Ben Francisco's Blog

When you think of Latin American literature, you might think of the magic realist works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or the surrealist stories of Jorge Luis Borges (two authors I adore and that have had a huge impact on me). But there’s also a whole world of Latinx and Latin American writers working firmly within the science fiction tradition. These authors are writing everything from climate disaster dystopias to space opera adventures, while drawing on the uniquely rich history and cultu...

Last year saw some exciting releases of new science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With nominations underway for the Hugo Awards (and the Lodestar), the Nebula Awards, the Locus Awards, and others, I thought I’d share some of my favorites.

Favorite SF Novels from 2024

Hate House by John C. Foster: A reclusive investigator who may or may not be a killer has to unravel the mysteries of a house that literally seems to be built on spite. In this page-turning, suspenseful novel, Foster serves up...

Are you so stressed out about the state of the world that a long tome – or even a 300-page tome – is overwhelming? Want to meet your Goodreads Challenge or other reading goal with just a week left until the end of the year? Short novels (or novellas if they’re less than 40,000 words) and short short-fiction collections may be just what you need to ease your stress and turn some pages both literal and metaphorical as we enter the new year!

This list of 10 speculative fiction novellas, ...

As a kid, every week I’d go to the library to check out a new batch of Star Trek books, then come back the next week for more. Then, on one such visit, as I was checking out, the librarian stared me down and said, “You’re ready for more than this.” She took me upstairs, to the full science fiction section and gave me a tour of Isaac Asimov, John Barnes, and Robert Heinlein. I shifted my attention from Star Trek to these new galaxies and futures. I loved all of it, but especially loved anythi...

ICYMI – last month I had a great time appearing on the brilliant Daniel Braum’s Nighttime Logic show with the inimitable Jeffrey Ford. I read from my story “Two People,” originally published in the Indiana Review, and Jeff read his wonderfully eerie story “A Hundred Nights of Nothing,” published in McSweeney’s 71, a special horror-themed edition of the magazine with an all-star line-up of writers. Plus, the three of us talk about Krampus and our favorite monsters. I’ve been a fan of Jeff’s writi...

I have a new story out in Strange Horizons! It’s called “Brincando Charcos (Jumping Puddles.” In Puerto Rico, and some other Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, “brincar el charco” means “to jump the puddle” and it’s an expression for crossing the ocean to come to the mainland. It’s sort of like the British expression, “crossing the pond.” (The British shrink the Atlantic to a pond, and in Puerto Rico, we shrink it all the way down to a puddle.) I’ve always loved the expression, and als...

It has been so long since I posted that it’s ridiculous to even mention! But after many years of a way-more-than-full-time job, I’ve been freelancing the past couple of years and so have had more time for writing. Stories have been written, novels completed, more stories and novels begun. And some of those have started making their way into the world!

Earlier this year, the Indiana Review published my story “Two People,” which starts off with the sentence: “As I awake one morning from dif...

Yesterday I got my copy of Peter M. Ball’s novellaHorn direct from Australia, and of course it was immediately bumped to the top of the reading list. The book daringly seeks to establish a new sub-genre with a hard-boiled noir … Continue reading

Yesterday I got my copy of Peter M. Ball’s novellaHorn direct from Australia, and of course it was immediately bumped to the top of the reading list. The book daringly seeks to establish a new sub-genre with a hard-boiled noir … Continue reading

Saw District 9 the other day and I think I liked it. It’s one of those movies that takes a while to sink in, that requires some marinating before you can really be sure how it tastes. The clearly-cool thing … Continue reading