1—What is the title of your latest release?
VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE
2—What is the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When two childhood sweethearts, separated by a tragedy for nine years, are thrown together on the road to war, they must overcome past hurts and work together to defend their home from threats both human and supernatural.
3—How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE takes place in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, which is where my mother’s family has hailed from for generations. When brainstorming this book, I originally had only one character from South Texas, but then my brilliant editor suggested setting the whole book in that region because of my family history. All the pieces fell into place after that!
4—Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Nena is hardworking and the kind of person I’d want to be paired up with for a group project, but for a good time? I’d call Néstor any day of the week!
5—What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Nena is determined, sharp-witted, and empathetic. Néstor is decisive, stubborn, and big-hearted.
6—What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned about 1001 new ways to revise! Of all my books, this is the one that changed the most from its original seed to finished novel. I rewrote more than I ever have in the past!
7—Do you edit as you draft or wait until you’re totally done?
I almost always fuss over the first 10k words or so, then draft fast and ugly to the end of the book. Only then do I allow myself to go back and edit! If I write slowly and edit as I go, I’ve learned the hard way that I will never finish that project.
8—What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Too many to choose from! I absolutely love a good cocktail, preferably with mezcal and some heat.
9—Describe your writing space/office!
I recently moved to Seattle and my new office has enormous windows. That part of the house is surrounded by tall trees, which gives it a leafy, treehouse vibe, but my favorite part about it is how I can see the Olympic Mountains! I have huge bookshelves stuffed to the brim(half of our move was book boxes) and a spin bike tucked in a corner—nothing clears my head and boosts morale like a good sweat!
10—Who is an author you admire?
I admire any author who writes while taking care of children, especially small children. I just had my first baby in April and am personally struggling to find balance, but I feel encouraged when I hear the stories of other writers who have pulled it off!
11—Is there a book that changed your life?
I am sure that I read Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits when I was in high school, but I reread it when I was 21 and in a lonely, homesick chapter of my life. It felt like falling through space and landing at my family’s table, surrounded by familiar voices and stories. It felt like coming home.
12—Tell us about when you got “the call” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
I knew that I was making a career shift when my agent and I went on submission with my debut, The Hacienda. I was not prepared for how different an experience it would be. Previously, we had struck out on sub with two YA fantasy manuscripts; this time, there was a flurry of editorial interest and calls within days of going on sub. Before the week was out, my agent was arranging an auction. The whiplash finally stilled when the offers came in one gray, quiet day in October 2020. I remember seeing the offer from Berkley hit my inbox and immediately bursting into tears, because I knew it was the one.
13—What’s your favorite Genre to read?
I am a deeply moody reader, but the one mainstay has always been fantasy of all stripes. YA swords and sorcery fantasy, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, slipstream and fabulism… I love it all.
14—What’s your favorite movie?
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but the one movie I will rewatch with my siblings until the cows come home is The Princess Bride.
15—What is your favorite season?
Autumn! No contest. I’m a spooky season girlie to the bone.
16—How do you like you celebrate your birthday?
My dream birthday celebration involves good food and wine and my family and friends crowded around my dining room table, all shouting and laughing. That’s my happy place.
17—What’s a recent tv show /movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I absolutely adored Victor Lavalle’s LONE WOMEN. The novel is a historical horror Western with a BIPOC lead, so I think it’s obvious why I’d dig the premise, but the execution? It’s close to flawless. It’s far and away the best horror I’ve read in years!
18—What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
So hard to choose! I absolutely love Mexican cuisine from all regions, but especially cochinita pibil from the Yucatán. Good cochinita pibil is impossible to find in Seattle, so I guess I’ll just have to hop on a plane to track some down!
19—What do you do when you have free time?
Free time? With a newborn? (Cue hysterical laughter.) Jokes aside, I’m trying to respect the fact that I’ve entered uncharted waters in my family and writing life, so I use my free time to refill the creative well. Some days, that means passing out on the couch while the baby naps. Other days, it means bingeing my favorite podcasts (highly recommend Snap Judgement Presents: Spooked!) while walking the dog. Sometimes, I actually write. Whatever the day requires.
20—What can readers expect from you next?
My short story “There Are No Monsters on Rancho Buenavista” was selected by editor R.F. Kuang to appear in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023, which releases October 2023! As for future novels, I have some things that I’m dying to announce, but can’t just yet! I can promise this, though: readers can expect hauntings, heartbreak, and a taste of the darker side of history.
Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.
Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.
Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.
When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.
And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.
Paranormal Historical [Berkley, On Sale: August 15, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593436721 / ]
Isabel Cañas is a Mexican-American speculative fiction writer. After having lived in Mexico, Scotland, Egypt, and Turkey, among other places, she has settled (for now) in New York City, where she works on her PhD dissertation in medieval Islamic literature and writes fiction inspired by her research and her heritage.
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