Photography: (c) El echo de Valdepeñas.
First article of this week dedicated to independent authors. You have to give them a little space from time to time and today I bring Francisco Hergueta. Writer of The Solana (Ciudad Real), with two self-published books, a bilogy of historical adventures very entertaining starring Ernest Sacromonte, a pirate of the XVI century. They are titled I swear allegiance to you y I swear revenge with the subtitle of The legend of Ernesto Sacromonte.
Francisco Hergueta introduces himself and answers us 10 questions about your experience in the publishing world, their books and authors favorites, their hobbies as a writer and reader and their futures projects and illusions.
Who is Francisco Hergueta?
I was born 36 years ago. I live in La Solana (Ciudad Real), where I work in the family business of the upholstery. Apart from writing I love read, movies and series, I'm a bit of a geek with video games. But I have traded all that for a tadpole that is now one year old. I try to make time for myself, but… what can I say? I love every second I spend with him, so everything else takes a back seat.
As for writing, well I started in the institute. Then I became fond of writing fantasy and erotic stories. I met people with the same tastes in those uncertain worlds of the internet and made great friends who helped me get here. Ernesto Sacromonte and his adventures are a accumulation of all these experiences, including walking around Sevilla with my partner. Now I try to combine all the facets of my life and take time to write.
The legend of Ernesto Sacromonte
I swear allegiance to you
Seville, 1524. After rescuing a slave from the clutches of the fearsome Duke Rodrigo de Alcoza, Ernest Sacromonte, legendary Spanish pirate, is hired by the Venetian merchant Carlo Colucci to captain his new ship: the "Doña Elena". This fact will unleash the wrath of Carlo's daughter, Isabela, who will try by all means to destroy Sacromonte.
In addition, the pirate will have to face the duke's henchmen, Rodrigo de Alcoza, who will try by all means to recover Dana, the stolen slave, submerging both the pirate and his friends in a conspiracy that affects the highest powers of the empire. As if that were not enough, a mysterious man nicknamed "Death”Resurfaces from Sacromonte's past, crying out for revenge.
I swear revenge
10 questions
1. Do you remember the first book you read? And the first story you wrote?
The first books I remember reading were folk tales. My mother has been a member of the Círculo de Lectores for many years and asked my brothers and me for this collection when we were little. The three Little Pigs, Snow White, The brave little tailor, Rapunzel... I didn't have a favorite one, but Dumbo I didn't like it at all. As for the first story I wrote I think it was a made-up continuation of a book I read in the old BUP.
2. What was the first book that struck you and why?
The first book that really impressed me was The cathedral of the sea. Other previous ones could more or less like me, or they could impact me at a specific moment in history, but this one in particular had me in suspense throughout the plot.
Another case is that of a comic, specifically The Killing Joke. It narrates the origins of the Joker and how he confronts Batman. Although I cannot speak of impact, it was a real discovery. I had read some Spanish comics, especially from Mortadelo and Filemon and the hilarious Sacarino buttons, but this one in particular was brutal. You can spend many minutes recreating yourself in each cartoon. Impressive.
3. Who is your favorite writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.
I don't have a favorite writer. I am more than genres, although I have to admit that I have read two books of Agustin Sanchez Vidal (Slave to nobody y The master key) and I love the way he writes. If I had to stay with a writer, it would be him. I think that in literature you are attracted to one or more genres, but it is more difficult for an author to fill you, especially if he plays many styles.
4. What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
Create to Harry Potter. Now seriously, I would have loved to meet two: Don Quixote, for chatting with him and getting to know first-hand that personality that is a mixture of madness, bravery and chivalry, and for asking him what is the place in La Mancha whose name Cervantes does not want to remember. The other character is Justineby the Marquis de Sade.
5. Do you have any hobbies when it comes to writing or reading?
None especially to read, but to write I have to have something in mind: a hood, headphones... I guess I caught it trying to create silence and since then I need something. Mania not highly recommended in summer, but wonderful in winter.
6. And your preferred place and time to do it?
Self-employed and new father. No matter the time, the important thing is to find it. I always write in my room. There is an anarchic order that no one but me understands and that I find comforting.
7. What writer or book has influenced your work as an author?
More than a writer or a book, a genre. The historical. They are the novels that I like the most, although it is not what I have written the most. Without knowing it, they left a good impression for the adventures of Ernesto Sacromonte.
8. Your favorite genres?
Historical, erotic and fantastic. In this order. To write is just the opposite.
9. What are you reading now? And writing?
I'm reading Lolita and I am slowly writing my next novel. Is a erotic novel, current and whose characters are going to have a very strong plot.
10. How do you think the publishing scene is for as many authors as there are or want to publish?
Phew, bad. The panorama is mal. There are many writers, many. And of course, if there are many, there are good and bad. It is pure statistics. The self-publishing It is the output of hundreds of writers who find it impossible to publish with moderately serious publishers and it is also the pool in which moderately serious publishers see which writer has talent (that is, can sell a lot) to publish it. In short: the panorama is screwed up and although there are gems among self-published authors, there is also a lot of straw and it is difficult to find them. Large publishers do not need to risk, just sit back and wait and see what novel uploads on social networks.