The Apex Book of World SF 4 edited by Mahvesh Murad is coming in late August. Between now and then, we would like to feature some of the contributors in the anthology.
Mexican author Bef has published three science fiction novels, as well as a series of crime novels. He has also published graphic novels. His short fiction has been published in Mexico City Noir, Three Messages, and Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories, and he is a winner of Spain’s Ingnotus Prize.
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Tell us a little about your story in The Apex Book of World SF 4.
It began as a heartbroken therapy. I'd just ended a long relationship and the writing of the story and its setting in an apocalyptic Mexico City worked as a metaphor of the pain I was feeling at the moment. It also was a sort of experiment: I tried to tell all the story from the first person point of view of a woman. The result is "The Last Hours of The Last Days." It was first published in SUB, a Mexican SF/F magazine, and its English translation was published by Rudy Rucker in his Flurb e-zine. English and Spanish versions have slightly different endings.
Why do you feel it is important to read stories from around the globe?
To get an idea of what the global zeitgeist is all about. SF is an especially interesting creative writing area. The global SF community has a lot of interesting stories to offer and this is a good opportunity to get a load of good reading from around the globe.
If you could tell people to read one author from your home country, who would it be and why?
There are several names that come to my mind: Pepe Rojo, Alberto Chimal, Karen Chacek but if I had to choose only one, it'd be José Luis Zárate, maybe México's most bizarre fantasist, who's written several weird SF/F novels ranging from a Lovecraftian take on Lucha Libre (Xanto) to completing the Demeter's Captain diary from Dracula in La ruta del hielo y la sal. Zárate posts 4 daily micro stories on his twitter account: @joseluiszarate (alas, in Spanish). He´s my favourite living Mexican writer.
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