Mariano Villarreal

This edition is the English translation of a larger anthology of Spanish science fiction, hopefully the first volume of more to come. The stories are all very good and a few struck me as brilliant. At least three of the stories have explicitly or implicitly lesbian or bisexual protagonists. The mood of the pieces range from heavy feminist dystopias to cyberpunk thrillers.

The most difficult work, "The Texture of Words" by Felicidad Martínez is the first story in the volume. The narrative follows the protagonist's social, political, and linguistic development from infancy through early adulthood. It's a story that compares well with Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness in giving a human but alien perspective, and Tepper's Gate to Women's Country in political tone. Challenging as it is, I think it's probably the leading work of the volume, but one that might be skipped if you want a more gentle introduction.

The closing story, "Memory" by Teresa P. Mira de Escheverría is a sprawling colonial epic of genetic engineering, sexuality, and terraforming with connections to Martian Chronicles and Dune. It's a story the left me wanting more. Eric P. Mota's "Greetings from a Zombie Nation" stands out among the middle works for both providing a Cuban perspective and a novel take on the idea of a zombie apocalypse.

The afterword for the collection provides an introduction to Science Fiction in Spain, with a depressingly small list of works translated into English. An additional point for the book is the beautiful cover art by Ángel Benito Gastañaga, which easily stands out as the best cover illustration I've seen this year.

… (more)