A manufactured and pre-programmed serial killer; a suicidal robot; a romantic necrophiliac; and an archaeologist who feeds the perverse desires of aficionados of the apocalypse—Francisco García Gonzalez's stories map out literary and metafictional approaches to the sci-fi universe in ways that echo the humor and violence of Miguel de Cervantes, María de Zayas, Jorge Luis Borges, Rosa Montero, and Roberto Bolaño.

With a scholarly introduction by translator Bradley J. Nelson that introduces García González's oeuvre to contemporary readers and scholars of Spanish-language literature, this science fiction collection introduces Anglophones to this unique author.

García González turns a black mirror on contemporary society and its relation both to history and to the future. His insightfulness and relevance draw comparisons with Margaret Atwood, Neal Stephenson, and China Miéville, though his verbal economy and elegance are more akin to Cormac McCarthy, producing both disturbingly uncanny violence and unexpected comedy.

Francisco García González is a writer, editor, and screenwriter. He was born in Havana in 1963. He won Cuba’s Hemingway Short Story Prize in 1999.

Bradley J. Nelson is a professor of Spanish at Concordia University.

Introduction
"Dystopia Is Now: The Reality of Science Fiction in Francisco García González" by Bradley J. Nelson

Part 1: Of Robots and Other Perversions
When a Robot Decides to Die
True Killer
Fucking Swedes
The Visit

Part 2: Uchronias
The Year of the Pig
Waiting for the Wagon
Why Do Dogs Bark at the Moon?
Yusnavy, the Eclipse of a Star
How Nicely She Walks