YOSS: Utopias and Dystopias in Cuban Science Fiction

José Miguel Sánchez Gómez, whose pen name is YOSS, is a well-known Cuban writer, and is presently one of the most important Cuban science fiction writers around. His short story “La causa que refresca” gave him a prominent place among the novísimos generation, the youngest writers writing in Cuba during the Special period (1990s) created by the fall of the URSS economic order. In 1988 he won the David Literary Prize for his collection of science fiction short stories Timshel and with his novel Super Extra Grande, an homage to Douglas Adams’s intergalactic space operas, the prestigious UPC Science Fiction Award in 2011. YOSS has published more than 30 titles such as Timshel (1989), W (1997), Los pecios y los náufragos (2000), Se alquila un planeta (2001), El encanto de fin de siglo (2001), Al final de la senda (2003), Precio justo (2006), Pluma de león (2007), El gran arte de vestirse cheo durante toda la vida (2010), Leyendas de los cinco reinos (2010), Tropas auxiliares (2011), Condonautas (2012), Super Extra Grande (2012). YOSS also was awarded a degree in narrative techniques by the Centro de Formación Literaria “Onelio Jorge Cardoso” and is a founder of the literary workshops on science fiction “Espiral” and “Espacio Abierto.” He has taught in literary workshops in Cuba, Chile, España, and Italia. Last but not least, YOSS is leader of the notorious Cuban heavy metal band Tenaz.