Chicanonautica: Dispatches From the Anthology Front

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by Ernest Hogan
Even with magazines dying off, I still have luck publishing my short fiction. Anthologies seem to be my home. Editors actually come to me. Maybe all those years of struggle are beginning to pay off . . .
While 2013 got off to its tumultuous start, “Pancho Villa’s Flying Circus” -- my post-steampunk/Mexican revolution/alternative universe tale featuring Pancho Villa, Nikola Tesla, airships, and deathrays -- was accepted to be in We See a Different Frontier, edited by Djibril al-Ayad and Fabio Fernandes. It’ll be out in July. It’s a production of  The Future Fire: Social Political & Speculative Cyber-Fiction. The theme is colonialism and decolonialization. It should shake up the Global Village.
Also, Claude Lalumière accepted my post-cyberpunk masked Mexican wrestler vs. a weaponized chili drug story “Novaheads” for Super Stories of Heroes & Villains. It’ll be out in August, and has stories by writers who are more famous and successful than me. 
Hm . . . Maybe I should think about marketing the hero, Steelsnake . . . Maybe I should write more stories about him . . .
Some of you may remember that “Novaheads” was supposed to be in an anthology called Border Noir that was supposed to come out last year. Well, it looks like that anthology (that was also going to have stories by other La Bloga writers) has been cancelled. This is not an easy time for publishers. Too bad, because it would have been great. I would have loved to be able to call myself a noir/hardboiled writer.
But then, superheroes are all the rage . . . anybody want to buy a techno-enhanced luchador?
Meanwhile, I’ve been invited to submit to still another anthology. I won’t go into any details. Over the years, I’ve gotten superstitious about these things. I don’t want to jinx the deal. Just send the mojo to make the story sell.
So while the changes blazing around us are causing magazines to go the way of the dinosaur, I’ll keep cranking our these crazy stories. Who knows, maybe some homes for them will pop up. 
Oh yeah, Happy Valentine’s Day!

Ernest Hogan’s Smoking Mirror Blues will soon be available for other ereaders besides the Kindle, and his High Aztech is about to return . . .