Many moons ago (well, more like five years or so), I was part of an initiative by a fellow writer and friend of mine, Caleb. He is a gay, atheist author of risqué literature, and he wanted to publish a Puerto Rican sci-fi anthology, which we felt was overdue. So I wrote and submitted "Ogre Island", a coming-of-age story of a Neanderthal boy in a future where these hominids have been cloned and are beginning to become a visible human minority.

When the original anthology was first conceived, its title was going to be “Ciencia fricción”, but the original anthology project fell through and it wasn't until recently that an updated version of the original anthology was published by Gnomo, a publisher of risqué literature. This is probably a good thing, since many things have happened–including the pandemic, the hurricane, earthquakes, and the bankruptcy of the island's government–in the last couple of years, which have created post-apocalyptic real-life scenarios that inspired many of the authors who ended up contributing stories.

I’m currently about half-way through with reading the new anthology, which has over 600 pages of great content. So far, in addition to stories, I’ve read and enjoyed a few essays about science fiction’s peculiar expressions and concerns in Caribbean and Latin American literature. Most of the stories are in Spanish, but many (including my own) are in English.

If you’re a bilingual sci-fi fan, and would like to support Latin American sci-fi literature, feel free to enjoy and share a copy of Fricción cuántica: Antología de ciencia ficción desde Puerto Rico y su diáspora (= Quantum Friction: Sci-Fi Anthology from Puerto Rico and its Diaspora), which came out in May.

For other updates related to Epicurean philosophy, feel free to visit our Happy Eikas page, where monthly updates are posted, and where you may even find some of the past Eikas meetings. Eikas is the monthly feast of reason and friendship that Epicureans celebrate on or near the 20th of every month.