When my fifth book came out in late Spring, Hotel Júarez, Stories, Rooms and Loops, I sat on the box for a few months. As a “literary” fiction writer and a university professor, I don’t push my books much during the summer, because it’s a time to write, to reflect, to take walks.

But before summer started, I fit in couple of readings, which they took place on opposite sides of the world, Fresno, CA and The People’s Republic of China.

My first stop was Beijing, where I read stories from Hotel Juárez to Chinese students of English at the Foreign Language Institute. They were a great bunch of young people, kind, respectful, and full of curiosity about this thing called Chicano.

I loved their questions about the stories, such as what is a “beaner in a Beamer?”

Beijing was a fun city to get lost in. I walked around day and night, wandering through the labyrinth of high-rise buildings.

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Here’s a view from my hotel window, where I stayed for ten days.

The food was great, although the menus were a bit tough to negotiate for a tri-lingual reader of Western languages.

I had to make do by pointing at the meals other people were eating.

My Fall book tour is in full swing, with stops in Texas, New Mexico, and California.

I was in Silver City for the Festival of the Written Word, where, on my free time, I walked around town snapping a few shots of the town.

I also spent two lovely nights in Hidalgo County, TX reading for over three hundred students at two different campuses.

My hosts drove me around and I was able to snap a few shots of the area, which, by the way, is buzzing with spirits.
(http://soychacon.blogspot.com)

Next stop:
Merced College
Wednesday October 16th
At 6 pm
Merced College Library
Click here for all the info.

I have a new webpage!
After years of going without, I finally got one up.
Please check it out.
Imaginarywater.com

The name “Imaginary Water” came to me when I was in a garden watching a fountain shoot water in the air.

I started to think about the meaning of water, the energy within the image. I’m weird that way.

I realized I was seeing real and imaginary water at the same time, and the water of my imagination is like a wormhole that can take me anywhere, into the past with memories of water, memories of birth, into the future when I’m looking out the windows of my beach house ☺

Imaginary water can even be a portal into parallel universes, where the sound of water dripping in my world, becomes the language of people in another universe.

I hope to complete the new “book” by the end of summer, 2014.

Why do I put “book” in quotes?

It’s going to be a bit different.

Are you ready for this?

Imaginary Water is going to be a hybrid collection of flash fiction in text and video. Although there may be hard copies, the book is designed to be enjoyed on an electronic notebook or other e-reader.

You’ll be reading a story when suddenly you’ll come across a link, with the Instructions, Click Here.

Did you click it?

Most of the stories in text are already written, but the videos are still in production.

Haven't spoken to me in years? Please send me an email saying hello (soychacon@gmail.com) or find me on Facebook and Twitter.