Guest Author: Désirée Zamorano

Désirée Zamorano has been a guest author here before. Her new novel is just out, and it may be something you haven't read before. Here's Des:

 Bringing The Amado Women to Life

When I cast about to commit at least two years of my life to my next uncertain project, there were a few of things I was sure about. I wanted to explore the lives of women, because our lives are multifaceted and filled with conflicting demands. I wanted to write about the women I knew, admired and loved: loyal, intelligent, funny. Married or single, mothers or not, loving and spiteful, petty and generous. Women as human beings in all our complexity.

The Pasadena/LA setting was automatic. Southern California is filled with ethnic and income diversity, conflict, beautiful settings and fascinating characters. Some of us hide behind gated communities, some of us go exploring. It happens to be where I live and what I enjoy knowing.

I also knew the complexion of my cast.

That’s where things get dicey, because as I looked around to pitch my completed novel, to potential agents, to potential publishers, there were plenty of marvelous family dramas by women, by gifted authors like Elizabeth Berg, Jodi Picoult, Ann Patchett or Ann Tyler, but none by Latinas, and none featuring a cast of aspirational or middle-class Mexican-Americans. I had done what Karen Joy Fowler had done with The Jane Austen Book Club, which was written a novel the author wanted to read. But would I be its only audience?

With each rejection I got more nervous. Even though Mexican Americans are California’s largest demographic, and the fastest growing across the nation, even though many of us have been here since before statehood, the lock on our portrayals in the media is fierce and limiting. I’ve seen so many hot mamacitas and inarticulate maids that when one shows up I change the channel or shut the book. The Amado Women could not be squeezed into either of these depictions.

I held my breath, crossed my fingers and made a phone call pitch to Cinco Puntos Press in El Paso. They wanted to see it. They ultimately published it. Hallelujah!

Now, many years since its inception, The Amado Women is out in public for total strangers to read. Like all authors, I’ve had my share of glowing reviews and not so glowing. What I did not anticipate was how many men would be moved by this novel. One of them wrote to me and said, “You’re the only person I’m going to tell, but I wanted to let you know that I burst into tears.” Never would this writer’s imagination have expected that. You see, I, too, have some preconceptions of who people are.

You can meet Désirée at one of her upcoming events

Wednesday, July 30 • 7 pm
Launch Party
Vroman’s Bookstore
Pasadena, CA

​Sunday, August 10 • 2pm

The Bluebird Reading Series​​
Avenue 50 Studio
131 N. Avenue 50
Highland Park, CA

Thursday, August 14 • 7 pm
Books Inc Opera Plaza
San Francisco, CA

Or find out more about her here. You can also follow here on Twitter @LaDeziree 

To read my review of The Amado Women, click on the cover icon to the right of this post.

Guest Author: Des Zamorano

You may remember when Des Zamorano was the first Guest Author here on Living Vicuriously, back in 2011 when it was Pasadena Daily Photo. Desiree Zamorano is a Pushcart-nominated writer. Her previous novel, Human Cargo, was Latinidad's Mystery Pick of the Year. The Amado Women (Cinco Puntos Press) will be released May 2014. Please welcome Des Zamorano:

As a writer, I wonder lots of things. Who or what is behind those kids who traipse door to door with overpriced candy? How do people get caught up in Ponzi schemes? As I drive around the San Gabriel Valley, I ponder what is going on in the homes of the affluent as well as the humble. I day dream awake.

Ever see "The Bad Seed"? I think about what that little girl would have been like when she hit puberty. In Modern Cons you'll meet Claire, who answers that question for me.

I think about the children of con artists, and when Bernie Madoff’s son killed himself, it struck me just how very hard it could be.

Modern Cons is a novel of psychological suspense, featuring Jackie Paz, a young woman trying to break out on her own, and break free from the venomous grip of her incarcerated con-artist mother. Despite her background Jackie grew up straight, honest and is tentatively getting her world in order, working as a transporter of troubled teens. It’s after a tragic death that her job collapses and Jackie’s mother decides it’s time for a family reunion. 

Modern Cons (Lucky Bat Books) is available at Amazon and for all ebook platforms at Smashwords. According to Dianne Emley, LA Times best-selling author [and long-time friend of this blog], "Family inflicts the deepest cuts in this compelling psychological thriller."