Welcome Guest David Pereda!

Today we’re taking a look at David Pereda who writes for Eternal Press. I asked him some quirky questions and received plenty of interesting answers!
Welcome David! Now for the fun Q & A!

Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: Blue

Q: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
A: Chocolate ice cream mixed with strawberry sherbet on a sugar cone
~ That sounds yummy. I’ll have to try that.

Q: Are you a cat, dog or both kind of person?
A: Both

Q: Would you/have you own(ed) a snake or some other exotic pet?
A: I might, but I haven’t. I once fell in love with a lion cub, but I didn’t have a place to put him.

Q: Which do you prefer: rain or sun & warm weather or cold weather?
A: It depends. On a day-to-day basis, I prefer sunny and warm. But sometimes I like walking out in the rain when the weather is warm; or stay inside when it’s not, reading a good book by the fireplace or making love in a large bed. As for cold, I love nippy mornings in the fall and cold days with plenty of snow when I go skiing. Does that answer your question?
~ Sure does. :)

Q: Are you a morning person or night owl?
A: I’m both. To write, I’m a morning person. My creative juices and writing prowess are better in the morning and tend to fade in the afternoon. To have fun, well, that’s a different story. Can I be an all-day person? Is there such a thing?
~ Why not? Live life to the fullest!

Q: Are they sneakers or tennies?
A: Tennis shoes

Q: Is it soda or pop?
A: Hmmmm. I don’t touch the stuff. I guess I’d call it soda.

Q: What’s your favorite day of the week?
A: It’s a toss up between Friday and Saturday

Q: What’s your favorite number?
A: 19

Q: If you could live anywhere in the universe, where would it be and why?
A: It would be where I live right now. Why? I like Asheville and the people who live here. I have family and friends here. My love is here. If I could magically move everyone with me to any place in the world, I’d consider spending winters in Florida, spring and summer in Asheville, and the fall in Europe – with short trips to Central and South America scattered here and there.

Q: Tell us about one of your books and any interesting details that might concern this story, like you found interesting info when you did research, you wrote it in one night, it was done for a contest, etc.
A: I’d like to tell you a little bit about my latest thriller -- Havana: Killing Castro, winner of four awards including a 2009 Readers Favorite Award.
~ Congrats on the award!
Here’s a brief blurb: When an old fisherman is gunned down on a Mexican beach, prominent Miami surgeon Raymond Peters becomes the prime suspect. The dead fisherman is believed to be Fidel Castro whom Dr. Peters had helped disguise through clandestine plastic surgery on a trip to Cuba two years earlier. But is the body really that of the Cuban leader? In order to save his own life, the beleaguered physician must solve the murder, find the killers and retrieve a mysterious journal. And this has to be done while outwitting a sensual but ruthless assassin named Marcela, sent by Castro’s brother, Raul.
*** And here’s what some reviewers had to say about the book:
"The work is indeed a masterpiece of entertainment…” Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
"The suspense grabs the reader from the beginning and holds it to the end…If you like a good mystery filled with espionage, you will enjoy this book." Readers Favorite
“David Pereda has done it again. In Havana: Killing Castro, he continues intriguing readers with the story begun in Havana: Top Secret.” The Laurel of Asheville ***

The idea for this book came to me one day as I watched my wife – a successful plastic surgeon in her own right who often allowed me to observe her surgeries -- undermining someone’s skin. “What if,” I asked myself, “that person in the operating bed was Fidel Castro being transformed by plastic surgery?” And the Havana Series of thrillers was born.
~ That's an interesting concept and way to receive an idea!

Q: Where can readers learn more about you?
A: They can visit my website – www.davidpereda.com or Google my name on the Internet.
Havana: Killing Castro is available through Eternal Press, www.eternalpress.com, www.amazon.com , www.fictionwise.com , and in selected Asheville bookstores.

~ Thank you for visiting us today, David. It was a pleasure having you as our guest.

Here is an intriguing look into Havana: Killing Castro…

“So what did you want to talk to me about, Raymond?” Pepe stretched on his chair to clink glasses and then took a long pull of his mojito, drinking with his pinkie finger straight up. Raymond shook his head in disbelief as he sipped from his own glass. He put his glass on the table as Pepe gazed at him. “You said it was important.”
“It is.”
“You know who killed Fidel?”
“You mean the fisherman shot dead in Mexico?”
“Yes.” Pepe drained the rest of his drink in one mighty gulp and stared at his empty glass. “Ready for another, Raymond?”
“Not yet.”
“Mind if I have another?”
“Go right ahead.”
“Keep talking.” Pepe leaned forward to refill his glass from the pitcher on the table, settled back in his chair, and took another pull of his drink. “I can drink and listen at the same time. You know who killed the fisherman?”
“I think so.”
“And that’s the reason you’re here?”
“Not really, Pepe. I came to confirm information—and to talk to you in person. As you always say, you never know who’s listening on the phone. By the way, where is Raul?”
“He’s going to join us for dinner tonight. Drink up, Raymond. I’m already finishing my second, and you haven’t really started on your first.”
Raymond sipped his drink thoughtfully. “Remember what you said to me a couple of years ago in Miami?”
“I said many things to you in Miami, Raymond.”
Pepe drained his glass and served himself another. This time he didn’t ask for permission.
“True. I mean, do you remember how you convinced me to come to Cuba with you? You told me that story about us as kids and how you had saved my life?”
“Of course I remember.” Pepe gulped greedily from his third drink.
“Do you? Tell it to me again.”
Raymond laughed amiably. “The same old Pepe, testing me out.”
Pepe laughed too.
“Okay, I’ll tell you—so you’ll know I still remember that story. We were in the park, and I got in a fight with Marcelino. He pulled a knife on me and tripped me. He was about to plunge the knife into me when you knocked him out with a punch. I’d never seen someone hit with such force. Marcelino’s head hit the grass so hard he was out cold several minutes. We were so scared you had killed him, remember?”
“Of course I remember,” Pepe said.
Raymond rose slowly, glowering at Pepe.
“That’s not the story. In the real story, you saved me from drowning in the Almendares River—remember? You’re not Pepe Orozco. And you sure as hell are not Fidel Castro either.” He leaned forward and said in a sharp voice, watching the man’s face blanch, “Who are you?”