Fall update: new book! local event! new publishing venture!

Hello folks!

Hope this fall is treating you and your loved ones well, or as well as possible in these challenging times.

I’m pleased to report three pieces of good news: I have a new book out! We’re having a free event this weekend! And I’ve become a publisher of Climate Justice Fiction. All the info is below:

I’m thrilled that my first middle grade novel, UNDERCOVER LATINA, came out on 10/11 from Candlewick Press.

This debut in a teen spy girl series takes on white nationalist terrorism…but in a fun way! Fourteen-year-old Andréa Hernández-Baldoquín hails from a family of spies working for the Factory, an international organization dedicated to protecting people of color. For her first solo mission, Andréa straightens her hair and goes undercover as Andrea Burke, a white girl, to befriend the estranged son of a dangerous white supremacist. In addition to her Factory training, the assignment calls for a deep dive into the son’s interests–comic books and gaming–all while taking care not to speak Spanish and blow her family’s cover. But it’s hard to hide who you really are, especially when you develop a crush on your target’s Latino best friend. Can Andréa keep her head, her geek cred, and her code-switching on track to trap a terrorist?

Get your copy today! Online at Bookshop. Audiobook at LibroFM. Or come to our event tomorrow!

On Saturday, 10/22 at 2pm, I will be teaming up with the amazing Aida Salazar to share from both our books at the Fruitvale Branch of the Oakland Public library. Free parking in the bart lot. Register here!

My final update is that–in addition to my various books–I’m starting a climate justice publishing venture, Fighting Chance Books, an imprint of She Writes Press!

In 2023, we will begin publishing books by authors of all genders about people organizing collectively to fight the climate crisis. Scientists tell us that we only have a few years to make the sweeping changes that will be needed to save the planet. I am currently acquiring books that tell the story of us–as a collective–stepping up and meeting that challenge for the win.  The literature that gets classified as “climate fiction” is so often either dystopic or literary fiction that doesn’t have mass appeal. I am interested in disrupting the inaccurate narrative that it’s too late to save the planet and the preoccupation with stories that take place after we fail in this moment. Failure is optional. We will be publishing stories of collective action for the win as a way of supporting the movements that are demanding the necessary changes for the good of all humanity. Have a novel you wanna pitch me? Check out our website!