Caridad Pineiro and National Hispanic Heritage Month

News alert - 5 days and counting until the premier of Hawaii 5-0 on Monday, September 20, 10 pm EST on CBS.  I'll have a special contest on Tuesday, September 21 for those who watched it!

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/hawaii_five_0/

Hawaii Five-0 hosted a casting call last month at the Aloha Tower.  The local news reported that the producers were looking for all shapes, sizes, and colors in order to capture Hawaii's diversity.

The Department of Defense has a similar M.O. - diversity brings the best to the mission.

DOD and other government agencies established September 15 - October 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month.  From the website http://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

"Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. 

Cuban American Singer Gloria Estafan

The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.

Puetro Rican American Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period."

Cuban American Paranormal Author Caridad Pineiro

For this blog, it did not take me long to think of a Latin author - Caridad Pineiro, http://www.caridad.com/.  I met Caridad - Charity in Spanish - at the RT Booklovers' Convention in Orlando/2009.  It was my distinct honor to lunch with romance's greats like Cathy Maxwell, Judy Spagnola, and Caridad.   Since then, Caridad is the first to offer support to SOS as well as mentor authors through the Liberty States Fiction Writers, http://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/.

I recently chatted with Caridad at the RWA National Convention in Orlando.  During the Grand Central book signing, she was handing out rubber duckies painted as football players - yet another talent she has!

Please join me in saying Aloha to Caridad!

Kim:  You have won many awards. Yet your career started as a breakthrough Latin author in 1999 with Encanto, in 2000 at the Book Expo's Spanish Pavilion, and the CHICAs books.   How did you feel about being singled out as a Latin author?

Caridad:  I hadn’t really thought of myself as a Latina author, but rather as an author that wrote books which happened to have Latinos in them (and not all the time as I have had novels without Latino characters). The reason I started this way is because I had listened to that old adage about “write what you know” and what I knew about was growing up as a Latina in America .

Kim:  10 years later, do you feel that you are still perceived as a Latin author or something else?

Caridad:  I would like to think that we’ve gotten past labels and have started viewing people based on what they have done. For many of my readers, I am an author of paranormal and romantic suspense author who writes sexy, page-turners with strong female protagonists (and isn’t that a mouthful!).

Kim:  (laughing) Indeed, that is a mouthful!  What influenced you to write paranormal?

Caridad:  I had started off writing contemporary romances with Encanto, but found that the stories I loved best were darker and always seemed to have an element of suspense in them. Being a fan of THE X-FILES and BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, I asked myself what would happen if I mixed my favorite elements from both in order to create a new series and THE CALLING was born. Since I was a science geek all my life, I decided to expand on my paranormal world by adding elements from my science background in order to create a new paranormal mythology grounded in real life science – the SIN HUNTER series was born from that. I hope fans have enjoyed SINS OF THE FLESH and also STRONGER THAN SIN when it releases in November 2010. Because I like darker stories, the series will take a decidedly more dangerous turn for the next two books in the series, THE LOST in August 2011 and THE CLAIMED in Spring 2012.

Kim:  Can you share any Hispanic folktales that have paranormal characters - for example, is there a Latin version of Dracula?
Caridad:  As for Latin versions of Dracula, I did a story once with a chupacabra – a goat sucker (DEVOTION CALLS from THE CALLING). That is the closest that Latins get to the vampire mythology. For the later books in the SIN HUNTER series, I’m actually creating a new race of people with powers that date from before Columbus ’s trip to the New World , but whose existence is challenged by the advent of the Conquistadors.

Kim:  I know first hand that you give generously of yourself to the writing community. You are also an attorney, wife, and mother. How do you keep in all in balance?

Caridad:  I do believe in paying it forward in the writing community. I had a hand from a number of authors and believe that now it’s my turn to help others. As for keeping a balance, family always comes first. I try to do my writing in the early morning or late night hours when it will not interfere with them or with my job as an attorney. Not always easy, but my mom always told me that nothing worthwhile is every easy.

Lucky for paranormal readers, Caridad goes the distance to deliver a page turner.  Mary Gramlich, The Reading Reviewer, posted a review of SINS OF THE FLESH at http://www.marygramlich.com/,

"great book for not only the paranormal genre but also a touch of mystery as well as suspense."

We don't have too long to wait for the second book in the SIN HUNTER series - STRONGER THAN SIN will be available in November!  We'll invite Caridad back to SOS Aloha to celebrate its release!

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Mary and I are each giving away a copy of SINS OF THE FLESH to two randomly selected commenters. 

What is your favorite person/place/thing from Latin America?

Comments will be open through Sunday, September 19, for the book giveaway.  

If I do not have your email address, please send it to sos.america@yahoo.com so I can contact you if you win!   You can also "friend" SOS AMERICA on Facebook.

This contest is open to international readers in honor of the wonderful talent and generous heart of Caridad!

Join us on Thursday, September 16, as we meet Kit Donner and celebrate her latest release, THE VENGEFUL BRIDEGROOM.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii