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MY BOOK CHOSEN FOR BOOK DISCUSSION

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:41:00 -0400

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, 9/15 to 10/15, the women's writing group at Our Lady of the Lake University chose my book, TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE?, to read and discuss.

The women's writing group is called Encuentro de Mujures and meets every other Friday at Elliott House at OLLU campus at 6 p.m.

I am very honored that my book was chosen. What's even more wonderful is that the "mujeres" liked the book.

AMERICA LIBRE

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:50:00 -0400

Raul Ramos y Sanchez launches AMERICA LIBRE Southern California Tour

Raul Ramos y Sanchez, author of the controversial debut novel AMERICA LIBRE, is embarking on a book tour of Southern California that will include appearances at colleges, community centers and bookstores. AMERICA LIBRE is a cautionary tale of a near future where a violent supremacist backlash against illegal immigration sparks a Latino separatist insurgency in the U.S. Southwest.

For more details, please visit http://www.RaulRamos.com

AMERICA LIBRE Southern California Events

September 16 - Heritage of America Educational & Cultural Foundation

A public discussion on the issues raised by AMERICA LIBRE will be led by Heritage of America's Executive Director Dr. Jess Nieto with members of the Bakersfield, CA community and the Chicana Reader's Book Club.

September 17 - California State University, Bakersfield

Dr. Anthony NuÃ±o, professor of HispanicAmerican/ MexicanAmerican Literature, invites the author to read from AMERICA LIBRE and field student questions.

September 21 - Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena - 7:00pm

Vroman's Bookstore, Southern California's oldest and largest independent bookstore, hosts a reading and book signing for AMERICA LIBRE. Live entertainment by Max Vasquez & Friends - including an original composition inspired by the novel. Location: 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101 - PH: 626-449-5320.

For more info: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/raul-ramos-y-sanchez

September 22 - California State University, Northridge

Chicano/a Studies professor Dr. Gabriel Gutierrez invites the author for a reading from AMERICA LIBRE followed by a Q&A session with students.

Sept. 23 - Libreria Martinez, Santa Ana - 7:30pm

Libreria Martinez owned by MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Rueben Martinez hosts a panel discussion and book signing for America Libre. Panelists include Abel Salas, Editor Brooklyn & Boyle magazine; Juan Manuel Casas, author of Frederico Villalba's Texas; and others. Live entertainment. Location: 1200 N. Main St., Suite 100-D, Santa Ana, CA 92701 - PH: 714-973-7900.
For more info: http://www.latinobooks.com

September 24 - California State University, Long Beach

Prof. Armando Vazquez-Ramos of the Chicano & Latino Studies Department hosts the author as he reads from AMERICA LIBRE and answers student questions.

September 24 - Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, San Diego - 7:00pm

Mysterious Galaxy Books will host an AMERICA LIBRE reading, Q&A session and book signing. Location: 7051Clairemont Mesa Blvd, #302, San Diego, CA 92111 - PH: 858.268.4747. For more info:

http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=429582

September 25-27 - Southern California Writers Conference, Irvine

The Southern California Writers' Conference led by Michael Steven Gregory invites the author to lead a workshop on social media for authors.

AMERICA LIBRE highlights

* An International Latino Book Award Best Novel

* USA Today Summer Reads Selection

* Latina Magazine Top Ten Hot Summer Reads

AMERICA LIBRE Reviews

"Thrilling and vibrant" -- James Rollins - New York Times bestselling author of The Last Oracle

"A sweeping, intense novel of extremism, fear and consequences" -- Publisher's Weekly

"Provocative" -- USA Today

AMERICA LIBRE Synopsis

The time: The second decade of the 21st century

In the midst of a lingering depression, the immigration crisis is reaching the boiling point. Legions of idle youths roam restlessly in the nation's teeming barrios. Once-peaceful immigration protests explode into rioting. Cities across the nation are in flames. Anglo vigilantes bent on revenge launch drive-by shootings in the barrios, wantonly killing young and old. Fueled by the supremacist violence, a long-simmering Hispanic insurrection emerges. Its goal: to redraw the map of the United States. Exploiting the turmoil, a congressional demagogue succeeds in passing legislation that transforms the nation's inner-city barrios into walled-off Quarantine Zones. In this chaotic landscape, Manolo Suarez is struggling to provide for his family. Under the spell of a beautiful Latina radical, the former U.S. Army Ranger eventually finds himself questioning his loyalty to his wife-and his country.

AMERICA LIBRE

Read the first chapter:

http://www.raulramos.com/A_Inside_Raul_Ramos_Sanchez.htm

Coming September 23!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:35:00 -0400

COMING SEPTEMBER 23!

...Because a love that transcends time is A Love for Eternity.

At eighteen, Christina Ramos meets the love of her life, yet she allows her mother to talk her into marrying someone else. Widowed fifty years later, Christina finds herself transported back to 1955 to that magical day she first meets Joe Morado.

Second chances don't happen very often, and this time she vows to stay with the man of her dreams forever. No matter what.

Welcome Promos and Guest Bloggers

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:44:00 -0400

WELCOME BOOK PROMOS AND GUEST BLOGGERS

Hello all,

Hispanic Heritage Month is from Sept 15 to Oct 15.

I want to invite all authors to come and promote their books, or just guest blog about what you think the theme for this year's Hispanic Heritage Month means or anything else that comes to mind, but I want you to connect it to Hispanic Heritage Month somehow.

Let me know and I'll post your promo or writing.

The theme for this year's Hispanic Heritage Month is "Embracing the Fierce Urgency of Now!"

Check out the poster at this site:

http://www.oneamerica.net/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8_54

The U.S. is what they used to call a "melting pot", not sure why. With the Internet, I'm sure I could find out why. This year I want to celebrate that we're all One America and there is indeed a fierce urgency to unite and work towards a common goal.

I was really inspired by Ted Kennedy and the work he did and the love he had for his family and they for him.

I love this quote:

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." - Senator Ted Kennedy

Let's keep working toward a common goal.

Welcome to the Celebration

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400

WELCOME TO THE CELEBRATION

Hello,

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile, on September 18.

I understand that in San Antonio, TX, they have a gathering by the Municipal Auditorium where people celebrate "El Grito", Father Hidalgo's yell, by ringing the church bell of his church calling everyone in Mexico to fight for liberty from Spanish rule.

This year's theme is "Embracing the Fierce Urgency of Now!"

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:34:00 -0400

HAPPY HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH!

September 15 to October 15, 2009

Please join me this month for a celebration!

I will be featuring several authors and some wonderful stories.

Hopefully, we'll have some prizes throughout the month as well!

WINNER - Stop and Smell The Roses Blog Bouquet

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:22:00 -0400

Thank you to all who came by and "smelled the roses"!!

This was an enjoyable event.

NOW...druuuumroooooooooll..............

The winner is... Christine Clemetson!

Please send me your e-mail and I will send you TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE? Hope you enjoy!

Stop and Smell the Roses Blog Bouquet

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:58:00 -0400

The flower for June is the rose, so it seems only fitting that The Wild Rose Press hosts a Roses Blog. You can have any color of rose you want nowadays - use floral paint and you can get green roses for St. Patrick's Day, blue roses for the blue in your 4th of July bouquet and orange for Halloween or Thanksgiving. The natural color of roses are red, pink, white, yellow and the newest color, a pink rose that fades to white, called a Latin Lady, as my friend, the rose connoisseur, tells me it is called.

New things are hard to accept. Who wants blue roses? Really! However, sometimes, change is good. Sometimes. Change is essential. Sometimes, something happens in your life and you just CANNOT remain the SAME. So, you have to CHANGE. Somehow. Because... how... can... you... remain... the same...?

This past weekend I went to West Texas to visit my dad and my sister, who lives with him and takes care of him. I bought a pair of shades. Now, I've never been one to call attention to myself, but this past Saturday, I had to buy shades because I'd forgotten mine at home. I bought this pair.

Yes, they're blue, like the blue roses. Now, I saw some conservative-looking shades in browns and blacks, but somehow? the blue called to me. Actually, there were some pink shades that were shouting out to me a little bit louder, but I ignored them. What would my son have said? As it was, he called my spanking new blue shades, "those preposterous shades you're wearing". What does he know?

On my home page, you can see me in a straw hat, well here's me in my newest straw hat - and my BLUE shades.

So, what am I trying to say with all this "preposterousness"? Sometimes, you have to change. You have to change even what you write. You may like to write about heroines who have lived a little, have experienced life, but all of a sudden, you feel you'd like to try to write a historical - during the Mexican Revolution - Pancho Villa's time. Why not? Well, yes, you have to do the research, but what writer doesn't like to "do the research"? Or, you may want to write a time travel, set in 1955.

I did just that in my upcoming short story, A LOVE FOR ETERNITY. At the beginning my heroine is 70 years old. She travels back to 1955 to change her destiny where she is 18 again.

Blurb:

Second chances don't happen very often, and this time she vows to stay with the man of her dreams forever. No matter what.

Because a love that transcends time is A Love for Eternity

What has caused you to make changes in your writing and/ or reading?

Whoever makes a comment their name will be put in a drawing and the winner will win a pdf copy of my first book, TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE? which features a heroine who has lived a little yet has never managed to grow anything and who is content with her life the way it is until she meets Matt Cerda in her wilting rose garden.

Please go visit these authors and check their blogs, smell the roses and possibly win a prize tomorrow, June 30:

Amber Leigh Williams

http://www.amberleighwilliams.blogspot.com/

http://authorsstudio.blogspot.com

Betty Hanawa

http://www.bettyhanawa.blogspot.com/

Christine Clemetson

http://christineclemetson.blogspot.com

http://findagreatromance.blogspot.com

Teri Wilson

http://freewebs.com/teriwilson/apps/blog/

Rebecca Savage

http://grgiall.blogspot.com

Hywela Lyn

http://hywelalyn.blogspot.com

Jenn Francesca

http://jennfrancesca.blogspot.com

Joyce Moore

http://joycemoore.blogspot.com

Liana Laverentz

http://lianalaverentz.blogspot.com

Linda Hope Lee

http://LindaHopeLee.blogspot.com

Laurie J. Edwards

http://lje1.wordpress.com

Dawn Wilson

http://noveltrails.blogspot.com

Susan Vaughan

http://plotsandthoughts.blogspot.com

Tanya Hanson

http://tanyahanson.blogspot.com

Tina Gayle

http://tinagayle.blogspot.com

Laura Hogg

http://traveltheages.blogspot.com

Bess McBride

http://willtravelforromance.blogspot.com

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:31:43 -0400

Hello,

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries?Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile, on September 18.

In keeping with this year's theme which is "Getting Involved: Our Families, Our Community, Our Nation", I've invited several authors who have Hispanics/ Latinos as primary or secondary characters to join me in this celebration. I will feature one author and his/ her book individually from September 15 through October 15 which is the end of Hispanic Heritage Month.

You will see the book cover and a blurb about each book. The author will also include a short excerpt and/ or include their answers to the following questions:

Why did you include a Hispanic/ Latino character in your story?

Do you think books should reflect the diversity of communities and the country?

What do you think makes for a compelling story?

Depending on how many responses I get I will also feature a few authors on the blog for the Society of Latino and Hispanic Writers of San Antonio at www.slhwnotes.blogspot.com

All genres will be featured - from historical to contemporary. From YA to Last Rose of Summer, as my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, refers to romances which include a more mature heroine.

Please check back during Hispanic Heritage Month. Pick out books you'd like to read. Throughout the month, I'll have a few surprises.

To begin, I will introduce you to my debut book, TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE? which was released in print on June 27, 2008.

ROSES BLOOM
Gloria Amaya wants her rose garden to flourish. She hires a gardener to help her. When she meets Matt, thoughts of her dying rose bushes wilt to the ground. Immediately attracted to him, she kisses him and melts.

LOVE BLOSSOMS
Matt Cerda knows everything about gardens as he has been working with plants, flowers and other green living things since he was a little boy. However, when he meets Gloria, he realizes that hers is one garden that needs more than a little tender loving care. And the lady could use it, too.

Matters are complicated when her sons and his daughters get in an uproar with Matt and Gloria in the middle of it. Health issues, job insecurities and phobias cause more difficulties for the couple. Can Gloria and Matt weed through all this baggage and allow their love to blossom?

Why did you include a Hispanic/ Latino character in your story?

I'm an American of Mexican descent and I've read books, especially romances, since I was a teenager. The more I read, the more frustrated I became that books didn't include Hispanic/ Latino characters as primary or secondary characters. Oh, they were there! As maids or gardeners who could barely speak English. My story's hero is a gardener, however, he owns his business, he can speak English, and most important of all, he's a hunk!

Do you think books should reflect the diversity of communities and the country? Yes, absolutely! Here is another area where I feel frustration. How can a story be told, which is set in California or Texas, especially, and not include Hispanic/ Latino characters? Our differences make us unique, well-rounded communities.

What do you think makes for a compelling story? A true story. As authors of stories for present and future readers, we have an obligation to write books that truly reflect our families, our communities and our nation.

My Favorite Books of 2007

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 12:29:21 -0500

Hello everyone,

Hope everyone is looking forward to the New Year and has set some goals. Forget about the past, look to the future.

To be a good writer, you also have to read a lot, so this year ...

I started keeping a reading list. I didn't count the short stories from The Wild Rose Press and some stories I read from lit journals. I've impressed myself. Though I'm on a Cozy Mystery loop and some people on there read in the hundreds of books.

However, of those 60 books that I read: my Top Faves are:

Moon Pies and Movies Stars ? Amy Wallen

Mai Tai to Murder ? Candy Calvert

A Legal Affair ? Maureen Smith

Death On A Family Tree ? Patricia Sprinkle (family history mystery)

The Southern Sisters Mysteries by Anne George

Harl Everlasting ? The Scrapbook ? Lynnette Kent

15 Candles anthology ?Quinceaneras ? edited by Adriana Lopez

Harl Everlasting ? Dancing on a Sunday Afternoon ? Linda Cardill

10 Steps to Becoming a Latina ? Lara Rios

Deborah Knott mysteries by Margaret Maron (am on RITUALS OF THE SEASON) ? my fave- High Country Falls ? romance was added, some tension and hints in the previous 8 books

Harl Everlasting ? Upstairs at Miss Hattie?s ? Ken Casper

Shop on Blossom Street ? Debbie Macomber (re-read)

A Good Yarn ? Debbie Macomber

(Macomber's books both about a heroine who had brain cancer in her teens, then a relapse in her 20?s, now in her 30?s she opens a knitting shop and gives classes and meets women with problems and somehow knitting helps; of course, she also meets the man of her dreams)

The Woodcutter?s Gift ? Lupe Ruiz-Flores (children?s book)

These are in the order I read them except for the mysteries, those were intermixed.

I also read some books that were disappointments for various reasons, the writing style, the plot points, the "perfect beauty"of the heroine, etc.

These were:

Keepsake Crimes ? Laura Childs ? (scrapbook mytery)[writing style]

Bloody Waters ? Caroline Garcia-Aguilera [unbelievable plot points]

Death by Darjeeling ? Laura Childs (teashop mystery) (writing style)

Sisters ? Danielle Steele (disappointing,"perfect beauty")

Secret Diaries of Miranda Cheever ? Julia Quinn (disappointing, didn't even finish the last chapter)

Since You?re Leaving Anyway Take Out The Trash ? Dixie Cash (racial slurs)

Strangled Prose ? Joan Hess (a mystery set in a bookstore, put down romance and romance writers as trashy, supposed to be satire, but I didn't like it)

What books did you read? Why? Did you like them? Would you recommend them to others?

Lupe