Cosmos Latinos

Author: Andrea L. Bell & Yolanda Molina-Gavilán, editors
Published: 2003

This is an excellent anthology spanning over 130 years and nine different countries. While not every story is a winner, most are well worth the time to read.

I alternated from oldest to newest, reading the first story then the last, second and then penultimate, working my way from the edges to the middle. The bookends did seem to have similarities in that they focused on what were the trends of the time.

For example, the first story, "El remoto porvenir" (The Distant Future - 1862) by Juan Nepomuceno Adorno, reads like a combination of Walt Whitman and Karl Marx. Other early stories focus on life on Mars and cities run by machines.

In contrast, the last three stories focus on cyberpunk, video games, and recursive time travel. All three are very familiar themes of the past 10 - 15 years.

This is assuming the selection of stories are representative of the times they were published. One needs to trust the editors in this respect. If so, it may be telling that many of the best works are in the middle of the book, written in the 1960's and 70's, paralleling developments in English language SF/F.

The representation of women writers is slim, just four of the twenty-seven authors in the book. All four are wonderful stories, from the very edgy "Estreno" (First Time - 1994) by Elia Barceló to the amusing "La Anunciación" (The Anunciation - 1983) by Daía Chaviano.

Angelíca Gorodischer's story "Los embriones del violeta" (The Violet's Embryos - 1973) fits perfectly in the age of New Wave science fiction. And "Gu ta gutarrak" (We and Our Own - 1968) by Magdalen Mouján Otaño is a very funny send up of both the dawn of mankind and Basque sensibilities.

The other theme that runs through the stories is war and politics. No wonder given the history of the countries represented: Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, and Peru. Sadly, the foreign policies (to use a polite term) of the U.S. provided political, financial, and military support to many of those conflicts.

Again, these stories may not be reflective of Hispanic SF/F as a whole. The genre certainly is ideal for exploring issues that may be politically sensitive (or even mortally dangerous for the author) under the cover of speculative fiction.

It does make me wonder about English language SF of late. I don't read short fiction broadly enough to be sure, but global warming aside, I can think of only one story I've read that tackled current politics of the U.S. head on.

Overall, a great anthology, well edited and translated, with a wealth of references in the bibliography for further exploration.