libros, cartas, juegos de RPG, discos y videojuegos que obtenía solo por eso. Si, la fantasia y la ciencia ficción nos dan posibilidades -no solo como un producto consumible- en la “realidad”. Me explicare: imaginar para conocer lo que no existe -concebir más allá de nuestras posibilidades-, tener un espacio interior propio en que esas posibilidades nos enfrenten y podamos responder ante ellas; la posibilidad de que algo de ello produsca un cambio de conciencia de nosotros e inclusive esto lleve a un efecto en nuestra realidad (fisica).
    Dibujar cambio mi vida y se hizo natural para poder contar las cosas que imaginaba / soñaba e ineherente al estar en espacios estrictos y cerrados.
    Hoy tengo presente eso y, dedicado a la educacion, entre otras cosas a la enseñanza por medio de las artes es lo primero que inconcientemente enseño. Seguramente reflejando esa emoción de descubrir creando que tuve (y que a esta edad es diferente pero no menor) y muy importante repetirlo: para que ellos se hagan conscientes de si mismos.

24. Hola,

    How can I share a CFS for a scholarly and creative journal? Can I direct message the information?

25. What’s a CFS? What’s the publication?

26. What you are doing is AMAZING!! Its an unexplored avenue to changing the status quo and perception of Mexicans in this country … and the globally. We need our own Mexican superhero. What the Black Panther is to African Americans! Will do my best to follow you and support these efforts!

27. Hi, Yuri! Apologies for just now seeing your kind note. Appreciated!! 🙂