CTHULHU MEETS THE DA VINCI CODE When young teen, Victor Encinas desecrates a religious shrine in order to join his brother’s gang, he finds himself drawn into a world of alien spaceships, insectile high priests, and an interplanetary religion that seeks to take over the earth. Somehow, he finds that the most popular girl in school is in love with him and he’s been appointedThe Peacemaker. The first book in The Peacemaker Series introduces us to the desert metropolis of Tumac City where a historic Spanish mission has been watched and studied by alien priests for centuries. The benevolent high priest of the unearthly religion is nearing the end of his life. And a revolt on his planet may soon bring about the return to ancient barbaric ways and the ascent of his depraved son. That shape-shifting monster has been exiled to Earth and kept in check by a series of human Peacemakers chosen by the high priest himself, and Victor is next in line for the role.
Cold Coffee Review: This is not your typical Alien Invasion.
If you are new to Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira’s books, you are in for a surprisingly powerful paranormal adventure.
Those of us who have been following these authors, find this first book in The Peacemaker series, a masterful beginning. Imagine a terrifying supernatural experience that gives you incredible powers!
This is exactly what happens to a teenager named Victor Encinas, who is so desperate to join his brother's gang that he desecrates a religious shrine as part of his initiation. And then:
“Suddenly a beam of intense white light shoots down at Victor and blinds him for a moment. He falls to his knees and feels himself jerked up feet-first into the sky above the church. The building, the truck, and the whole parking lot seem to jump back violently until he finds himself suspended hundreds of feet over them. Victor twists up to look into the light that has captured him, but its brilliance overwhelms him. “GOD ALMIGHTY!” he calls.”
Does God have anything to do with it?
Victor is freed from the beam of light but soon learns that he has just been chosen to become a human peacemaker and stand against an exiled alien high priest who is plotting an interplanetary religious take-over of the earth.
As US government, Native American, and Religious authorities work (sometimes at cross purposes) to understand the strange puzzle pieces coming together near the mission, a series of grisly serial killings begin. And then, as if young Victor doesn’t have enough on his mind, he finds the most popular girl in school falling in love with him, becoming a great help and support, but, in the process, also a target of the killer.
If you enjoyed reading The DA VINCI CODE, you will not want to miss “Alien Mission,” the first installment of The Peacemaker series. Take special note of the extensive list of characters at the beginning of this book, as the authors will build on this list going forward.
This story is beyond your wildest imagination, and it is only the beginning.
I look forward to what comes next in The Peacemaker series. I purchased this book in Kindle and this review posted on December 13, 2018.
Genre: Horror Amazon
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The Alicia Trilogy: 3 Book Gift Set
Now the complete story of Alicia’s Ghost is available as a series of individual books or in a single volume.
The ghost of the world’s most haunting and vengeful heroine must battle drug lords, human traffickers,
Maya witches, legendary monsters, and the Spanish Inquisition to stay with the man she loves.
All three books for $8.97
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The astoundingly beautiful Alicia has ended her modeling career in Mexico City, married the love of her life, helped pay his way through college, settled into a comfortable life in Los Altos, California, and now she’s dead...Murdered. Her husband, Professor Carlos Mann, has wrapped himself in an obsessive-compulsive disorder to hide from that fact. But when Amy Joy, one of Carlos’s students, is sold into slavery by a Chinese mob that traffics in Asian girls, Alicia returns with a vengeance.
Can Alicia save her man, foil the human traffickers, and destroy her murderer?
Overwhelming supernatural forces stand against her. But, hell, that just makes her stronger!
Told in the voices of Carlos and Alicia Mann, Alicia’s Ghost is a funny, imaginative and thrilling ride through the human and spirit worlds of Mexico and the American Southwest.
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Urban
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To avenge her parents’ death, sadistic sex trafficker Tiger Joy sends deadly assassins after Carlos and his beautiful ghost wife Alicia. The pair escapes to Cancun where they battle witches and drug lords to help their friend Señor Popcorn win the love of his life. But the Afterlife Judges aren’t happy with Alicia’s temper, and they send her off to anger management therapy with the ghost of Sigmund Freud.In old Vienna, the spirit of a seductive crown prince tempts Alicia, and then she’s captured by gypsies who put her on display in the Ghost Chamber of their traveling carnival. Alicia commits an unforgivable sin, and it finally gives Tiger Joy the perfect chance for revenge.
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Urban
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Logic Professor Carlos Mann sets out to murder Tiger Joy in her prison cell.
Unfortunately, the gorgeous queen of human traffickers captures him and ships him off to the Yucatan, where the evil witch, La Bruja, uses all her powers to try to weaken and destroy him.Meanwhile, Alicia calls on friends both living and dead to help save her husband, and in the process, she learns many terrible secrets that were born in the days of the great Mayan Empire … secrets that could save or even destroy Carlos and Alicia.
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror, Urban
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A tender romance with a ticking time bomb at its heart.
There’s a bomb on this train. It will explode before you reach your final destination...because you murdered my wife.
University professor Tom McKeever has just lost his wife Adelita to cancer. But the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes she didn’t have to die.
The faculty and administration of the university where he teaches in Mexico played a major role in causing her death.Now, Tom relives powerful memories of his life with Adelita as he and the rest of the faculty take a train ride into the mountains. He plans to gain revenge by blowing up the train, killing all those who have wronged him and everyone else on board… including himself.
Cold Coffee Review: Nick Iuppa, Author of ‘Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games, has teamed up with John P. Mendoza to bring us another fast-paced, action suspense thriller that will keep readers turning pages and biting their nails. There’s a large cast of unique characters, many of whom are confined to business class cars on the Copper Canyon Railway as it speeds through the Grand Canyon of Mexico, unaware of the impending man-made disaster that’s about to shatter the serene environment.
Somewhere in the process of grieving for his lost wife, Adelita, his “warrior woman” love, Professor Tom McKeever walks a thin line between reality and golden memories that keep pulling him back into his-her beauty, delicious aroma, and open arms. The gut-wrenching knowledge that there was an experimental cancer treatment that might have saved Adelita’s life, had it not been for the decisions of one man, is more than Tom can bear. The need for revenge seethes like red-hot embers but conflicts with thoughts dredged up from a Catholic School upbringing: “Vengeance is mine, saith the lord!” Time is running out, but somehow the collateral damage begins to seem more and more defensible, a justifiable murder suicide. Is it? Find out; come ride the rails into Copper Canyon when time is definitely not on your side. I endorse Avenging Adelita by Nick Iuppa & John P. Mendoza as these two authors give the reader what they have come to expect; great descriptive writing, with dialog and startling transitions from present to past and back again placing the reader in the mind of this widower. This review was completed on December 15, 2014.
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Occult
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Nick Iuppa loops a brilliant mix of technology, romance, military lore, and vampires into a terrifying, sexy spree in the Swiss Alps. The details are 3D. If you're looking for a heart-pounder, this is it. S.B. Stinnet
The castle of 15th century duchess Elizabeth Laskaar looks down on the little Swiss village of Murdenwald and the secretive military complex nearby.There, the UN hopes to end world conflict with a vast military simulation that will dramatize the apocalypse that will follow the next major war. To head the project, they hire notorious Hollywood producer Donald Vito, master of explosive action adventures, who still mourns the murder of his teenage love in the 1950s.
Vito and the simulation team use new technology to build hundreds of virtual soldiers and terrorists you can touch, speak to, and reason with. But they also begin to feel the influence of Elizabeth Laskaar. She’s often called Bloody Bess – the first real vampire – because she maintained her youthful beauty by slaughtering her maidservants and bathing in their blood. Recklessly inspired by their surroundings, the team creates a virtual vampire that soon takes on the characteristics of Elizabeth’s magnificent, long-dead husband. Soon, he and Bess stalk the compound, seducing everyone working on the project, until vampire blood surges beyond the humans to the virtual characters with unthinkable consequences. In the end, perhaps, only the power of Vito’s long-lost love can save humanity.
Cold Coffee Review: Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games is a magnificent fictional horror drama featuring ancient vampires, teenage romance, and a top-secret military project.
The Doomsday Games, as the project is called, involves a team of international scientists, engineers, and military personnel who gather in the ancient town of Murdenwald, Switzerland, to do no less then put an end to war. Nick Iuppa developed a cast of authentic and unique characters like Elizabeth Laskaar (Duchess of Hungry) known as “Bloody Bess” to her victims in 1580 in the small village of Nyirbator Hungary. She prowled the streets of Murdenwald seeking out young women to murder so that she could bathe in their blood. Her husband Ferenc, some say, is still the director of the town’s ancient library.
A most beautiful man with midnight blue eyes, he waits for naïve young women to come to his tower and aid him in his evil work. Then there’s Donny Vito, the world’s greatest film producer, called upon by the U. S. President to breathe life into the Doomsday Games. Elli Capadonico is the girl Donny loved in his youth; she fell victim to Arnie Cudgel, an obsessive young man with both romantic and sadistic intentions. The cast also includes scientists, mathematicians, military personnel, writers, artists, technicians, Chu Yun Trang (the director of a rogue nation seeking to build nuclear weapons), and a myriad of simulated characters who populate the virtual Armageddon. Nick’s highly descriptive writing takes the reader from the Middles Ages to a 1950s high school romance, to mysteries surrounding the ‘knowledge’ held in the ancient Murdenwald Library, to the International Simulation Center itself where the final challenge becomes solving “the God Problem.”
Nick weaves these stories together so skillfully that the separate lines merge to become plot twists in an amazing and unexpected ending. The author, Nick Iuppa, is the son of a prominent Rochester, New York doctor. Nick attended the University of Notre Dame and did his graduate work at Stanford. Nick’s first job was at MGM Studios in Hollywood where he worked on TV specials with Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones (creator of the Road Runner). He also had the privilege of writing for the Wonderful World of Disney, working as an instructional designer for Eastman Kodak, leading Bank of America’s in-house TV production group, managing the Learning Technologies Group within Apple Computer, and finally returning to Paramount Pictures in Hollywood where he designed Internet entertainment and built Hollywood-style simulations for the military.
Nick’s extensive travels to Europe have inspired some of his characters and settings. His work history, technical knowledge, and experience have given him the tools and concepts for his novels. I endorse Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games by Nick Iuppa for the creative genius of the Doomsday Game. This review was completed on October 2, 2014.
Genre: Fiction, Horror
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As two escaped convicts and the worst sandstorm in recorded memory descend on the little town of La Sentencia, Arizona, Esteban Dorantes encounters a mysterious and beautiful woman. She advises him that (like his great, great grandfather before him) he must set off on a quest in search of the fabled seven cities of gold... to save La Sentencia. She adds that she too has a quest... to find the man who murdered her.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Supernatural, Ghosts, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban
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Magical Madness
A fireball launches itself from the Arizona desert leaving behind three camels, a magical jukebox, and a five-year-old girl who only speaks Italian.
Soon, the nearby town of La Sentencia is reeling from a series of disasters. The copper mine, which supports the town, shuts down leaving most of the population unemployed. Massive sandstorms batter the place. And then the Devlin Lucero shows up. He seduces a pretty substitute teacher and then uses her to spread greed, anger, and vengeance everywhere.In the face of all these trials, Esteban Dorantes decides to retrace the steps of his great, great grandfather, who once led a quest to find the Seven Cities of Gold. Aided by the camels, the wisdom of the little girl, and the spirit of the magical jukebox, he hopes to locate a great treasure and bring it back to save La Sentencia. Esteban is accompanied by Ceci Moreno, his old high school sweetheart, the only person in town who doesn't think he's a madman. But Ceci is still in love Gabriel Romo, another dreamer who somehow feels he can bargain with the devil to save the mine and the town. Wacky, scary and spectacular, Esteban's Quest blends science fiction, Aztec lore, classic horror, and offbeat humor into an unforgettable tale of love, destiny, magic, and redemption.
Cold Coffee Review: Step aside Indiana Jones. There’s a new adventurer in town. Esteban Dorantes may be a little more reluctant, but he has an even greater sense of destiny than even Dr. Jones. Dorantes is goaded by the desperate needs of his impoverished hometown and visions of his great, great grandfather... an African slave who once led Spanish Conquistadors on the first quest for the Seven Cities of Gold.
The story opens in the Arabian Desert where a wall of wind a mile high and a hundred miles wide, roars though an oasis carrying off a husband and wife team of archeologists but leaving behind their five-year-old daughter. We move to La Sentencia, a small town in Arizona, which is devastated by its own windstorms and other disasters including the immanent closing of a copper mine... the only business in that part of the state. What’s the link between these two desolate desert locations... the little Italian girl who suddenly shows up on the winds of a sandstorm to advise the residents in Arizona? And then there’s an ancient artifact that may have been left by space travelers. Does it hold the key to the building of great earthly civilizations... and the salvation of La Sentencia?
Esteban Dorantes must have some sense of all this as he decides, at the little girl’s bidding, to takes up his great grand-fathers quest for The Golden Cities and save his home town in the process. The novel’s fifty-six chapters of action-packed adventure may surpass some of the greatest quests ever told, with its Aztec lore, science fiction spacecraft, magical jukebox, a destiny that spans generations, horror, humor, three camels, talking coyotes, a very sexy substitute high school teacher, the devil himself, and, of course, a love story. I invite everyone to read Esteban's Quest and experience this compelling tale for themselves.
I endorse Esteban's Quest by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira. I encourage you to purchase other books by the team including: The Carlos Mann Trilogy (Alicia’s Ghost, Alicia’s Sin, Alicia Bewitched) and Avenging Adelita (romance), in addition to the stand-alone novels by Nick Iuppa include Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games (fictional horror drama featuring ancient vampires, teenage romance, and a top-secret military project) and Taken by Witches (a modern horror story based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales). I purchased this book from Kindle. This review was completed on July 26, 2016.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Supernatural, Ghosts, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal & Urban
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When he was a child, Niko Madonie was terrified of his over-protective grandmother. Somehow, he knew she was a witch possessed of overwhelming supernatural powers and determined to save him from the real and imagined dangers of the modern world.Now a successful writer in Hollywood, Niko is helping create an animated version of Hansel and Gretel while he struggles to protect his beautiful young wife from sexy, New Age witches who hope to sacrifice her to please the ancient crone. This is an epic horror romance set against a background of legends, with complex villains, a magical young couple, and a story-line straight from the darkest pages of the Brothers Grimm. Cold
Coffee Review: If you have ever thought that reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales to your children or grandchildren might frighten them, then you’d better keep the lights on while reading Taken by Witches to yourself.
Author Nick Iuppa asks questions you might not ask aloud. “Do witches exist; where does their power come from, and to what ends will they use it?” Masterfully written, this multifaceted story begins in the small Polish village of Zakopane high in the Carpathian Mountains. A warlock skillfully tells the story to a shopkeeper and his young daughter after he returns a collection of gruesome masks that the shopkeeper once sent to America so they wouldn’t fall into the hands of the Nazis. The masks are all images of the same woman, a witch named Babcia (pronounced Bob-cha) the Polish name for grandmother.
The warlock’s story begins with a young boy named Niko Madonie who realizes that his grandmother has supernatural powers that terrify him up until the day she dies. As an adult, Niko marries and becomes a successful writer in Hollywood. But even there he is haunted by memories of Babcia and he finds he must struggle to protect his wife from new age witches who decide to sacrifice the beautiful young woman to please the ancient crone. Imagine Babcia’s evil smell: (the stench of blood sausage mixed with the spicy sweetness of gingerbread) and realize that ancient history doesn’t always stay in the past.
Centuries after Niko’s grandmother lost her first baby to medieval witch hunters, she bears a new family to a new husband in a new land, America. But even in this future place and time, she remembers the vow she made when the infant was murdered: “Atrocities to her loved ones will never happen again,” no matter what the consequences. Author Nick Iuppa has impressive credentials as the former Creative Director of Paramount Pictures’ Digital Entertainment, Head of Apple Computer’s Learning Technologies Group, and Writer for the Wonderful World of Disney.
I endorse Taken by Witches by Nick Iuppa as a modern horror story based on Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which first brought the essence of ancient witchcraft into America’s bedtime stories. Nick’s other novels include Alicia’s Ghost, Alicia’s Sin, Alicia Bewitched, Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games, and Avenging Adelita. I purchased this book from Kindle. This reviewed was completed on November 12, 2015.
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Occult
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The Witch Within Her (sequel to Taken By Witches).
Sexy, Stunning, Relentless Horror
A possessed child is caught in a war between witches!
Spanning centuries of horror and witchcraft, the powerful sequel to Taken By Witches tells how Babcia Czarownica, the greatest of all witches, does battle with far more seductive members of her craft.She must confront a lustful priest, a predatory lover, a vengeful undead beauty, and the unspeakable evil hiding at the top of Rapunzel’s Tower... all to save her beloved grandson and his family from utter annihilation. And she must accomplish all this while sharing the body of an eight-year-old girl.
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Literature & Fiction, Horror
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Remember The Taqueria
When vigilantes gun down her uncle during an illegal border crossing, an idealistic young Mexican woman decides to make a dramatic political statement by leading a strike force to recapture the Alamo. Then international spies, Hollywood celebrities, the American President, the whole Mexican army, and a teenage kid with a tank become involved... and everything spins out of control.Cold Coffee Review: In this very funny and interesting read, a dreamy young Mexican woman name Claudia Madero joins a group who tries to cross the US/Mexican border illegally and is shot at by American vigilantes. Her aging uncle is mortally wounded in the incident, and - after being returned to her hometown - she partners with a local priest and a successful merchant in an attempt to make a dramatic statement about the negative consequences of US border policies.
Why not recapture the Alamo, she decides, draw the attention of the press, and force an honest debate about the issue? Of course, there are bungling players on all sides of this comedy, and Claudia and her “Army” end up liberating, not the real Alamo, but a Taqueria designed as a replica of the historic shrine. It doesn’t seem to matter though. The US President decides that he too wants to make a statement and so he sends the US Marines to confront her. No matter what your political view, we feel that it is important that everyone be informed about both sides of this complex and difficult issue. This is not the time to ignore current events and become a bystander.
If you like Saturday Night Live, you will love this book. I could see some chapters as a skit with the actor Alic Baldwin cast as Donald Trump. I endorse The Battle For The Alamo Taqueria as a powerful but humorous presentation of an important side of the immigration issue and perhaps a warning about apocalyptic consequences. I purchased this book from Kindle. This review was completed on February 27, 2018.
Genre: Humor, Satire
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He is the author of seven novels, Management by Guilt (Fawcett Books 1984—a Fortune Book Club selection) and eight technical books on interactive media. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Ginny. John Pesqueira studies at the University of Arizona, Columbia, and Stanford prepared him for an impressive career in media design and development. His passion for the visual arts and popular culture continue to inform his creative efforts and still inspire his writing and photography. John grew up in the Sonoran Desert and his love of the history, legends, and people of the American Southwest and Mexico remain a major focus of his work. John lives with his wife in Northern California.
Novels by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira Alien Mission (The Peacemaker Book 1) by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira Alicia's Ghost: The Alicia Trilogy Book 1 by Nick Iuppa, John Pesqueira Alicia’s Sin by Nick Iuppa and John P. Mendoza Alicia Bewitched by Nick Iuppa and John P. Mendoza Avenging Adelita by Nick Iuppa and John P. Mendoza Esteban Meets Alicia by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira The Battle For The Alamo Taqueria by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira Esteban Meets Alicia by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira Esteban's Quest by Nick Iuppa and John Pesqueira
Novels by Nick Iuppa The Witch Within Her by Nick Iuppa Taken By Witches The Witch Within Her Bloody Bess And The Doomsday Games
Contact Us: We love hearing from our readers and learning what they like or don’t like about our stories. We’d be very grateful if you would send us a quick e-mail and tell us what you think of Alien Mission. We promise we’ll answer personally and directly. Please contact us at the link below to tell us what you think and let us thank you for reading our books. Contact Nick & John at dosmilagrospress@gmail.com
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Cold Coffee Press Spotlight Interview With Author Nick Iuppa
Bio Quote: “I grew up in Rochester New York; my dad was a prominent doctor there. I attended the University of Notre Dame and grew up to marry the prettiest girl in Rochester... by far. (We’re still married).
I always wanted to work in the movies.My graduate program at Stanford got me an internship at MGM and I worked on TV specials with Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones (creator of the Road Runner). I became good friends with both of them. Later I wrote for the Wonderful World of Disney and dozens of scripts about Mickey Mouse and his friends for Walt Disney Interactive.
I left Hollywood for a while and worked for Eastman Kodak as an Instructional Designer, Bank of America as manager of their TV studios, Hewlett Packard as manager of their creative group, and Apple computer as Manager Of Learning Technologies. When my boss at Apple went to Hollywood, she took me with her. We were back in Hollywood again... but still were able to live in the San Francisco area.
I commuted every week from SF to LA, and we used the accumulated miles to visit Europe. That’s why some of my books have realistic European settings. At Paramount Pictures I designed Internet entertainment and built Hollywood-style training simulations for US Army and the State Department. Through all of this I wrote novels, but I could never get them published even though my friend Dr. Seuss worked with his publishers on my behalf. I found a tech publisher and sold lots of books about the interactive technology, but that wasn’t really what I wanted to be doing. I also had success with a humorous book on management styles called Management By Guilt. Because of the popularity of these kinds of books I was able to get it published by a major publisher, Fawcett Books. It became of Fortune Magazine Book Club Selection.
When I left Paramount, I did freelance simulation design for several companies including Leap Frog, The Alaska Fire Service, the Navy and the US Marines. I also continued writing novels. My first sci-fi novel was about a high-tech simulation like the ones I worked on for the Army, but this simulation had futuristic technology and was invaded by vampires. I first called it Virtual Vampires but published it as Bloody Bess and the Doomsday Games.
I also wrote other horror novels inspired by Stephen King's deep, creepy characters. Now, I work with a writing partner, John Pesqueira. And even though I do most of the writing, his participation in story development makes things work better. John has a lot of great ideas, and we love developing characters and letting them tell us where the story is supposed to go.
These days, my favorite character is Claudia Madero the driving force in our satirical novel about a group of Mexicans retaking the Alamo. It’s called THE BATTLE FOR THE ALAMO TAQUERIA. Can't get enough of her. I have expanded on many of the details of my biography and told stories of my adventures in Hollywood in the blog posts that I write at http://www.nickiuppawrites.com/
Interview:
What makes you proud to be a writer from San Francisco, Silicon Valley? San Francisco gives me a built-in atmosphere for my stories. Everyone loves the place. So, it’s easy for me to write about exotic locations all within driving distance. It has also given me entre to Hollywood, Stanford University, the High Sierras, and the surrounding desert. It rounds out my experience growing up in Upstate New York and going to college in the Midwest.
What or who inspired you to become a writer? My father was a well-known doctor and a world war two hero. But I could tell that he really wanted to become a writer. He talked all his life about the books he wanted to write. But he died relatively young and never got a chance to do it.
When did you begin writing with the intention of becoming published? When I was in grade school, I wrote a book that the nuns told me they wanted to get published but never did. When I developed a fast friendship with Dr. Seuss, I tried to get several of my children’s books published. But it wasn’t until I retired that I decided to write full time and make a concerted effort to get published. I had written and had published many technical books, but I really didn’t like doing non-fiction. Writing fiction is what I really enjoy.
Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing, and did you use it to your advantage? I still set parts of my books in Upstate New York. I feel that I know the area very well and can write to the time and place and create that period. Some of my books have biographical elements, especially TAKEN BY WITCHES and THE WITCH WITHIN HER.
Do you come up with your title before or after you write the manuscript? I came up with the title Management by Guilt, in the 70s and then wrote the book. It was my biggest success, picked up by Fawcett Books and released in paperback. I’d like to say I never do it with fiction, but in fact all 3 of the books in our Alicia Trilogy started as titles before we even knew what they were about.
Please introduce your genre and why you prefer to write in that genre? THE ALAMO TAQUERIA is political satire, which uses humor and parody to make a statement about a political situation. I’ve always loved writing humor and my writing partner, John, has a great sense of it. We always try to include humor in our novels, but The Alamo includes more: exaggerated characters and some extreme situations that are parodies of current events. But Comedy is not my main focus; it’s Horror. I was afraid of the horror genre all my life, never went to horror movies, had nightmares all the time, which is why I may be good at writing these kinds of books. I’ve written several blog posts about this topic and they are up on my blog site. Originally, I wrote a biographical novel and showed it to famous screenwriter Bill Idelson. The only chapter he liked was the one in which I told how my grandmother always reminded me of a witch and how I was scared to death of her. In the novel I wrote under his direction I explore my relationship with my grandmother under the assumption that she was one of the most powerful witches who ever lived. The book is called TAKEN BY WITCHES. What was your inspiration, spark or light bulb moment that inspired you to write the book that you are seeking promotion for?
My current writing partner, John Pesqueira, a TV Writer/Director, told me about a movie idea he had. He’s of Mexican descent and feels strongly about the difficult political situation at the border. In his movie concept, a group of Mexicans decide to retake the Alamo as a political statement. We wanted to make it a comedy since the two of us always have a lot of fun throwing ideas back and forth and building on them. Also, we know that in many ways’ satire is one of the most powerful forms of political commentary. We developed the characters and the storyline and eventually wrote a movie treatment that we sent to several producers. When none of them picked it up, we rewrote the treatment as a novel.
What has been your most rewarding experience with your writing process? I love rewriting. Getting the first draft of a chapter down is painful, but once it’s there I can polish endlessly, that may be why people tell me that my writing is so easy to read, because I polish it maybe twenty times before I think it’s ready for someone else to look at.
What has been your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? Running into people who have read our books and love them is really wonderful. Finding new reviews on Goodreads or Amazon is a real thrill too. I’m not crazy about public appearances or book tours, I did that extensively for Management by Guilt and I found it difficult.
What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? A good, original story is everything. And they can probably build one from their own experience or personal dreams or nightmares. But almost as importantly, get a good editor and proofreader. I read dozens of books from friends and would-be authors and some of the writing is so bad that it’s a real struggle to get through it. If would-be writers can get the grammar and the spelling right, then I can at least start to concentrate on their story.
Who is your favorite author and why? Stephen King, because of the depth of understanding he provides for his characters. Also, his book On Writing is a manual on how to write that I follow religiously. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? There are mountains of background details in my blog. I try to write my posts as though they are short stories about my experiences in Hollywood and as a writer. Also, I almost died of a lung disease when I was 25. That was the subject of my first bio novel, which I later rewrite as a horror story, to greater success. However, I really don’t like to talk or write about that period of my life and promised at the start of my blog that I wouldn’t deal with it. Please add questions and the answers to any questions that you believe your readers would like to know.
- Do I ever fall in love with my female characters? Every damn time!
- How hard is it to kill off characters you love? It’s murder in every sense of the word.
- How erotic your novels? We decided to make The Alamo very straightforward and even though there are several love stories going and some very attractive couples we didn’t write any really explicit scenes. On the other hand, the Alicia Books are very sexy. Bloody Bess has several explicit scenes, and some very romantic ones. Some of our as yet unpublished novels are much more erotic.
- Do you write romance novels? I read them for background, but there is generally too much action and adventure and horror for my novels to be considered true romance.
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