Category: News from Caridad

Drop by and chat with me tonight (Jan 3) at www.writerspace.com/chat at 9 EST.

Thanks!

To celebrate the release of DEVOTION CALLS my January release, I’m having a special blog contest during the month of January and ending on February 14th!

You could win a tin of Hershey’s limited edition cherry cordials!

So blog away on any earlier posts or answer one of my daily questions:

Today’s Question: What is your top New Year’s Resolution?

I’ll tell you my top two: To lose weight and to sell another book!

2007 is here and with it a lot of great things happening, both personally and professionally. Professionally, I’ve got a whopping 6 releases, including a free novella at eharlequin.com. Plus, I’m working on a lot of interesting new books, including a proposal for another three books in THE CALLING Vampire series. Because of that, I’ll soon be launching a special site devoted exclusively to THE CALLING where you’ll be able to read about the mythology in the series, all the characters and lots of other interesting tidbits about THE CALLING.

To celebrate all those releases, I’ll be having a bunch of fun reader-oriented contests and events in the coming year. I hope you enjoy them!

If you want to know more about the current release and how I write, be sure to check out this interview at www.wereallydig.com:

http://www.wereallydig.com/romancenovels/interview/caridad-pineiro1-07.html
Personally, I’ll be getting my daughter – and best friend – ready for college! She’ll be starting in September and will be going for a degree in fashion. In fact, if you visit https://www.caridad.com/blog on Fridays, Sammie provides some fashion tips on Fashion Fridays.

As always, thanks for all your support and the many wonderful e-mails I get from you!
Caridad

DEVOTION CALLS – Available January 2007
In Spanish Harlem, real danger comes in nonhuman form. A night stalker haunts the barrio, feeding its insatiable hunger, craving the humanity only healer Ricardo Fernandez can give him. For Ricardo is cursed with the ability to heal, and hurt, by touch–a talent he hides behind the practice of Santeria.

Sara Martinez knows there’s no such thing as faith healing, until Ricardo’s gifts become her last hope. And Ricardo’s passion becomes something she can’t live without.

But when the night stalker uses Sara as bait, Ricardo must choose between two evils: lose the woman he loves or lose himself to the darkness of his powers.

REVIEWS FOR DEVOTION CALLS
4 Stars RT BookClub: “A thrilling installment . . . (a) breathlessly suspenseful and sensual love story.”
The Best Reviews: “Caridad Pinero is one author readers can consistently rely on to provide a fantastic paranormal romance. The star- crossed lovers are so very much alike, both fear opening their hearts though their reasons differ; she because she does not want it broken again while he is his afraid of rejection. The support cast include vampires and humans with everyone aware of Ricardo, a beacon of light for the unnatural to devour.”
Cataromance.com:” a mesmerizing story which is suspenseful yet overflowing with emotionally charged scenes. . . DEVOTION CALLS is a remarkable story with strong characterization and an original plot filled with unforeseen twists.”
Wereallydig.com: “If you like the dark side then don’t miss Ms. Pineiro’s “The Calling” series. This latest book has just as much going for it as the rest. Blending the dark side of humanity (and other creatures) with that little bit of light to keep you interested is why you won’t want to miss this book. ‘Devotion Calls’ has that spark we look for in paranormal romances.”
Fallen Angel Reviews:” With an intriguing story, Caridad Piñeiro pulls us back into The Calling series. . . Ricardo and Sara were a wonderful couple that are so well written that you could picture them right from the beginning of the book. Mix in the paranormal and you have a recipe for success that I will reread over and over again.”

THE CALLING E-Book Bundle Now Available

If you’ve missed any of the earlier books in THE CALLING series and haven’t been able to track down a print version, then this e-bundle might be for you!

You get all three of the earlier books in one bundle for a wonderful price. To check out the bundle, please click here.

DESIRE CALLS Available April 2007
DESIRE CALLS a first for me — a free novella at Eharlequin.com. DESIRE CALLS was a blast to write since I had two wonderful characters to work with — Stacia and Blake. Stacia is a two-thousand year old vampiress who we first met in DEATH CALLS. I hope that I will get to write a full story about this complex creature in a future novel. Blake is a sexy Billy Idol clone who first showed us he could be a hero in TEMPTATION CALLS. Like Stacia, I hope Blake will get his own novel and be reunited with his first love — Meghan Thomas from TEMPTATION CALLS.

For Pre-published Authors:
Check out the new section at www.caridad.com that contains Resources for Writers. I’ll be adding more articles and interesting sources for you. You can also check out the links section on the blog which contains a lot of useful resources.

In January, I’ll be having two guests on my blog – Stacy Boyd, an editor at Harlequin and Caren Johnson, an agent. Both will be there to answer any questions you may have!

SIGN UP FOR MY CONTEST AND NEWSLETTER!
For my monthly contest, win a THE CALLING T-shirt, an autographed copy of an earlier release and other goodies from Caridad ! How? Just click on this link to join Caridad’s newsletter and be entered!

You can also subscribe to the contest and newsletter, by sending a blank email to: [email protected]

This Month’s Contest Winners!

The winners of the Holiday Celebration Mini Garden Ornaments from Victoria’s Secret are:

drummersgirl_52 (yahoo id)
Suz (azwildkitty2112 yahoo id)

The winner of the regular monthly contest is:

Gillis Family (Ap840 yahoo id)

If you’re a contest winner, please e-mail me at [email protected] with a postal address so that I can mail you your prizes!

MY RECENT AND UPCOMING RELEASES:

DEATH CALLS, Dec 2006, Silhouette Nocturne
DEVOTION CALLS, Jan 2007, Silhouette Nocturne
DESIRE CALLS, Apr 2007, Free Novella at eharlequin.com
BLOOD CALLS, May 2007, Silhouette Nocturne
SECRET AGENT REUNION, Aug 2007, Silhouette Romantic Suspense
SOUTH BEACH CHICAS CATCH THEIR MAN, Sep 2007, Downtown Press
MOON FEVER with Maggie Shayne, Susan Sizemore, Lori Handeland and me!, Oct 2007, Pocket Books

For more information on Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and share some of the wonderful sights that my family experienced during our annual Christmas visit to Manhattan.

We were blessed this year with balmy weather — in the low fifties. Makes for great walking weather in a city that is made to be walked.

We always start by taking the train into the city. So much easier and more environmentally friendly than the car during holiday season. Plus, you never know what you will run into on the train. One year, we were on a train filled with Santas who were headed to the annual Santa parade (didn’t even know there was such a thing!)

The store windows are always our first stops and here’s one of my favorites from the animated display at Lord & Taylor (more photos are in the album below).

As a kid, the windows and walk up Fifth was all we would do with my parents. My dad worked at B. Altman’s, one of the old venerable stores on Fifth which has long since closed. Fifth Avenue was always such a delight with all the holiday decorations and finery. It still is quite a spectacle, even though there are those stores I’m dubbing Scrooge stores who are not decorating so as to not offend.

I don’t usually get on soapboxes, but if acknowledging a major religious holiday is offensive, I guess I won’t offend by bringing my butt into one of these stores! Honestly, I believe in respecting all religions and I love seeing the differences, whether it’s my neighbors’ Christmas lights, Menorahs or the recent lights of Diwali. So, peace to all, but Bah Humbug to the Scrooge Stores.

Let’s get back into the holiday spirit!

We always stop by the research library on 42nd Street. It’s a step back into the glamour of old New York and the renovated Bill Blass Reading Room is something to behold. Behind the library is Bryant Park and in recent years, they’ve set up a skating rink and shops. In the summer, it’s a great place to go hang out at lunch.

After the library, we keep on walking up Fifth until we reach St. Patrick’s and Rockefeller Center. The tree is immense and the area around the tree is always mobbed. Still, it’s nice to be amidst so many people who are in the holiday spirit.

From the tree, we resume our walk and go to Central Park. Even as a New Yorker, Central Park always amazes me. It’s filled with so many interesting things, like the Wollman Rink, Children’s Zoo, Delacorte Clock and Tavern on the Green. Plus, it’s huge. If you look on a map, you will realize just how much real estate is blessedly devoted to the park.

After, it’s just a short walk up to Columbus Circle and then onward to Lincoln Center and our annual viewing of the Nutcracker. It’s a great ballet and you get to people watch as well. We’ve been seated near celebrities like Caroline Kennedy and her family. This year my daughter and husband insisted Chelsea Clinton was seated behind us, but I’m not sure it was her.

If you aren’t going to get into New York for the holiday season, but want to see this seasonal ballet, there’s a DVD that was made about ten years back which is a wonderful recording of the New York City Ballet doing the Nutcracker together with McCauley Caulkin.

After the ballet, it’s normally time to grab a bite only this year my daughter has to work, so we’ll have to do the special holiday dinner some other time.

So, may you all have peace, health and happiness during the upcoming holidays and in 2007!

I hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures of our Christmas trip to Manhattan in the album below.

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://home.att.net/~rtsmedicalsystems/nyc2006.swf” height=”350″ width=”500″ /]

For my family, Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena is the night we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the blessings of family and friends. It is a night filled with talk, laughter, music, gifts and of course, food. Lots of food, both Cuban and Italian.

Our main meal consists of bacalao, shrimp cocktails, linguini with stuffed calamari, black beans, rice, avocado salad, ripe and green plantains, yuca (a kind of root), Virginia-style ham and roast pork. While all of these are delicious, it’s the roast pork that reigns supreme and of course, takes the most prep time.

My mom and abuelita showed me how to make the roast pork, but it was my dad who helped perfect the recipe by insisting that the citrus marinade had to have grapefruits! It made all the difference in the world. There’s something about the brightness of the grapefruit flavor that totally changes the citrus marinade.

As for the marinade, we make it fresh the night before. It’s a combination of the juice from oranges, sour oranges (also known as Seville oranges), limes, lemons and of course, grapefruits. My daughter, nephew Jon and I spend at least an hour or more juicing all the fresh fruits. It’s a lot of work because we need enough juice to cover a pork leg that is about 20-25 pounds. If you’re going to make this at home for yourself, a pork leg (also known as pernil or picnic ham) of about 6 or 7 pounds is enough for a family of 4 or 5.

The key to the citrus juices is that you want to make a combination of juices that is sweet, but also tart. Sweet/sour might be a better term to use. You don’t want anything that goes too far either way because that will really change the taste of the final roast pork.

Once we have the juice, we add a ton of crushed garlic, some cumin (not too much) and a few bay leaves. The bay leaves are also essential to have the right taste. Also flavor with a little pepper and even less salt. With the citrus and all the other spices, this dish doesn’t need much salt.

Once that marinade is ready, I take the pork leg and skewer it a few times with a large knife from one end to the next (with a smaller pork leg, use a smaller knife). I know this defies all the chef recommendations because normally creating such cuts in a roast will let the juices leave the meat and make it dry. But in this case, the marinating and basting will keep it moist and the cuts will let the marinade seep into the meat and flavor it.

As I mentioned before, the pork leg will rest in the marinade overnight until I rise at six, drag all 25 pounds of it out and into a roasting pan. A few ladles of the marinade should go over the pork at this time. The pork will go into a 425 degree oven for a good hour or more. The high heat at this stage helps seal the outside to keep the pork moist. (I do not baste during this initial hour.)

If you are making a smaller roast pork leg, go ahead and bake it at 425 for about an hour as well. After, reduce the heat to 350 and bake for about another 2 or 3 hours for the smaller pork leg.

Since our Noche Buena pork leg is so large, it will need to cook almost all day. The house is redolent with the smell of the citrus and spices and those smells always remind me of Christmas Eve with my family.

After that first hour or so of high heat, turn the oven down to 350. The pork will cook until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Baste every half an hour or so from the juice in the pan and from the original marinade (DO NOT put the original marinade on the pork once it is out of the oven to avoid contamination!).

The juices will caramelize and the pork will have a wonderful glaze and dark brown color. When the pork is ready, you will see that it is just about to fall off the bone. Yummy.

My family will often gather around and pick at the roast pork as I ease it off the bone and slice it for dinner because they can’t wait to eat it. If you’re familiar with pork legs like this, you know that there is always some skin on the leg and that becomes an extra-special Cook’s treat.

Traditionally, roast pork is served beside black beans over white rice, tostones (green plantains), platanos maduros (ripe plantains) and an avocado salad.

I will be sure to post a picture of this year’s Christmas Eve table and roast pork later!

So the hero has finally managed to find their way through the journey so far and make it through the Supreme Ordeal. The hero is done with her journey, right?

As I mentioned before, if you’re writing a shorter novel (anywhere in the 50K to 75K area), yes, the hero is done now and it’s time to head to the Return with the Elixer (or THE END) where the hero takes whatever prize she has seized along the journey and uses it in order to have a Happily Ever After (or if you’re writing a series, a Happily for the Moment).

But in a longer book, there is time to test the hero to see if she has truly learned her lesson and overcome her conflict. This step in the journey is Resurrection.

Resurrection

A second life-and-death moment (a la Supreme Ordeal)

Death and darkness get in one last shot before finally being defeated

Opportunity to show how the hero has absorbed lessons from the journey

The stakes are at their highest here and you must show the awareness the hero has attained during the various trials and tests

The change should not be abrupt, but should have been gradually becoming obvious to the reader

For a longer book, this is an important part of the plot as the reader must be sitting on the edge of their seats wondering if the hero will do the right thing. This is the point where the hero truly confirms that she is worthy of the title of HERO.

If the hero manages to do the right thing, then and only then can she continue on her journey toward the Happily Ever After, otherwise known as Return with the Elixir.

Return with the Elixir

Hero returns to the Ordinary World

Hero brings with her some Elixir — the lesson or treasure from the Special World

That elixir can be some treasure or love, freedom, wisdom, knowledge or sometimes, just coming home with a good story to tell.

The end of the story should bring jubilation not just on the part of the hero, but on the part of the reader who has followed the journey and can now celebrate that the hero has returned not only safe and sound, but also possibly as a better person.

For a handout with the complete Hero’s Journey as described in this series of articles, please click here. As previously recommended, you may wish to take this hand out and watch either STAR WARS or OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN to see how these movies follow the Hero’s Journey. You can also check out DEATH CALLS (Nocturne, Dec 2006) as well as my women’s fiction release, SEX AND THE SOUTH BEACH CHICAS (Downtown Press, Sep 2006) to see how the Hero’s Journey is applied to the structure of a novel. In particular, the CHICAS book follows 4 different women as they take their journey and each of the stories follows the Hero’s Journey to some extent (again, as the length of the work allows).

***THE END***
Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato

Your hero has been yanked from her Ordinary World, she stumbled a bit when she refused the Call to Adventure, but after finding a Mentor (or not), she’s moved forward, meeting Friends, Earning Enemies and passing an assortment of Tests until she’s finally ready to take the next step in the Hero’s Journey! (As an aside, after I finish these articles, I will post a handout for you to download that has the entire Hero’s Journey. I would recommend you take that list and watch either STAR WARS — the original — or OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN so that you can see how the Hero’s Journey is put to use. Both of these follow the journey nearly step-by-step.)

The Supreme Ordeal:

Fortunes of the hero hit rock bottom

This is a critical moment and is the major source of the heroic myth

Will the hero live or die, or appear to die so that they may be born again

This is the crisis. The central event of the story.

Hero faces her greatest fear

The Supreme Ordeal is the moment where we wonder whether the hero will live or die or whether they will be hero enough to deal with this great test. The hero must resolve their biggest conflict or face their greates fear at this part of the story.

If you are writing a shorter novel, this will be the only crisis/conflict in the story because the shorter length dictates that you cannot have the hero face another challenge before the story ends.

When the hero survives this Supreme Ordeal, she will hopefully know something either about herself or about the world around her. This knowledge/information is the next step in the journey.

Reward (Seizing the Sword):

Having survived, the hero celebrates

Hero takes possession of the Reward

Sometimes the Reward is Knowledge

Often a place in the story where the hero and his allies recall what has happened and how they have reached this place

These quiet moments allow us to get to know the characters better

The hero is now better or stronger than she was before, either physically or emotionally. She is ready to take all that she has learned on the journey so far and apply it to either her Ordinary World or the new world to which the journey has taken her. It is at this point that the hero must decide what to do.

The Road Back:

Decision to return to the Ordinary World

Special World is left behind as the hero returns to a starting point or continues on her journey

This can be another moment of crisis or a reversal of the Hero’s good fortune

The change in the hero’s character must be shown at this stage

***End Part Three***

The Final Steps in the Hero’s Journey are:
Resurrection
Return with the Elixir

Copyright 2006 Caridad Pineiro Scordato