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Latinx Rising: An Anthology of Latinx Science Fiction and Fantasy
It has been half a century since a few now-canonical Latin American writers introduced magical realism to the world. In that time, new generations of Latinx writers and artists have used that watershed moment as a springboard into new and bold explorations of speculative and fantasy forms. Collectively, they have found exciting new ways to delve into Latinx identities and cultures across genres. Latinx Rising, the first anthology of science fiction and fantasy by Latinxs living in the United States, exuberantly displays the full range of their art.
The new and established voices assembled here (including Kathleen Alcalá, Carmen Maria Machado, Ernest Hogan, and other luminaries) invite us to imagine a Latinx past, present, and future that have not been whitewashed by mainstream perspectives. As in the best mixtapes, this anthology moves satisfyingly through the loud and brash, the quiet and thoughtful. There are ghosts, space aliens, robots—and a grandmother who unwittingly saves the universe through her cooking. The result is a deeply pleasurable read that pushes beyond magical realism and social realism to demonstrate all the thrilling possibilities of what Latinx literature can be.
The new and established voices assembled here (including Kathleen Alcalá, Carmen Maria Machado, Ernest Hogan, and other luminaries) invite us to imagine a Latinx past, present, and future that have not been whitewashed by mainstream perspectives. As in the best mixtapes, this anthology moves satisfyingly through the loud and brash, the quiet and thoughtful. There are ghosts, space aliens, robots—and a grandmother who unwittingly saves the universe through her cooking. The result is a deeply pleasurable read that pushes beyond magical realism and social realism to demonstrate all the thrilling possibilities of what Latinx literature can be.
270 pages, Paperback
First published June 2, 2020
13 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 4, 2025
Dear anthology editors, I beg of you: stop including chapters of novels in short story collections. Or, if you can't do that, at least stop including chapters of unfinished novels.
April 12, 2021
Some good shit here.
This will be the quality of my reviews for the duration of this semester.
This will be the quality of my reviews for the duration of this semester.
September 18, 2020
3.0⭐ "When we ingest another lifeform, even a dead one, we feel its consciousness. Its feelings. Its heart.”
**spoilers**
♡ LBR 2020♡
It’s LeVar Burton Reads season 7! Season of Surrender.
Not a moment too soon, eh?
I think my reviews have been getting shorter over time, but sometimes the story is so self-explanatory. These days, I tend to write about how I see myself in those stories.
I see a bit of shame in this one. It told the truth to a fault. It was honestly a really astute take on our relationship with things we perceive as foreign or removed from us.
A lot of writers try to give humanity redemption in their stories , but have we really earned that? Narvaez is not in a pandering mood.
A lovely touch of science fiction, with a compelling main character. She, like most moms, puts up with more than she should’ve had to.
Thanks for reading, and If you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, hit me up in the comments and come meet with us at LeVar Burton Reads: The Official Community on Facebook.
- 📚☕♥
Goodreads Official Star Representation
5 - It was amazing
4 - I really liked it
3 - I liked it
2 - It was okay
1 - Did not like it.
**spoilers**
♡ LBR 2020♡
It’s LeVar Burton Reads season 7! Season of Surrender.
Not a moment too soon, eh?
I think my reviews have been getting shorter over time, but sometimes the story is so self-explanatory. These days, I tend to write about how I see myself in those stories.
I see a bit of shame in this one. It told the truth to a fault. It was honestly a really astute take on our relationship with things we perceive as foreign or removed from us.
A lot of writers try to give humanity redemption in their stories , but have we really earned that? Narvaez is not in a pandering mood.
A lovely touch of science fiction, with a compelling main character. She, like most moms, puts up with more than she should’ve had to.
Thanks for reading, and If you wanna chat about the latest LBR episodes, hit me up in the comments and come meet with us at LeVar Burton Reads: The Official Community on Facebook.
- 📚☕♥
Goodreads Official Star Representation
5 - It was amazing
4 - I really liked it
3 - I liked it
2 - It was okay
1 - Did not like it.
September 14, 2020
I only listened to the short story "Room for Rent" by Richie Narvaez found in this collection that was featured on LeVar Burton Reads. This science-fiction tale had some bite, as you think about the different viewpoints of colonialism and how the dominating group justifies their actions. *Spoilers* In this story, a pregnant alien is looking for a room to rent but finds out her new home is overrun with vermin, which actually turn out to be humans. We find out several types of aliens have overtaken Earth and now the original humans are being exterminated. At first, this alien seems kind and protects the humans, but soon enough her perspective changes and she condones her actions of killing them because she believes her kind deserves the land they unjustly took over. While this story has many parallels all over the world, my first thought was how whites took over Native American land and portrayed them as savages to excuse their genocide.
July 20, 2020
Latinx Rising is as diverse as the US Latina/o/x community. There are robo-abuelitas, rebel Texan rock bands on Mars, time travel, superhuman interconnected familia, cowboy mediums, and transforming mythological beings. Latin@ Rising, the first edition, is the first place for all Latinx Sci-Fi and Fantasy to come together and show the world what they have been missing out on. There are classic themes and novel and odd creations, all with the passions, worries, and conditions that reflect this community. Continue cooking traditions? The robot can help. The pressure to succeed for a large family? Become an interconnected node. Door to old worlds and old connections open and UFOs are not so unknown. This anthology is great to know Latina/o/x people better and a who’s who of authors in the field.
September 16, 2025
This is an excellent collection of Latinx speculative stories, ranging widely from science fiction to surrealism, from undead detective stories to a photo narrative of Boricuas on the moon. A few of my favorite stories include Sabrina Vourvoulias's story of disappearances, folklore, and the "carrion memories of the past" that haunt us; Richie Narvaez's story of displacement, bureaucracy, and "vermin" on an alien world; Carmen Maria Machado's story of trauma and VHS cassettes that reveal more than what's on the screen; and Carlos Hernandez's story of an alternate quantum reality machine that serves up possibilities both bitter and the sweet.
Highly recommended for any reader interested in Latinx and Latin American science fiction and fantasy!
Highly recommended for any reader interested in Latinx and Latin American science fiction and fantasy!
April 15, 2021
A mix of prose, poetry, and some really cool coconut photography.
Going to just list the ones I loved.
Alex Hernandez' Caridad
Carmen Machado's Difficult at Parties
Pedro Zagitt's Uninformed
Junot Diaz' Monstro
Carlos Hernandez' Entanglements
Daniel Jose Older's Red Feather and Bone
Carl Marcum's poetry
Marcos Santiago Gonsalez' Traditions
I enjoyed everything else in this collection. The list is subjective.
Going to just list the ones I loved.
Alex Hernandez' Caridad
Carmen Machado's Difficult at Parties
Pedro Zagitt's Uninformed
Junot Diaz' Monstro
Carlos Hernandez' Entanglements
Daniel Jose Older's Red Feather and Bone
Carl Marcum's poetry
Marcos Santiago Gonsalez' Traditions
I enjoyed everything else in this collection. The list is subjective.
March 25, 2023
This is a pretty nice anthology of science fiction and fantasy, by authors of Latin American heritage. The headliners are Carmen Maria Machado, Daniel Jose Older, Junot Diaz and Kathleen Alcala. There are impressive stories by people I was unfamiliar with, such as “Caridad” by Alex Hernandez and “Entanglements” by Carlos Hernandez.
December 10, 2022
3 of the stories were excellent and I will re-read nd keep thinking of them. The rest were just ok. I don’t think this anthology does a good job of showcasing the variety of writing of this genre. Most were sci-fi.
February 13, 2020
Varied voices and built storyworlds. Necessary. Extraordinary
September 23, 2020
Room for Rent
May 23, 2020
Latinx Rising: An Anthology of Latinx Science Fiction and Fantasy by Matthew David Goodwin and Frederick Luis Aldama 06//2020 Mad Creek Books
When you read Latinx Rising, and I hope you do because it's a wonderful collection of diverse voices from the other side of the looking glass, unless you're a Latinx, which I'm not, you may ask yourself, is this story fantasy or science fiction? Goodwin has made a point of picking stories here that make this a difficult question to answer, which is good because it's the wrong question to ask.
For me, science fiction is at its best when it poses what-if questions that alter your point of view. Latinx literature as the editor points out in his forward, can't get away from the taint of magical realism, which differs from fantasy in that the surreal is just there, and everybody goes on about their day. There are occasional touches of the surreal here, but beyond that, whatever happens in these stories is just there and you find yourself swept along with it. Past lives regression in a castle or zombie plague in the Dominican Republic, it's there, and it's real and the people are the thing.
Latinx Rising covers a lot of ground and speaks in voices that are both clearly of the culture while managing to be accessible to outsiders. The stories are all written by"U.S. Latinos and Latinas," and are a mix of published and unpublished pieces. It's a well put together anthology, and Goodman has taken time to give a few comments about each author, which I appreciate, especially since so many of them were new to me. There were enough familiar faces, like Ernest Hogan, to make me feel connected, but the real value here is to expand your horizons, and it does a fine job of it.
When you read Latinx Rising, and I hope you do because it's a wonderful collection of diverse voices from the other side of the looking glass, unless you're a Latinx, which I'm not, you may ask yourself, is this story fantasy or science fiction? Goodwin has made a point of picking stories here that make this a difficult question to answer, which is good because it's the wrong question to ask.
For me, science fiction is at its best when it poses what-if questions that alter your point of view. Latinx literature as the editor points out in his forward, can't get away from the taint of magical realism, which differs from fantasy in that the surreal is just there, and everybody goes on about their day. There are occasional touches of the surreal here, but beyond that, whatever happens in these stories is just there and you find yourself swept along with it. Past lives regression in a castle or zombie plague in the Dominican Republic, it's there, and it's real and the people are the thing.
Latinx Rising covers a lot of ground and speaks in voices that are both clearly of the culture while managing to be accessible to outsiders. The stories are all written by"U.S. Latinos and Latinas," and are a mix of published and unpublished pieces. It's a well put together anthology, and Goodman has taken time to give a few comments about each author, which I appreciate, especially since so many of them were new to me. There were enough familiar faces, like Ernest Hogan, to make me feel connected, but the real value here is to expand your horizons, and it does a fine job of it.
April 24, 2022
Great anthology and great stories inside. Loved the collection and thought the entire idea of this book was so interesting- as science fiction is sometimes said to be not "high" literature and an anthology is for "high" literature. Great ideas.
September 30, 2023
a collection of latin-based stories of ideas that i have seen before. swearing.
November 4, 2024
A wonderful mosaic of thought-provoking stories that are wondefuly latin in a way that is rare to find.
September 2, 2020
Read to me by Levar Burton.
September 8, 2020
Levar burton reads
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews