Speculative Fiction for Dreamers

Finalist, 2022 World Fantasy Awards

Hear LeVar Burton read the story "Tía Abuela's Face, Ten Ways" by Lisa M. Bradley from the collection Speculative Fiction for Dreamers.

“An outstanding showcase of contemporary Latinx authors exploring identity through the conventions of sci-fi, fantasy, and magical realism. Themes of family, migration, and community resonate throughout these 38 masterful stories. … This is a knockout.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Speculative Fiction for Dreamers brilliantly runs the gamut of visual, oral, and textual storytelling, creating magical wormholes that link Indigenous past to place-rooted present, imagined futures, and the abode of syncretic gods. These vital pieces resonate like entangled particles of ancestors and descendants, boundless possibilities stemming from Latinx identity. An important anthology that will inspire readers to dream and discover.” —David Bowles, author of Rise of the Halfling King

“In imaginatively reconfiguring the past, present, and future—and our dreaming and waking lives—the contributors to this expansive anthology capture the kaleidoscopic experiences of Latinx folks living in the Américas. These evocative stories embrace a multitude of forms to surprise us with what is possible. This is a book I’ve been dreaming about and waiting for.” —Rachelle Cruz, author of God’s Will for Monsters

In a tantalizing array of new works from some of the most exciting Latinx creators working in the speculative vein today, Speculative Fiction for Dreamers extends the project begun with a previous anthology, Latinx Rising (The Ohio State University Press, 2020), to showcase a new generation of writers. Spanning diverse forms, settings, perspectives, and styles, but unified by their drive to imagine new Latinx futures, these stories address the breadth of contemporary Latinx experiences and identities while exuberantly embracing the genre’s ability to entertain and surprise. With new work for new audiences in their teens and up, and especially for Latinx people navigating their identities in the ever-shifting, sometimes perilous, but always promising cultural landscape of the US, this book is for dreamers—and DREAMers—everywhere.

Contributors: Grisel Y. Acosta, Stephanie Adams-Santos, Frederick Luis Aldama, William Alexander, Nicholas Belardes, Louangie Bou-Montes, Lisa M. Bradley, Eliana Buenrostro, Diana Burbano, Pedro Cabiya, Steve Castro, Fernando de Peña, Scott Russell Duncan, Samy Figaredo, Tammy Melody Gomez, J. M. Guzman, Ernest Hogan, Pedro Iniguez, Ezzy G. Languzzi, Patrick Lugo, Roxanne Ocasio, Daniel Parada, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Reyes Ramirez, Julia Rios, Sara Daniele Rivera, Roman Sanchez, Tabitha Sin, Alex Temblador, Rodrigo Vargas, Laura Villareal, Sabrina Vourvoulias, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez

Alex Hernandez is a Cuban American science fiction writer. His work often explores themes of migration, colonization, and posthumanism, while blending the subgenres of space opera and biopunk. His first novel, Tooth and Talon, was published by EDGE. He lives in South Florida with his wife and two daughters.

Sarah Rafael García is the author of Las Niñas and SanTana’s Fairy Tales. She is also the founder of Barrio Writers and LibroMobile as well as coeditor of the anthology Pariahs.

Matthew David Goodwin is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. His work focuses on the ways that science fiction, fantasy, and digital culture have been used to express the experience of migration. He is the editor of Latinx Rising and the author of The Latinx Files: Race, Migration, and Space Aliens.

Contents

Preface Dreaming Latinx Realities
Frederick Luis Aldama

Introduction ¡Seguimos en la Lucha!
Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, and Sarah Rafael Garcia

Part I Dreaming of New Homes

How Juan Bobo Got to los Nueba Yores
Karlo Yeager Rodríguez

Those Rumors of Cannibalism and Human Sacrifice Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Ernest Hogan

Saint Simon of 9th and Oblivion
Sabrina Vourvoulias

Ancestral Lines and Other Tall Tales
Samy Figaredo

Quetzal Feathers
Tammy Melody Gomez

Tía Abuela’s Face, Ten Ways
Lisa M. Bradley

Part II Dreams Interrupted

Jean
Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos

Like Flowers Through Concrete
Louangie Bou-Montes

A Flock for the Sandhill Crane
Roman Sanchez

Fancy
Diana Burbano

Time Traveler Intro
Eliana Buenrostro

The Music Box
Sara Daniele Rivera

Part III My Life in Dreams

My First Word
William Alexander

Do as I Do
Pedro Iniguez

The Clarification Oral History Project
Pedro Cabiya

Curanderas in the Ceiling
Alex Temblador

Dream Rider
Daniel Parada

Spooky Action at a Distance
Laura Villareal

BlindVision
Grisel Y. Acosta

Part IV When Dreams Awaken

The Chupacabra Next Door
Roxanne Ocasio

An Adventure of Xuxa, La Ultima
Reyes Ramirez

Night Flowers
Stephanie Adams-Santos

Alma y Corazón
Julia Rios

Ella Frederick Luis Aldama, Fernando de Peña, and Rodrigo Vargas

Two-Bullet Cowgirl Blues
Steve Castro

A Mirage
Steve Castro

The One
Steve Castro

Grave Talk
J. M. Guzman

Part V Dreams Never Imagined

A Dangerous Wand
Nicholas Belardes

Madrina
Sara Daniele Rivera

Bad Sun
Scott Russell Duncan

Beacon
Scott Russell Duncan

Her Number
Scott Russell Duncan

Old Folks
Scott Russell Duncan

Soledad
Ezzy G. Languzzi

Contraband
Patrick Lugo

The ENCRoach Program
Grisel Y. Acosta

Homebound
Tabitha Sin

Contributors