Get to Know the Author: Carmen Ferreiro Esteban

From biology PhD to romance writer! Today we get to know author Carmen Ferreiro Esteban. Read on to find out more! 

JDP: Carmen, did your mother read to you as a child?

Carmen: I am sure she did, but I don't remember. What I do remember is her telling me stories.

JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?

Carmen: I loved Fairy Tales, especially the ones with princesses. No wonder my first book is called Two Moon Princess.

JDP: Name a favorite author as an adult.

Carmen: Federico Garcia Lorca, a Spanish poet and dramaturge I fell in love with while researching my paranormal novel Garlic for Breakfast and watching Little Ashes (a superbly rendered portrait of his life as a young man in Madrid). You can listen to one of his poems, translated and sung by Leonard Cohen at my blog post: http://carmenferreiroesteban.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/garlic-for-breakfast-7/ Absolutely beautiful.

JDP: Share a book you’ve read multiple times.

Carmen: There are so many books I want to read, I never have time to re-read any. I did read twice all the Jane Austen's novels as I first read them in Spanish when I was a teen and wanted to read them in English. In case you wonder, English is my second language. I grew up in Spain.

JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?

Carmen: Hard copy. I love to hold a book in my hands. I don't like audio books either.

JDP: What’s your favorite place to read?

Carmen: In bed, at the end of the day.

JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres.

Carmen: Fantasy, a love story in any genre, historical fiction.

JDP: What’s the last book you read?

Carmen: Federico Garcia Lorca by Felicia Hardison Londré which is a biography, pretty unusual for me. It must be love.

JDP: What are you’re reading now?

Carmen: The Girl Who Couldn't Say No, by Tracy Engelbrecht. It's a memoir by a South African young woman about her life as a single mother. It's a honest and realistic portrait of her experience. Highly likable.

JDP: What’s next on your reading list?

Carmen: I am a reviewer for MyShelf.com, which means I get books for free in exchange for a review. So my next book to read is: Prospero in Hell by L. Jagi Lamplighter for I must review it this month. If you love to read (which I assume you do if you're reading this interview), I recommend you check their site. They are always in need of reviewers and they have a long list of books to choose from, especially in the Romance category.

JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)

Carmen: Rafael Sabatini. Last year I read Scaramouche for the first time and I'd like to read his other novels. I remember wanting to read his books when I was a child, but couldn't find them in Spain. This, of course, was before Amazon ever existed.

JDP: Share a favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months.

Carmen: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It is the first book in a trilogy. The other two being Catching Fire and Mockingjay. It's a story of survival set in a post apocalyptic United States divided into 12 districts. Every year two children from each district must fight to the death in the ultimate reality TV show. In my opinion, the hype about this series is well deserved. You can read my review at http://carmenferreiroesteban.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/the-hunger-games-by-suzanne-collins/

More about Carmen! : Carmen Ferreiro Esteban was born in Galicia (Northern Spain), a land of rolling hills and green valleys lulled by the ocean, that was thought in medieval times to be ‘Finisterre,’ the place where the world came to an end. After completing her Ph.D. in Biology in Madrid, she lived in California for four years before returning to Spain.

Back to the States, this time to PA where she still lives with her daughter, she turned her experiences of coming to the New World into a fantasy novel Two Moon Princess. Its sequel The King in the Stone, has been accepted for publication by Tanglewood Press, the publisher of Two Moon Princess. She’s presently querying agents with her third novel, a story of forbidden love in a Medieval world, while weekly posting a paranormal version of her life at her blog Dare to Read. Also visit Carmen at her website. 

Publications by Carmen Ferreiro Esteban:

Nonfiction (YA):

Heroin, Chelsea House (2003)

Ritalin, Chelsea House (2004)

Mad Cow Disease, Chelsea House (2005)

Lung Cancer, Chelsea House (2006)

Fiction:

Two Moon Princess (YA)

Summary of Two Moon Princess, by Carmen Ferreiro Esteban:

A Spanish Princess.

An American Boy.

A King set on revenge.

An unrequited love

and a disturbing family secret

bring a World to the brink of War.

In this coming-of-age story set in a medieval kingdom, Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight who finds her way to modern-day California. Andrea loves California and wants to stay there forever. But when, by mistake, she returns to her kingdom and brings a Californian boy with her, war breaks out. Andrea's brave and, at times, foolish attempts to stop the war and keep the American boy alive will have unforeseen consequences that will change her forever.

Readers will love this mix of traditional fantasy elements with unique twists and will identify with Andrea and her difficult choices between duty and desire.

Two Moon Princess was awarded the bronze medal for Juvenile Fiction in the Book of the Year Contest by the Fore Word Magazine.