I was totally thrilled when Magaly asked if she could borrow my blog to publicise her new ebook AlmaMia Cienfuegos: a Story of Blood, Scars and Nightmares. It is my personal opinion that Magaly is destined to be one of the great writers of our times, as she puts her entire being into every word she writes, and draws on the raw emotion of real life to empower her characters.
AlmaMia Cienfuegos' Mango Tree.
"A few weeks before I decided to share AlmaMia Cienfuegos with the world, I got an email from Gina telling me I was going to get a surprise in the mail. I was super excited. Then I kind of forgot about the message because I had less than three weeks to shape two chapters of a standalone short story, get a cover for it, spread the word about the release, work on final exams and write a few articles that were due in between.
One night, I was sitting in bed studying for a literature final, and exchanging emails with Shelle - wonderful artist and friend. I was telling her I loved how she had illustrated my description of AlmaMia Cienfuegos' cover when my Piano Man walked into the bedroom and handed me the mail. In one of the packages I found this daydream of a tree:
Gina titled the piece "Happy Place & Serenity". I stared at the piece for a long, long, long time. I was mostly enchanted. My dear Gina sent this happy tree, which grows in a warm world of rainbows, a week before she knew anything about AlmaMia's tale.
If you read AlmaMia Cienfuegos: a Story of Blood, Scars and Nightmares, you will see why this tree touched my heart. Actually, some of it can be seen in this excerpt; my main character's safe place is at the top of a Mango tree, overlooking her village.
My own happy place, while growing up in the Dominican Republic, was the top of a tree. I built a platform on three of the highest branches - my brother helped a little - we secured the sides with rope, and the place became my reading haven. My warm place of happiness and serenity; all night, I planned mayhem there too, but that's another post.
My Mango tree sanctuary stayed in the Caribbean after I moved to the United States. I liked it so much I brought it to AlmaMia's world. Gina has given it back to me. Our tree has rooted on top of my antique typewriter. I look at it when I wake up, while I write, before I go off to sleep...and every time, I smile at the fiery rainbow beyond the tree. Don't you just love it when art doesn't just recreate life, but it creates it?
To learn more about AlmaMia Cienfuegos, stop by my writing blog and read an excerpt. For the chance to win 1 0f 13 copies of my e-book leave a comment on this post, telling me about a story that holds a bit of your world.
And to enter AlmaMia's charm bracelet give away, visit the other tour stops and leave comments.
AlmaMia Cienfuegos' Blog Stops
Day 7 –
May 27th
-
AlmaMia
Cienfuegos’ Mango Tree - Daydream
Believer
Magaly
Guerrero writes,
reads, and dreams dark fiction. She is the author of Pagan
Culture, a
blog about everyday life through the eyes of a dark fiction writer. Connect with
her on Facebook,
Twitter
and at www.magalyguerrero.com. "
