When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
Long ago when I was young and fell in love with reading. But back then, I never thought I could be a writer. The authors of the books I read were either long dead or Literature teachers. I didn’t want to be either. Eventually I got tired of never finding the stories I expected after reading the blurb on the book or seeing the trailer for a movie and decided to write my own.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
The publication of my nonfiction books (Heroin, Ritalin, Mad Cow Disease and Lung Cancer) was straightforward. They were assignments by the publishing House. I wrote them, they paid me a flat fee. End of story. The publication of my fiction book, Two Moon Princess, was quite different. I wrote Two Moon Princess while taking a writing class with Dandy Mackall at the Institute of Children Literature (ICL). Several revisions and many rejections later, I was lucky to find an editor (Peggy Tierney at Tanglewood Press) who felt passionately enough about my story to take the risk of publishing an unknown author.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My first fiction book Two Moon Princess was released in October 2007. It is the story of a princess caught between two worlds: A medieval world reminiscent of Spain during the Middle Ages and modern day California. It is a fantasy with adventure, romance, and a strong female protagonist who never gives up.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
When I was a teenager I loved to read Fantasy and SF stories. I loved The Lord of the Rings and Dune among many others. The reason I mention these two is because in them, the fictional worlds drive the story. As a Biology student, I found both the planet in Dune and the different ecosystems Tolkien creates in The Lord of the Rings fascinating. The magical realism in the early books of the Spanish author Gonzalo Torrente Ballester also left a profound impression on me.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My daughter, who is twelve and wants to be a writer, loves to come with me to the BEA and ALA conventions. She is not so keen on promoting Two Moon Princess among her friends. She is too self-conscious. My son is 16, and into SF and psychology right now. I am originally from Spain and my family still lives there. My sister did read Two Moon Princess and recommends it to everyone who listens and is willing to learn English. My parents do not speak English so they have not read it yet. My dream is that Two Moon Princess will find a distributor in Spain. I would love to rewrite/translate Two Moon Princess into Spanish.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Chocolate. For the Aztecs, Chocolate was the food of the gods. I totally agree.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Have a shower. Drink a cup of espresso. Wake up.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
I am a keeper. I don’t like to throw things away, you never know when you’d need them, so my basement looks quite messy. But if you ask me for something I would probably find it right away. Surprisingly there is order in the chaos.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
The green-blue color of the ocean in Northern Spain. As for the tree, although you didn’t ask, that would be an oak, the sacred tree of the druids. For me a grove of oaks is the most magical place on Earth.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I love Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
I would say Mafalda (the title character in the Argentinean comic strip by Quino). But as most people in the States don’t know who she is, my second choice is the lazy Smurf.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
As an observer, I would like to go to the time when Machu Pichu was a flourishing city, or to Mexico at the time the Spaniards first met the Aztecs. Yes I know, the Mexicans hate us for what Spain did --I don't blame them--but I think the contraposition between the Spanish and Aztec culture must have created a fascinating period. If after being beamed there I had to stay, I can’t think of any time I would like to live in (all times in the past were pretty tough for women). Instead I would take my risk and try the future.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I love Classical music, opera (especially arias) and Spanish artists of the 1980s and 90s. I like songs that tell a story like Susana Vega’s, Leonard Cohen’s, and Celtic music like Enya. And surprisingly perhaps I also like Sting, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., The Smiths and Talking Heads. My son has tried to get me into Metallica, and Green Day, but I still can't tell one from the other. I don’t listen to music when I write. I like to hear to my thoughts.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
Buffy and Angel would be my all time favorite TV shows. I also like Joan of Arcadia, Veronica Mars, Life, Bones, Torchwood, Numb3rs (my son's favorite show) and, I am ashamed to admit, Boston Legal. I was a fan of Lost and Desperate Housewives on their first seasons. Long ago I was a total fan of Star Trek (Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager) and Andromeda. I also love to watch children’s shows with my daughter: The Powerpuff Girls and Lilo and Stich (when she was younger), Drake and Josh (My favorite. These kids are great), and The Wizards of Waverly Place. I don’t usually watch movies twice. I watch movies for the same reason I read books - to know what happens. Once I have seen it, the mystery is gone. I would make an exception for The Lord of the Rings for obvious reasons. The last movie I saw at the theater was Atonement. It is a fantastic movie. I also saw Juno recently and loved it. My favorite movie of 2007 has to be Pan’s Labyrinth, a fantasy story that takes place in Spain in the 1940s, right after the Spanish Civil war. Absolutely perfect.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Be yourself because really, hard as you try, you can never be anybody else. If you try to be cool or popular and to do so must pretend to be someone you are not, you will exhaust yourself. Besides no amount of popularity would be enough to buy your self acceptance.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I just finished a sequel to Two Moon Princess, tentatively called The King in the Stone. In The King in the Stone, Andrea travels to Northern Spain in the year 718, a pivotal period in Spanish History right after the Arabian invasion of the peninsula, a period in which the defeated Spaniards strived to survive under Arab rule. Written for slightly older teens than Two Moon Princess, The King in the Stone is a story of love and devastating loss in a time of strife and uncertainty.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at http://www.teensreadtoo.com/!
Thanks to all of you for inviting me! It has been a pleasure to answer your questions.
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