Today we would like you to meet Josué Ramos, one of the "Steampunk Writers Around the World" authors. Josué has contributed the short story "The history of your heart" which is also present in the anthology in its original Spanish version, as "La historia de tu corazón".
Above, you can see Jay Johnstone's image created for this particular story. Jay is also responsible for creating the cover of the anthology.
Josué Ramos won a few awards as a writer of science fiction, horror and historic tales. In 2006, he won the first place on the Premis literaris Constanti 2006 Històries de la História. That year, he started to write his first novel, La ultima conspiración, which was published later. Since then, he published tales online and in science fiction and literature magazines. One of them, “The mechanical flower”, was included in The Best of Spanish Steampunk anthology, published by Ediciones Nevsky. "Asimo” was selected as one of the best science fiction tales of the year 2009 in Spain, and was published published by the Spanish Association of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Terror on the anthology Fabricantes de Suenos 2009. Then, he started to write and promote Steampunk literature online and in blogs, forums and conventions. He was one of the organizers of the EuroSteamCon in Spain and he was writer in the international magazine El Investigador. Since 2012, he published two Steampunk novels, Ecos de voces lejanas and Lendaria; and the greenpunk novel Páramos Lejanos. He also edited the series of four anthologies Acronos, with Paulo César Ramírez Villaseñor; and Chikara, greenpunk anthology in tribute to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, with Giny Valrís. He is the administrator, both in Spanish and English, of the web MundoSteampunk.Net.
You can pre-order your copy on our website, through your usual outlets, or even pick up a copy in Helsinki, during the Worldcon!
You can hear all about the anthology and Josué's involvement from the man himself. Here are two links, one in Spanish and one in English.
We leave you with a little teaser, in both languages, of Josué Ramos' story. Enjoy!
THE STORY OF YOUR HEART
He could see him inside the casket, defenceless and dead, and couldn’t force himself to stand closer. He wanted to touch him. But he kept his hands in his pocket, ashamed.
“We’re going to incinerate him in an hour,” the employee mumbled without looking up, his eyes hidden by his hat.
“Can you give me a few minutes alone with him, please?”
“Sure, of course. All the time you need. Are you family?”
“I’m his father.”
LA HISTORIA DE TU CORAZÓN
Podía verlo dentro de la caja, inerme, muerto, y no podía evitar mantenerse lejos. Quería tocarlo. Pero se guardaba las manos en los bolsillos, avergonzado.
‘Vamos a incinerarlo dentro de una hora,’ murmuró el funcionario encargado del cuerpo, sin levantar la vista de bajo su sombrero.
‘¿Puede darme un momento a solas con él, por favor?’
‘Sí, claro. El tiempo que haga falta. ¿Es familiar?’
‘Soy su padre.’