Carlos Hernandez (writer)

Carlos Alberto Pablo Hernandez (born January 14, 1971) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is best known for the young adult novels '' Sal and Gabi Break the Universe'', which won the 2020 Pura Belpré Award, and its sequel, '' Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe''.

Career

Hernandez earned his Ph.D. in English, with an emphasis in creative writing, from Binghamton University in 2000. He is an English professor at the University of New York in the Borough of Manhattan Community College campus. He also teaches in the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Program at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Hernandez's interest in game-based learning led him to co-found the CUNY Games Network and the Board Game Designers Group of New York. He has been a lead writer and a game designer on ''Meriwether'', a computer role-playing game charting the voyage of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, released in 2017 and a literary curator on the 2020 Apple Arcade game ''Dear Reader'', a word- and literature-identification game. He is currently finalizing ''Negocios Infernales'', a tabletop role-playing game that he co-created with C. S. E. Cooney, for Outland Entertainment.

Personal life

Hernandez lives in Queens, New York, with his wife, the World Fantasy Award author C. S. E. Cooney.

Sal and Gabi series

The Sal and Gabi novels are works of young adult fiction that mix Cuban traditions and beliefs with science fiction. The books follow the adventures of Sal Vidón and his best friend Gabi Reál as they handle the consequences of Sal's ability to open portals to alternative universes, all the while attending Miami's premier magnet school, Culeco Academy of the Arts.

The first Sal and Gabi novel was described by ''Kirkus Reviews'' as "a breath of fresh air" while ''Publishers Weekly'' gave both novels starred reviews, applauding ''Break the Universe'''s "nonstop sense of wonder hataccompanies a genuinely heartwarming and humorous tone" and concluding that "Sal and Gabi are clearly a fictional team destined for greatness".

In 2021, Eva Longoria's production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment was developing a television adaptation of the first novel with Disney Branded Television.

''The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria''

A collection of twelve speculative short stories that, in the words of a reviewer for the ''LA Review of Books'', "defies categorization by bringing together elements of Latina/o and speculative writing in a masterful mashup of science, magic, and cultural belief".

This short story collection combines elements of science fiction, magical realism and fantasy to artfully portray the experience of straddling the liminal space between white U.S. culture and "Latinidad". The "assimilated" Latinx characters in the collection are searching for lost cultural connections; whether it is a revival of indigenous practices or a lost family member, Hernandez uses fantastic situations to explore the difficult topics of immigration and assimilation in a way that is humorous and endearing. As Joy Sanchez-Taylor notes in ''Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color'' (2021), the title story, which shares the same name as the title of the collection, highlights the tension between the indigenous practice of Santeria and Catholicism "to demonstrate the limitations of Western cultures reliance on 'rational' thought and the Western scientific method".Sanchez-Taylor, Joy. ''Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color''. Ohio State UP, p. 123.

The stories included "Aphotic Ghost," "Homeostasis," "Entanglements," "International Studbook of the Giant Panda," "Macrobe Conservation Project," "Los Simpáticos," "More Than Pigs and Rosaries Can Give," "Bone of My Bone," "Magical Properties of Unicorn Ivory," "American Moat," "Fantaisie Impromptu no.4 in C#min, op.66" and "Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria".

Awards and honors

Publications

The Sal and Gabi Series

*''Sal and Gabi Break the Universe''. Disney Hyperion, 2019.
*''Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe''. Disney Hyperion, 2020.

Novels

*''Abecedarium: A Novel in Ten Stories''. Co-authored with Davis Schneiderman. Chiasmus Media, 2007.

Short story collection

*''The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria''. Rosarium Publishing, 2016.

References

External links

Author website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Carlos
1971 births
Living people
21st-century American male writers
American science fiction writers
American writers of Cuban descent
CUNY Graduate Center faculty
Binghamton University alumni