R. Ch. Garcia
R. Ch. Garcia had a dozen adult, short stories and one alternate-world novel published under another name. But that's unimportant because anymore he only writes stories for young adults and children. His first was a children's fable, in Spanish, published by Cricket in Revista Iguana.
Writing in Northside Denver, he gardens, landscapes, woodworks and cares for cactus and wild birds that visit his and wife Carmen's gardens, like his two Nietos. Plus he has a bright, friendly dog Menqui and a sorta good cat, Great Huntress.
He's lucky and privileged to live well, so his writing focuses on young people for the day everyone can be as lucky.
His adopted credo: "Give up on the adults! Give up on the adults!" – P. Bacigalupi
What R. Ch. Garcia wrote before he gave up on the adults
Fatherly, dragonly, motherly ... love, luck and touch – a F/SF glimpse of alien lizard invaders defeated by Southwestern mythology and one father's love. This won 1st prize in Somos en escrito's Extra Fiction contest.
How Five-Gashes-Tumbling Chaneco Earned the Nickname – historical fantasy published in Lost Trails: Forgotten Tales of the Weird West, Vol. 1 anthology, Cynthia Ward, edit., Wolfsinger Publications, 2015. Based on a place I visited and everyone should but no one ever should.
Class Epiphany – a Columbinesque short story, published in the anthology Looking Backward, Nazar, 2013. This got censored in my college writing class. And made me the class's most-hated.
Mr. Sumac – a magical realism story, published in the literary journal Kingdom Freaks & Other Divine Wonders, AQC Books, 2012. A crazy old guy who thinks his weeds are wonderful trees. But they're even more. [The cover had nada to do with my tale.]
Memorabilia – a Southwest fantasy, published in the anthology Needles & Bones, Drollerie Press, 2009 (OOP). It was honored in a Writers Digest Genre Competition, reprinted in Crossing the Path of Tellers, a Romanian anthology in English, Nazar, 11/2012. A Chicano shaman battles invisible evils. Till they are visible.
Last Call for Ice Cream – Sci-Fi story published in Rudy Rucker's Flurb, Eileen Gunn, edit., 2012. A vacuum cleaner takes over the world, just using an ice cream cone. Rucker: “Garcia’s Last Call is a hypnotic stew of spanglo slanguage, wry and funny, with a special surprise in every sentence, and a renegade view of life in these United States.” https://flurb.rudyrucker.com
El Viaje de Clarisa la Flaquita – a children's fable in Spanish, published in Cricket's Revista Iguana magazine, Nov/Dec 2012. Inspired by one of a first-graders whose hardships never seemed to end.
A Grain of Life – Sci-Fi/Fantasy flash fiction, published by AntiqueChildren.com, 2009. This really is a kids' story that I still love.
LAX Confidential – a noir detective story, published in Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature, Arizona State University/ Bilingual Press, 2008. I actually stayed in this seedy motel. And lived.
Weird Ronnie's Hair – this humor-fantasy-horror story took 1st place in AlternateSpecies.com contest in Britain. About an enchanted kid and a door-to-door salesman.
First Novel:
The Closet of Discarded Dreams – an alternate-world, Chicano fantasy epic novel published 9/2012. Honorable Mention, F/Sci-Fi, from The International Latino Book Awards, 2013.
