Anthology “Alucinadas”: 10 selected authors, 11 stories
(by Cristina Jurado)
 |
| Cristina Macía |
 |
| María Leticia Lara |
Thanks to Alucinadas, 185 female authors found the perfect excuse to write the
stories that were nagging at them, craving to become printed words. With Cristina Macía from Palabaristas as an accomplice, and the connivance of María
Leticia Lara Palomino from the blog Fantástica
Ficción, yours truly started to work on organizing a compilation of
science fiction stories written by women in Spanish, soon available through the online platform Lektu. We wanted to show the interest of female authors in this
genre, in which the lack of publishing venues is well documented. This scarcity
is due in part to the current penurious publishing landscape in the literary
market, even though few emerging initiatives are trying to change things.
We present to you 10 plus 1 selected female
authors -further information will be shared later about the 11th-
most of them already with a publishing history, and one that we can consider a
new talent. We got 205 submissions from 12 countries: Spain, Argentina, Mexico,
Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and
Rumania. Sadly, the origin of some of them was untraceable.
 |
| Ana Díaz |
Most of the submissions can be classified
as dystopias (a very fashionable genre category, thanks to the last YA
best-sellers), followed by fantasy stories, which were disqualified because
they didn´t respect the terms and conditions of our call. Biopunk, horror
science fiction, time travelling, cyberpunk, romance science fiction and
post-apocalyptic stories were less popular. The uncommon were hard science
fiction, steampunk, exploration fiction, social science fiction, military
science fiction, humor science fiction, alternate history, science fiction
thriller, weird and comics. Fortunately, our final selection showcases a wide
variety of narrative styles and topics, illustrating the interests of female
voices in science fiction. Special mention deserves the wonderful cover art by Ana Díaz, which reflects perfectly our objectives and the rationale
behind Alucinadas.
 |
| Teresa P. Mira |
The anthology opens with the winner of the
submission call: “La Terpsícore” by Argentinian author Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría. This is the story of Captain Stephana
Yurievna Levitánova´s static travelling in a singular spacecraft, whose
artificial brain is incarnated in the body of a dead teenager. This is an
example of quantic science fiction, as part of hard SF, because the expedition
takes place not by moving the vessel from San Petersbourg, but reuniting inside
several versions of the Captain from different alternate time lines. Levitánova
has to face an ethical dilemma, reflecting the existentialist questioning in
tune to Teresa´s professional carrier. She has a Phd in Philosophy and works as
a professor and a researcher, exploring the relations between science fiction,
philosophy and mythology. Some of her works have been published in magazines
such as “Próxima”, “Axxón”, “NM”,
“Valinor” and “Opera galáctica”. Her short story “Memory” was included in the
anthology Terra Nova by Sportula (both in the English and the
Spanish versions) and was one of the finalists of 2013 Ignotus Awards. You can
visit her blog to learn more
about her literary carrier and personal interests. “La Terpsícore” won our call
because of the range of its proposed ideas, as well as for offering all the
elements –plot, characters, setting and narrative style- required to provoke
the sense of wonder in the reader.
 |
| Felicidad Martínez |
Felicidad
Martínez is an industrial engineer from Valencia, and
the author of the second story: “La plaga”. Alternating first and third person,
Felicidad uses a very agile style in composing a militaristic space opera. Her
incisive Lieutenant Rosenbaum squanders honesty and humor, and narrates the
complications in a mission to a distant colony, after a mysterious indigenous
insect attack. Even though she considers herself still as an amateur writer,
Felicidad already has published works in her space opera universe of UC-Crow, developed
also as a role-play game. Her novella “The texture of words” was included in Akasa-Puspa
anthology by Aguilera y Redal, a finalist in the 2013 Ignotus Awards. Translated into Spanish, this story also appeared
in the English anthology Terra Nova and in its Spanish version, Terra
Nova 2. Her first novel “Horizonte Lunar” has been recently published by Sportula,
and her short stories appear regularly in numerous science fiction anthologies.
 |
| Laura Ponce |
“La tormenta” by Argentinian author Laura Ponce is set in planet Arkaris. It
explores the effects of Arkarian environment in human destiny through the experiences
of two military men. Stanisław Lem
comes immediately to mind after reading it. The author credibly recreates a simple
world, where the desert hides unsuspected secrets, strongly influencing its
inhabitants. Laura is a writer, an editor, the director of “Revista Próxima”
magazine and Ediciones Ayarmanot. She
contributes every month in “Amazing Stories” with a feature on women in science
fiction. Not only she collaborates with radio shows and traditional and online
publications, but also her short stories have been published in magazines and
anthologies in Argentina, Perú, Cuba and Spain. She is part of the Argentinian
Center for Science Fiction and Philosophy, along with her countrywoman Teresa P. Mira de Echeverría. Both
authors organize workshops and talks about the genre.
 |
| Yolanda Espiñeira |
Yolanda
Espiñeira, the Galician author of “El método Schiwoll”, has conceived a
science fiction thriller through two time lines: in the first, Mariana is being
interrogated; in the second, we learn the details of her life in a luxurious
district of planet Talití, which will help us unravel the raisons of her
detention. Reflecting Yolanda´s passion for crime novels, she applies in this
story the tropes of the genre to science fiction. It is the use of a circular
structure, alternating first and third person, what allows the reader to be
witness and accomplice at the same time. Yolanda is Spanish Philologist, specialized
in the writings of José Ángel Valente.
She currently combines her work as a teacher with her interest in Philosophy,
in reading and in writing. She has published reviews and articles in the blog El almohadón de Plumas, in the online magazine El
Fantascopio and in Prosa Inmortal magazine.
 |
| Nieves Delgado |
The fifth story is “Casas Rojas” by Nieves Delgado. She is a Physicist from
Galicia, where she teaches. Her interest in science fiction has leaded her to
explore the influence of technology in society. Her emerging body of works, limited
to short stories for now, is achieving the recognition of the science fiction
community. Her story “Dariya”( Ellos son el future, Web Ficción Científica and Revista Terbi
nº 7) is nominated to the 2014 Ignotus
Awards, granted by the Spanish Association of Science Fiction, Fantasy and
Horror (AEFCFT). Her stories usually analyze the limits of being a human,
questioning the essence of our species. In “Casas Rojas”, a government
commission investigates CorpIA, a powerful company that
produces androids for sexual use. Failures in some of the sexbots, which have
started to attack their owners, are the premise to expose the impact of
artificial intelligence in society and vice versa.
 |
| Lola Robles |
Lola Robles is a feminist,
pacifist and queer activist, and the author of “Mares que cambian”, the sixth
story in the anthology. She is a Spanish Philologist
and a writer, and since 2006 organizes Fantástikas, a workshop that discuses the role of women as authors and
characters in science fiction and fantasy. She has published three science
fiction novels: La rosa de las nieblas, El informe Monteverde y Flores de metal, and the anthology Historias del
Crazy bar –co-written with Mª Concepción Regueiro-, as well as the
realistic novel Cuentos de Amargarita Páez. Her short stories and articles
have appeared in numerous anthologies and Internet venues. “Mares que cambian” is
a transgender space opera, in which society presents a multiplicity of sexual
genders. In planet Jalawdri, intersexuality (hermaphroditism) is
a normative reality that articulates a very sophisticated social framework. One
of the most attractive aspects of this story is the use of male adjectives to
refer to the main character, even when she is still a female, breaking grammar
rules of gender agreement in Spanish.
 |
| Sofía Rhei |
“Techt”,
the story of Sofía Rhei, is a
semiotic dystopia with a touch of cyberpunk, recalling novels such as Fahrenheit
451 or 1984. The development
of a condensed version of the language has important cultural and social
consequences. The cyberpunk twist at the end of the story brings those
consequences under a new and more disturbing light, and urges the reader to
question the use of technology as a way of existential escapism, the same way
the main character –Ludwig- does. Sofía is an author, experimental poet, editor
and translator. As poet, she has published Las flores de alcohol
(La bella Varsovia), Química (El gaviero), Otra explicación para el
temblor de las hojas (Ayuntamiento de granada), Alicia Volátil
(Cangrejo Pistolero), Bestiario Microscópico (Spórtula), and La
simiente de la luz (Lapsus Calami). Her works have appeared in international
publications and have been translated to other languages, achieving numerous
honors. Part of her novels are intended to children and YA such us the Krippys
(Montena) or El joven Moriarty (Fábulas de Albión) sagas, stand
alone books like Olivia Shakespeare (Edelvives) or La calle Andersen
–co-written with Marian Womack (La Galera)-, Flores de sombra
(Alfaguara) and its sequel, Savia negra. She also writes science fiction
and dark fantasy stories, which have appeared in Casatomada, Calle 20 and in
anthologies such as Más allá de Némesis (Spórtula), Presencia humana
(Aristas Martínez), Crónica de Tinieblas (Spórtula), Retrofuturismos
(Fábulas de Albión) and TerraNova 3 (Fantascy).
 |
| Layla Martínez |
Layla Martínez signs “Bienvenidos a Croatoan”, a story mixing time
traveling and horror. Layla has a BA in Political Science and Sexology. She maintains her own blog, and works as translator and writer for different
magazines and webs, contributing regularly in “Culturamas” and “Diagonal”. Her experience as an editor,
corrector and translator for various e-zines and alternative publications has
leaded her to coordinate her own e-zine imprint: Antipersona. Her first
poetry book, El libro de la crueldad (LVR Ediciones, 2012), combines
prose poems with false biographies and verses. Some of her texts and poetry
have been published in anthologies such as Sangrantes (Origami, 2013), Serial
(El Gaviero, 2014) or Réquiem por Lolita (Fundación Málaga, 2014). “Bienvenidos a
Croatoan” is set in an underground city, mirroring Madrid, in a post-apocalyptic
future. Consuming dextralina allows drug customers to break the rules of physics,
triggering unexpected consequences in the mental and physiological integrity of
Hakim, the main character. Horror arrives through the inflamed love and guilty
feelings Hakim has towards his sister, a dangerous cocktail set for the
progressive disintegration of his personality.
 |
| Marian Womack |
“Black
Isle” by Marian Womack is a CliFi (Climate Change Fiction) story that analyzes the mutual influence of technology and nature,
and its impact on humanity. The account of Dr. Andrew
Hay questions our control over the environment and proposes a possible reactive
answer. Marian (here you can visit her blog) is a writer, translator and
editor from Cádiz, alumnae of Universities such as Glasgow and Oxford. She has
published Memoria de la nieve (Tropo, 2011) and the YA book La calle
Andersen (La Galera, 2014) co-written with Sofía Rhei. As an editor, she has
been responsible of Beyond the Back
Room: New Perspectives on Carmen Martín Gaite (Peter Lang, 2010) and her “New Gothic Weird” short stories
have been included in anthologies such us Akelarre (Salto de Página, 2010), Presencia Humana3 (Aristas
Martínez, 2014), or Steampunk.
Antología Retrofuturista (Fábulas de Albión, 2012). She is the
author of forewords and afterwords for genre books, such us the first English
edition of La torre sin fin by Silvina Ocampo. She has worked in the
selection of ghost stories by Charles Dickens
or Mary Shelley, and has translated
the works of Lord Dunsany, Gladys Mitchell, Henry James or Daphne du
Maurier, among others. As an editor she is responsible of the publication
of important European female authors within the weird genre in Ediciones Nevsky.
 |
Carme Torras
(Photo © by Pere Virgili) |
The last original story in Alucinadas is “Memoria de equipo” by
Catalan author Carme Torras (you can
access her literary blog here). She has a Phd in
Computer Science and currently works as a research professor in Instituto de
Robótica (CSIC-UPC). She combines her passion for scientific research with her
love for literature and has published numerous books and articles about
neuronal models, computing vision, artificial intelligence and robotics, and
being praise by her peers. In the scientific field she has published: Pedres
de toc (Columna, 2003) and Miracles perversos (Pagès, 2011), which were awarded with Primera Columna and Ferran
Canyameres awards. Her science fiction novel La mutació sentimental
(Pagès, 2008), was translated into Spanish (Milenio, 2012), obtaining awards
such as Manuel de Pedrolo 2007 and Ictineu 2009.
Some of her stories about machines, like
“Zac i el rellotge de l’ànima”, “La vita e-terna”, “Una arítmia silenciada” and
“El joc de jocs” have been included in anthologies like Els fills del capità
Verne (Pagès, 2005), Catarsi
magazine (2013), Elles també maten
(Llibres del Delicte, 2013) and Científics lletraferits (Universidad
de Valencia, 2014). Robbie, the pioneer robot nanny (Interaction
Studies, 2010) is an essay about the impact of science fiction in Ethics. “Memoria
de equipo” is a cyberpunk story in which virtual reality technology is used
within a legal framework. This is a collective tale articulated around a crime,
attributed to the pivot of a University basketball team, which questions human
capacity to manage memories.
 |
| Angélica Gorodischer |
“A la luz de la casta luna electrónica” by
Argentinian Angélica Gorodischer is
included in this anthology out of the call for submissions. It can be
considered as a generous endorsement to our project, delighted to be benefiting
from Angélica´s talent and notoriety. For that reason, all the people involved
in Alucinadas want to thank her, and
honor her as one of the most important science fiction authors in Spanish. Hers
are numerous novels: Opus dos
(Minotauro, 1966), Kalpa Imperial
(Minotauro, 1984 y Emece Editores, 2001), Floreros de alabastro, alfombras de bokhara (Emecé, 1985), Jugo de Mango (Emecé, 1988 y
Emecé Editores, 1995), Fabula de la
virgen y el bombero (Ediciones de la Flor, 1993), Prodigios (Lumen, 1994), La noche del inocente (Emecé,
1996), Doquier (Emecé,
2002), Tumba de jaguares (Emecé,
2005), Tres colores (
Emecé, 2008), Tirabuzón
(Editorial Fundación Ross, 2011), and Las
señoras de la calle Brenner (Emecé, 2012). Angélica has written
numerous collections of short stories, such as Cuentos con soldados (Club del Orden, 1965), Las Pelucas (Sudamericana, 1969),
Bajo las jubeas en flor
(Ediciones de la Flor, 1973), Casta
luna electronica (Andrómeda,
1977), Trafalgar (El
Cid, 1979), Mala noche y parir
hembra (La Campana, 1983), Las
Repúblicas (Ediciones
de la Flor, 1991), Técnicas de supervivencia (Ed. Municipal de Rosario, 1994), Como triunfar en la vida (Emecé,
1998), Menta (Emecé,
2000), and Querido amigo
(Edhasa 2006). She has participated in many anthologies, written essays, cultivated
the biography genre, and her works have been even adapted to the big screen.
Some of her books are available in other languages: Ursula K. Le Guin translated into English Kalpa Imperial in
2003. Along her carrier, she is been honored by numerous international awards,
like the 2011 World Fantasy Award, presented
by the World Fantasy Convention to praise a lifetime achievements. Those who
still don´t know the adventures of the intergalactic merchant Trafalgar “Traf”
Medrano will be able to meet him thanks to “A la luz de la casta luna
electrónica”. This story uses a very subtle and intelligent humor to question
social actuality: from gender and social classes relations and the role of
women in society, to patriarchal traditions. The bumpy sexual encounter, between
the main character and a female high government representative of an
aristo-matriarchal planet, will trigger a chain of events that will prevent Trafalgar´s
commercial pursuits.
 |
| Ann VanderMeer |
The foreword of this book is by an
international celebrated editor: Ann
VanderMeer. She was the fiction editor of “Weird Tales” when the magazine won the Hugo Award in 2009, and he
co-edited –together with husband Jeff VanderMeer- The Weird (Tor Books,
2012), which also won the British Fantasy Award. Founder of Buzzcity
Press, Ann has co-edited: The New
Weird (Tachyon Publications, 2008); Best American Fantasy (Prime
Books, 2007) y Best American Fantasy v.2 (Prime Books, 2009); Last
Drink Bird Head: A Flash Fiction Anthology for Charity (Ministry
of Whimsy, 2009); Steampunk (Tachyon Publications, 2008), Steampunk
II, Steampunk Reloaded (Tachyon Publications, 2012), Steampunk III, Steampunk Revolution (Tachyon
Publications, 2012); Fast Ships, Black Sails (Night Shade Books,
2008); The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (Harper Voyager,
2011); The Kosher Guide to Imaginary Animals: The Evil Monkey Dialogues
(Tachyon Publications, 2010); The Time Traveler´s Almanac (Tor Books,
2014); y Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology
(coming out in 2015 in PM Press). Ann not only has shared the objectives of
this anthology, but also has get involved in the project, offering much needed
advise and answering many questions, despite her numerous professional endeavors.
Alucinadas is a road we just started to take. Now we only need for the readers
to walk with us, enjoying the outcome of our female authors´ imagination. We
hope this will be a prosperous and ever growing initiative that will allow
women to claim a much-deserved visibility in the Spanish science fiction field.
 |
| Cristina Jurado |
About Cristina Jurado:
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario