This is an ode to the unusual! Much as we all love the tried-and-true #regencyromances, and the #dystopian #zombie #newbooks, there are some unusual stories being written out there that are worth stepping out of our usual rut for. The #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement captures those stories about places we don’t usually see in current literature, or books by writers who are a bit more diverse than the usual crowd.
The #WeNeedDiverseBooks blog relay allows us to do just that. So with great thanks to Ekaterine Xia www.ekaterinexia.com, aspiring world tyrant and dominatrix , who “tagged” me to be the next diverse blogger, here I go!
Q: What are you working on?
A: My new book, The Duel for Consuelo, comes out in 4 weeks! So I am working on the final touches on my big announcement. And then, I will be working on the next book in the Castillo family series… more on that another day!
Q: How does your work differ from others of its genre?
A: Can you name another book about Colonial Mexico in 1690-1720? I didn’t think so. Historical fiction tends to cling to England from 1700-1924. There are a few brave souls who write about the same time frame in America. To dip into Mexico, at that mysterious time before the Industrial Revolution, when Mexico was still ruled by distant Spain and its local Viceroy, is really out of the ordinary.
Q: Why do you write what you do?
A: I grew up in Mexico City, and fell in love with the famous poetess of the late 1600s, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz when I was a young feminist in college, so my fascination couldn’t help but lead to my first main-stream fiction novel, Josefina’s Sin (Atria/Simon & Schuster 2011.) As the Enlightenment crept in illuminating the darkest corners of Spain and eventually Mexico, the Inquisition’s targets, Jews and Spaniards of Jewish blood, were absorbed more and more into the mainstream. But they never completely disappeared, guarding their secrets and identity in the face of certain death. That’s the core of The Duel for Consuelo.
Q: How does your writing process work?
A: It’s very strange. I think, and think, and think. I research and think some more. I scribble an outline. I refine it and think. I walk and think. And then, by miracle, all at once, I sit down and write for a couple of months!
Interested in seeing more about my books? Click on the tabs above for my website, and for the books themselves! Sign up to get updates, and be the first to read The Duel for Consuelo!
Next week, be sure to visit the blogs of the next three bloggers in the relay:
Sandra Ramos O’Briant, www.bloodmother.com , is the amazing author of the Sandoval Sisters’ Secret of Old Blood. It is a riveting story of New Mexico, harrowing and beautiful, a book like no other!
Eleanor Parker Sapia, Latina Author, www.elliesbookz.wordpress.com, writes of Puerto Rico. Her eagerly awaited debut novel of a midwife in Puerto Rico, A Decent Woman, comes out this summer.
Lisa J. Yarde writes fiction inspired by the Middle Ages in Europe. She is the author of six historical novels, which take place during Europe’s medieval period, including two works set in England and France, and a series about the last Muslim rulers of Spain.
Her novel Sultana: The Bride Price takes place in fourteenth-century Moorish Spain.
thebrooklynscribbler.blogspot.com/
Happy Diverse Reading!
I enjoyed reading about you and your writing process, Claudia. Thanks for tagging me! I’m excited to participate in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks relay and look forward to reading A Duel for Consuelo. Good luck with the book!
Did I mention that Diversity is my middle name? Great blog, Claudia. I look forward to reading your new book. Tweeted and FB’d,
You’re right — I can’t think of any else set in that time period. I have always been interested in the backdrop of Zorro though — the way culture, aristocracy, people and history were shaped by the collision of two worlds. I suppose that would give me some idea of what it is like in your novels?
The writers you have tagged look fascinating. Can’t wait to see what they have to say next week!