Jean-Paul Garnier interviews Pedro Iniguez

Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American horror and science-fiction writer from Los Angeles, California. He is a Rhysling Award finalist and a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee. 

His work has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Never Wake: An Anthology of Dream Horror, Shadows Over Main Street Volume 3, and Qualia Nous Vol. 2, among others. 

Forthcoming, his horror fiction collection, FEVER DREAMS OF A PARASITE, is slated for a 2025 release from publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press. https://pedroiniguezauthor.com/

Jean-Paul L. Garnier is the owner of Space Cowboy Books bookstore and publishing house, producer of Simultaneous Times Podcast (2023 Laureate Award Winner, BSFA, Ignyte, and British Fantasy Award Finalist), and editor of the SFPA’s Star*Line magazine. He is also the deputy editor-in-chief of Worlds of IF & Galaxy magazines. In 2024 he won the Laureate Award for Best Editor. He has written many books of poetry and science fiction. https://spacecowboybooks.com/ 

JPG – What made you want to take on the themes in Mexicans on the Moon through speculative poetry, and where did specpo take you that other mediums might not have allowed? 

PI – I think there’s a power in the brevity and playfulness of poetry that really worked in my favor with this collection. Speculative poetry allows me to shift gears quickly from poem to poem. For example, in Mexicans on the Moon, you’ll find poems that are heartwarming, funny, sad, chilling, or thought-provoking. It allows the poems to take on their own life, be tonally different, while still feeling thematically coherent in the grand scheme of things.  

JPG – The poems in Mexicans on the Moon are all standalone, but together form a cohesive theme and story. Did you set out to do this intentionally, or did the poetry dictate the path toward the book—and, if so, when did you know that it was becoming a collection? 

PI – I’ve only been writing speculative poetry seriously for about three years, and as I started to go over what I’d been getting published, I noticed a very loose story of a possible future starting to take shape, so I began writing new poems to fill in the gaps of this timeline. 

JPG – You mention in the foreword that Mexicans have been excluded from SF in all mediums. Why do you think this has happened, and how do you think the media can do a better job paving the way toward an inclusive future? 

PI – It comes down to whose stories were getting published, whose movies were getting financed and produced over the years. It certainly wasn’t Mexicans or Mexican-Americans. And so, a lot of American, British, Russian, and Japanese SF became widespread and sort of laid the groundwork for the SF media we now know. It’s only been recently that Latinos have had a seat at the table in publishing and movie-making. I think now we’re seeing more representation in the films we watch and the stories we read. I think it’s important that agents, publishers, and film producers recognize that there is a richness in other points of view. That there are undiscovered narratives that can enrich the imagination and make them think outside their worldview. And this goes for everyone. 

JPG – Can you speak about the concept of “writing yourself into the future”?  

PI – Going back to the exclusion discussion, I think words have the power to shape our futures, or to leave us out of them. Like Margaret Atwood said in her poem, Spelling, “A word after a word after a word is power.”  

By writing about ourselves and our cultures in our stories, we normalize our humanity and our right to exist. We cease to become invisible and take a seat at the table of humanity’s future. Not just in our eyes, but in those that read our words. Through our narratives we are making a declarative statement, a promise, that we will be here among you. As we deserve to be. 

JPG – As a Latinx writer, have you faced any adversity, or discouragement, from the publishing industry? 

PI – Not directly. It can be discouraging to see big-name anthologies carrying the same writers over and over, especially when those ToCs (Tables of Contents) are low on people of color. That can dampen one’s mood. When I started getting published fifteen years ago, it would be common to see me being the only person of color on a ToC, and that was discouraging. Things have gotten a lot better now, but I think publishing has a long way to go. I want to give a shoutout to those readers, editors, and publishers who gave my poems and stories a chance and a home.  

JPG – What power do you think poetry holds as a vehicle for social justice, and what are your hopes for the reader’s experience, especially in this time of racist rhetoric from politicians in this country and around the world? 

PI – I think the brevity of the poem adds a sense of immediacy to the message, and I like to think of my poetry as accessible, so that was particularly helpful in trying to convey the social messages in this collection. I think sometimes poems click with people in novel ways, the creativity of the form or rhyme or meter really can hit someone in ways maybe you couldn’t with prose. Especially when you want to grab someone’s attention and don’t have time to explain things in the time it would take to read a short story or a novel. That can be crucial when trying to convey important matters that affect people’s livelihoods: important matters like racism, homophobia, genocide, immigration, etc. Matters which are more important than ever, with politicians espousing fear and perpetuating falsehoods about immigrants and people of color. 

JPG – On top of being a poet, you also write long- and short-form fiction. When do you reach for poetry versus fiction to tell your story, and do you have a preference when addressing certain themes? 

PI – I think I take to short- and long-form fiction when I want to examine multiple themes or characters a bit more in-depth. Whereas with poetry I tend to focus on a singular theme and try to deliver a message with a gut-punch. It’s like a much more playful version of flash fiction. 

JPG – What have been the greatest challenges, and rewards, in your work as a writer? 

PI – The greatest challenges have been on the publishing end of things. Rejections, getting ghosted by publishers, seeing fellow writers of color getting their stories passed over time and time again. The writing itself has been wonderful despite the hard work that goes into creating stories and poetry. The greatest reward has been seeing my work find good homes or sit alongside legends like Stephen King, Josh Malerman, Cynthia Pelayo, Gabino Iglesias, Laird Barron, Joe Haldeman, and John Langan. Also, receiving wonderful responses from readers. It makes everything worth it. 

JPG – You also have several new collections coming out next year, can you tell us a bit about these projects, and what readers can expect? 

PI – I’ve got a horror anthology comic book called Catrina’s Caravan coming out in March of 2025 from Chispa Comics. Past issues have been written by V. Castro and Cynthia Pelayo. Later in 2025, Raw Dog Screaming Press is releasing my horror fiction anthology, Fever Dreams of a Parasite, and then in July of 2025 Stars and Sabers Publishing will be releasing my SFF collection, Echoes and Embers. 2025 is going to be a busy year!  

JPG – What are you currently working on, and what’s next for you?  

PI – Currently, I’m working on a horror novel, I’m also working on finalizing the horror writing workshop course I’ll be teaching in October for Palabras del Pueblo, an organization specializing in teaching Chicano writers. I’ve also got an eye on writing a few children’s picture books and perhaps compiling a horror poetry collection, but that’ll be down the line.