Critical Mass posts an interesting Q&A with Daniel Olivas as part of its Small Press Spotlight Series. Daniel, an author and attorney, is the editor of the new Latinos in Lotusland anthology. He talks with Rigoberto González about the history of Latinos in California and the selection of the pieces for the collection.

Here’s a snippet:

RG: Latinos in Lotusland limits itself to short stories and novel excerpts, including a piece from Robert Vasquez’s groundbreaking 1970 novel Chicano, and a piece from a consummate California writer, Helena Maria Viramontes. You also include (among others) three much-celebrated writers in the early stages of their promising careers, Reyna Grande, Alex Espinoza and Manuel Munoz. Why are stories and books such an important component of Chicano/Latino cultural production?

DO: I think that we use storytelling in book form the same way our elders used oral storytelling: to pass on culture, life lessons and a sense of place. In many ways, I think there is more truth in fiction than there is in so-called non-fiction. When someone writes an autobiography, so much is left out, so much is inflated, so much is shaped into what the writer wants others to see. In fiction, all that matters is the story. It’s safer because the writer can always say: hey, it’s not true, it’s just fiction. That sense of safety has allowed many writers to produce some of the truest fiction around.

Keep reading here.