Let the touring begin…
Luchador
Erin Finnegan
Release date: November 3, 2016
Helllllllloooooooo Erin ;)
Thanks for having me! It’s a relief
(and kind of exciting) to finally be talking at length about Luchador, since I first started working
on it three years ago! I’m really honored by the announcement from PW, and I’m
still trying to form words, other than to say that I’m incredibly grateful.
Luchador is my second book.
My debut, Sotto Voce, is also set in a world that I have a lot of love for—the
independent winemakers of Sonoma County. I’m a winemaker myself, and I am a big
fan of the somewhat smaller and mellower half of Northern California’s wine
country.
Luchador is, no surprise,
set in the world of lucha libre, or Mexican masked wrestling. But don’t be put
off by the sweat, blood and Gatorade. Luchador
is really a coming of age story of a young man who is looking to chart his own
course in a world with set rules. There’s also Lycra.
What is the biggest thing people think they know about
your subject/genre that isn’t so?
People, especially in the US, see
luchadores and lucha libre as some sort of comedy act.
I can understand why this happens.
Lucha libre is largely unfamiliar to US audiences. Their only exposure to it
may be the movie Nacho Libre. It was a sweet movie, but Jack Black making jokes
about his stretchy pants isn’t exactly a nuanced representation of this art
form.
Art form? Why yes, I think lucha is a
form of performance art. It is a form of storytelling, with themes of the good
guys, taking on ruthless villains. The técnicos represent the honesty and hard
work. The rudos, or heels, represent powerful and unethical entities. Lucha has played a role in political
movements in Mexico, particularly the role of exóticos—luchadores who are
typically openly gay and perform as gay characters—in moving Mexico toward
marriage equality.
What are some references you used while writing this
book?
I spent an enormous amount of time
researching lucha libre for this book which not only included attending lucha
events in both the US and Mexico, but reading everything I could get my hands
on. One of the best resources was a PhD thesis on lucha libre, written by an
American woman who studied to be a luchadora. It was a great source of
fundamental information on lucha libre that I kept in mind while writing.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
I’ve enjoyed writing as long as I can
remember, including a grade school reimagining of a children’s book. Who would
have know at the time that it was basically Misty of Chincoteague fan fiction?
Where did that originate? I’m going to credit Dr. Seuss. Those books made words
come to life for me. I still love them, and can still recite Green Eggs and Ham
from memory.
What do your plans for future projects include?
Did I mention how slow I am? My next
project is probably a nap! After that, I have a couple of ideas that are purely
in the stage of “thinking about”.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to
your readers?
I’ve had several early readers tell
me that they never would have considered reading a book about lucha libre until
they read Luchador. (Thankfully, they enjoyed it.) Here’s the thing, Luchador
is more than a book about lucha libre. In fact, I’d argue that it’s not about
lucha at all. The ring is a backdrop, a metaphor, in the larger coming of age
story of Gabriel Romero as he goes on a bit of a quest for his authentic
self—from behind a luchador’s mask.
Blurb:
Each week, Gabriel Romero’s drive to
Sunday mass takes him past “El Ángel,” the golden statue at the heart of Mexico
City that haunts his memories and inspires his future. Spurred by the memory of
his parents, Gabriel is drawn to the secretive world of lucha libre, where
wrestling, performance art and big business collide.
Under the conflicting mentorships of
one of lucha libre’s famed gay exótico wrestlers and an ambitious young
luchador whose star is on the rise, Gabriel must choose between traditions
which ground him but may limit his future, and the lure of sex and success that
may compromise his independence. Surrounded by a makeshift family of wrestlers,
Gabriel charts a course to balance ambition, sexuality and loyalty to find the
future that may have been destined for him since childhood.
Categories: Fiction, Romance,
LGBT, New Adult, M/M
256 pages
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: CB Messer
Excerpt:
The new wrestling troupe was already
assembled when Gabriel arrived: the Bam Brothers, rudos from East L.A. whose
costumes of torn T-shirts and camouflage pants looked more thrasher rock than
lucha libre; CaCa, a mini dressed like a parrot whose gimmick involved fake
bird droppings, and his wrestling partner, Super Hiss, whose Lycra costume was
covered in a snakeskin print. Gabriel’s opponent arrived last, burrowed into a
dark, oversized hooded sweatshirt and warm-ups.
The
wrestler unzipped the sweatshirt and removed the hood to reveal a curvy and
intimidatingly fit woman with dark hair and a rock-solid scowl. Standing about
five-foot five, she had the cut frame of a professional athlete and the
attitude of a CFO.
She
walked up to Gabriel and held out her hand.
“You
must be Ángel,” she said. “I’m Lola, but in the ring, they call me Electra. I’m
your rudo.”
Gabriel
had never seen a luchadora square off one-on-one against a luchador, and the
prospect of fighting a woman left him off balance. His words tripped off his
lips.
“Gabriel,”
he said, taking her hand. “I mean no offense, but there’s got to be a mistake.”
“And
here we go,” Lola huffed. “Are you saying that no one told you I was going to
be your first opponent?”
Ray
stepped behind Gabriel, clasping his shoulders in his hands.
“You
don’t want to hold back against Electra, Gabe. Lola here used to be a serious
boxer—the light welterweight champ.”
“Two
years running,” she said, finishing the sentence.
“She’s
badass, Gabe. She can hold her own.”
Buy the book
It’s all about the author…
Erin Finnegan is a former journalist
and winemaker who lives in the foothills outside Los Angeles. A lifelong sports
fan and occasional sports writer, she has had to dive out of the way of flying
luchadores at matches in both the U.S. and Mexico. Her first novel, Sotto Voce,
received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and a Foreword Reviews
Indiefab Silver Book of the Year Award.
…and stalking them :)
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This tour & must
read brought to you by Interlude Press
Thanks so much for hosting today's stop on the #LUCHAtour! I see the tag and I have to clarify because oh my, it is *one* of PW's best books of 2016 (which still has me kind of speechless). I hope everyone enjoys it. It is much less about lucha than simply set in the world of lucha, the backdrop for a young man trying to chart his own course in a world with strict rules. I'll pop back in later today, so if you have any questions, fire away, fire away!
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