Let’s Go to California Island
I’ve always wanted to visit California Island, the new nation founded after the natural phenomenon known as “The Big One” or “El Grande.” The island that goes from Los Angeles to La Paz is now an arsenal safari: the most dangerous place on Earth, “the Big Tijuana,” as it is also known. You can only get in if you have the right contacts. I’ve kept in touch with a cousin who was stranded in Tijuana, and he tells me he’s looking into it. He has insisted I get one of those hi-tech light steel suits and any firearm I can get my hands on. I don’t have that much money, I tell him. Then don’t even think about coming, cousin. Fuck. I’ve gotta come up with something, because the future is waiting for me on that island. I dreamt it: I killed a faceless man, flew the latest Pegaso and a beautiful blonde sucked me as the earthquake kicked in and the island started to drown while an explosion obliterated us. Way better than starving.
By Néstor Robles
Translated, from the Spanish, by Pepe Rojo
Pepe Rojo (1968) has published five books and more than 200 texts (short stories, essays and articles dealing with fiction, media and contemporary culture). He cofounded Pellejo/Molleja (with Deyanira Torres and Bernardo Fernández), an indie publishing firm, and edited SUB (sub-genre literature), NUMERO X (media culture) and PULPO COMICS (mex-sf comics anthology) for them. He has produced several interactive stories for Alteraction, and published two collections of Minibúks (Mexican SF and Counter-versions) at UABC, as well as the graphic intervention “Philosophical Dictionary of Tijuana.” He is currently an MFA Candidate in Writing at UCSD.
Néstor Robles was born in Guadalajara (1985) but lurks the Tijuana streets since he has memory. He always wanted to be an astronaut but he is a writer, editor and librarian. Bachelor in Hispanic American Language and Literature (UABC), he has taught short story and microfiction worshops, and published a bunch of horror and science fiction stories in mexican literary magazines and anthologies. He directs and edits Monomitos Press (formerly El Lobo y el Cordero), an independent publisher dedicated to the speculative fiction. Blogger: nestorobles.blogspot.com / Twitter: @nrobles.