Happy birthday to my beloved best friend, and hugs for your recent loss!
Excerpt
A car turned the corner with a screeching of tires. With mechanical harmony, another creeching echoed from the opposite direction.
Siren noises combined to wreck the peacefulness and drown my father’s voice as two cars skidded face to face in front of my house. I recognized the blue and white stripes. Car doors opened and slammed. A stream of policemen armed with rifles and machine guns crashed through the garden door and spilled over our garden like insects.
My mother shrieked once. My father stood paralyzed.
I stared in growing disbelief at the bulk who loped into the garden and stopped just outside the bright range of the porch lights. The clean-shaven face, the brittle smile, were familiar to me. So was the voice.
‘Buenas noches,’ Santana said. ‘Lovely night, isn’t it?’
Even with a veneer of politeness, Santana’s voice made the hair in the back of my neck stand on end.
‘What's the meaning of this?’ my father asked, surprising me. ‘Crashing into our house, as if we were common criminals.’
Santana’s stare was cold. ‘Just doing my duty, Señor Rodriguez.’
He turned to me, smoothing out the front of my dinner jacket with his hand. ‘You're very elegant tonight,’ he said. ‘Don’t tell me, let me guess. You were at the Club Profesionales, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, we were,’ my mother said sharply, ‘and we had to leave because of some terrorists. Disgusting. And on his graduation dance night too.’ She glared at Santana.
He gave her a polite smile, more of a smirk, and turned to me.
‘Being in the building as you were, you could have planted that bomb very easily, couldn’t you?’
‘What? You think I…? No!’
‘No what?’
‘No, I couldn’t.’ My heart pounded in my chest. ‘My mother can testify to that.’
My mother had turned a chalky white and her lips were open and round like an O. She seemed at a loss for words.
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About the Author:
David Pereda was born in Havana, Cuba. The award-winning author of seven previous novels, he enjoys crafting political thrillers and edgy mainstream novels with unique characters placed in exotic settings. He has traveled to more than thirty countries and speaks four languages. Before devoting his time solely to writing and teaching, David had a successful international consulting career with global giant Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked with the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru and Qatar, among others.
A member of MENSA, David earned his MBA from Pepperdine University in California. He earned bachelor degrees in English literature and mathematics at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
He lives in artistic Asheville, North Carolina, with his youngest daughter Sophia, where he teaches mathematics and English at the Asheville-Buncombe Community College. He loves sports and is an accomplished competitor in track and show-jumping equestrian events.
Website
Facebook
Twitter
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This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David Pereda will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The tour dates can be found here
by
David Pereda
Blurb:
The year is 1952 and Ramon Rodriguez’s life as a teenager in fun-loving Havana is filled with typical activities and concerns: girls, education, religion, baseball, parties, and hanging out with friends. The country is enjoying a period of prosperity and happiness--until General Batista stages a coup that topples the government and Ramon’s life is flung into chaos.
In a few short years, the carefree fifties morph into a vicious and repressive dictatorship highlighted by corruption, organized gambling, school closures, student demonstrations, police brutality, and assassinations.
As Ramon experiences the thrills of his first romantic relationship, graduates from school, and struggles to plan for an uncertain future, he is forced to make important decisions that may be dangerous to him, his family, his friends, and his girlfriend – the beautiful Sonia -- and could turn deadly.
Excerpt
A car turned the corner with a screeching of tires. With mechanical harmony, another creeching echoed from the opposite direction.
Siren noises combined to wreck the peacefulness and drown my father’s voice as two cars skidded face to face in front of my house. I recognized the blue and white stripes. Car doors opened and slammed. A stream of policemen armed with rifles and machine guns crashed through the garden door and spilled over our garden like insects.
My mother shrieked once. My father stood paralyzed.
I stared in growing disbelief at the bulk who loped into the garden and stopped just outside the bright range of the porch lights. The clean-shaven face, the brittle smile, were familiar to me. So was the voice.
‘Buenas noches,’ Santana said. ‘Lovely night, isn’t it?’
Even with a veneer of politeness, Santana’s voice made the hair in the back of my neck stand on end.
‘What's the meaning of this?’ my father asked, surprising me. ‘Crashing into our house, as if we were common criminals.’
Santana’s stare was cold. ‘Just doing my duty, Señor Rodriguez.’
He turned to me, smoothing out the front of my dinner jacket with his hand. ‘You're very elegant tonight,’ he said. ‘Don’t tell me, let me guess. You were at the Club Profesionales, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, we were,’ my mother said sharply, ‘and we had to leave because of some terrorists. Disgusting. And on his graduation dance night too.’ She glared at Santana.
He gave her a polite smile, more of a smirk, and turned to me.
‘Being in the building as you were, you could have planted that bomb very easily, couldn’t you?’
‘What? You think I…? No!’
‘No what?’
‘No, I couldn’t.’ My heart pounded in my chest. ‘My mother can testify to that.’
My mother had turned a chalky white and her lips were open and round like an O. She seemed at a loss for words.
Buy Links
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
**************************
About the Author:
A member of MENSA, David earned his MBA from Pepperdine University in California. He earned bachelor degrees in English literature and mathematics at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
He lives in artistic Asheville, North Carolina, with his youngest daughter Sophia, where he teaches mathematics and English at the Asheville-Buncombe Community College. He loves sports and is an accomplished competitor in track and show-jumping equestrian events.
Website
**************************
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. David Pereda will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The tour dates can be found here
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for hosting me in your blog today. I'll be checking in and out throughout the day -- before, in-between and after my classes -- to answer questions or respond to comments from your readers about Havana Blues, my next upcoming book to be released in March, or any other topic regarding my writing. I'm looking forward to having a fun day interacting with your readers and with you. Again, my thanks.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed getting to know your book; Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa. Good luck in the drawing
DeleteI liked the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rita. If you have any questions about the book, let me know.
DeleteSounds great.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you think so. Since I'm the author, I'm biased; however, people who know literature have liked it a lot.
DeleteThank you for the tour! Sounds awesome! Thank you for the chance!!💋xoxo🍀
ReplyDeleteKris, good luck in the drawing. I wish everyone could win.
DeleteThanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and commenting, Victoria.
ReplyDeleteAlways a great setting for a book.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great setting, I agree, but those were turbulent years full of conflicting emotions and actions.
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDeleteWho is your favorite author of all time? Thanks for the giveaway. I hope that I win. Bernie Wallace BWallace1980(at)hotmail(d0t)com
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting! Not my normal genre, but definitely has my attention :)
ReplyDelete