Q&A with Arnaldo Lopez, author of Chickenhawk

A native of Brooklyn, Arnaldo Lopez Jr. is a manager for NYC Transit where he won the Distinguished Service Medal for creating NYC Transit's civilian counter-terrorism training course, "Eyes and Ears." His writing credits include articles on Railway Age magazine, Homeland Defense Journal, and Reptile & Amphibian magazine; scripts to Archie and Personality Comics; and short stories to Neo-Opsis magazine, Lost Souls e-zine, and various Sci-Fi and/or horror newsletters and fanzines.  He was also editor of Offworld, a small science fiction magazine that was once chosen as a "Best Bet" by Sci-Fi television. In addition, he was winner of the Emmett Cribbs Award for short fiction.

Thanks for this interview! How long have you been writing?

My love of writing began when I was about 12 years old and discovered a paperback copy of Ernest Hemmingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" in a shed in my grandparent's backyard in Puerto Rico. Hemmingway's words captivated me to the point where I kept trying to copy them in stories of my own.

Tell us about your latest book, Chickenhawk.

Chickenhawk is a gritty, realistic crime fiction novel that showcases New York City's diversity, as well as the dark side of race relations, politics, sexuality, illness, madness, infidelity, religion, and more... it pulls no punches in its depiction of what can drive a man to become a serial killer, and the efforts of the two cops, Eddie Ramos and Tommy Cucitti, that are trying to stop him. Case in point: A former producer of the television show, "Forensic Files" read my novel and said that she found my novel to be the most realistic crime fiction novel she's ever read!

The conference is being held Saturday, October 1st, 2011 in order to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month.  There will be guest speakers, classes, raffles, goodie bags, a free continental breakfast, and vendors.  There are two ways of attending... those with a finished manuscript or self-published book can take a class on how to pitch to an agent, and then actually pitch their work to an actual literary agent there at the conference, or instead, if they don't have a book project ready or are interested in another type of writing, they can attend two other classes we're offering... one on Writer's Rights being given by a member of the NWU (National Writer's Union), and the
other on Creating Believable Characters; being given by me. For more information or to sign up, the link is: http://www.latinoconference.com

The purpose of the conference is to bring Latino(a) writers and authors together for a day of networking, learning, and just having fun.

Authors should leave the conference with a renewed sense of what they wish to accomplish with their writing, a greater knowledge of the inner workings of the publishing world, and a better understanding of the business side of writing. They should also gain some new friends!

Absolutely! Our agents are industry professionals that are ready and willing to listen to the "pitches" of our attendees and determine whether or not they'd be interested in learning more about a manuscript for possible representation!

Readers can find me on Facebook, Authorsden.com, and Goodreads.com under my pen name of Arnold Wolf. The conference also has a presence on Facebook.

My son and I are collaborating on a series of Fantasy novels, and I'm working on a non-fiction reference book about terrorism, a sequel to Chickenhawk, a couple of illustrated children's books, a magical realism book, and several short stories. I'm also trying to pitch a series idea to SyFy television.

Wow, what more is there? Keep reading, keep writing. Ciao!