Zoraida Córdova's Blog: Zoraida Says, page 3

Writing Baddies, Comics, & Other Updates

We meet again. ¿Como estas?

I’ve been fairly social this past month. Now more than ever, it’s important to be in community with each other. The other night I was at an author drink’s night here in NYC. The usual bar we go to ended up being shut down for business. It was hard for it not to feel like some symbol from the universe. Some sort of bygone era. Changing times. Equally as symbolic, we went across the street to a new spot and had a lovely time.

The night flew by, as did most of January. I have been working on that secret personal thing I’ll eventually talk about. It has gutted my writing schedule, which is frustrating, but there’s nothing I can do but pivot. I keep using that word. Talking to writers about being frustrated in [Genre TK] “pivot to [New Genre TK].” Talking to myself in the mornings when I want to throw in the towel for whatever new disappointment the publishing industry comes up with next. Pivot!

I know, sometimes there’s nowhere to go or pivot. This business makes you feel like you’re one FRIENDS rerun away from a mental breakdown. One of my work wives and favorite humans, Adriana Herrera found out that Barnes & Nobles isn’t going to carry her historical romance, A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke. It’s fucking sexy and follows a rebellious Afro-Latina doctor and the rakish Duke who would give up everything to be with her. It is ROMANCE. Publisher’s Weekly literally said: “A female doctor in 1880s Paris becomes entangled with a duke in Herrera’s breathless final Las Léonas romance…Herrera infuses their romance with her trademark sensuality while using their story to probe themes of racism, sexism, and abortion access. This is a worthy finale.”

Adriana has literally done everything authors are supposed to do. She’s had her covers completely changed “for the market.” She meets her deadlines and She’s uncompromising in her vision to write about Black Latinas and marginalized folks getting HEAs. She’d going on her first ever tour. And yet? Barnes & Noble comes to stomp on her progress.

This whole thing started with me leading up to talk about villains, but maybe the way publishing treats my friends is MY villain origin story. Anyway, if you love romance and historical or just want to support a writer doing something special, pick up the book from an independent book store when it comes out tomorrow!

SO, VILLAINS. I swear I had a point.

I’m juggling lots of projects, including my big edit for Rebel Angels. Every time I work on a book I tell myself it has to be the best version of me. Sure, this comes with some pressure, but I love the pressure of the deadline. Now that I know deadlines can shift and I have an agent I’m comfortable openly communicating, I don’t have as much of the negative part of stress. Of course, I don’t WANT to move by deadline, or feel like I’m letting my team down. I just know I have a safe place to land. So what I’m left with is the deadline adrenaline and pressure. Can I really “be all you can be” myself into a novel that sticks the landing? What does the best version of me even look like? I don’t think I will ever get there. Writing is not something I want to master because then it means I’m done learning. And I love to learn.

That brings be back, once again, to villains (specifically in fantasy and science fiction). As I’m trying to write Best Book Ever, I find myself revisiting my old work. I am proud of all my books, but I think villains are my weakness. Not because I fall in love with them but because in the past, I have punked out in how bad they can be. I know I have to give them motivation and dimension, but I struggle with villainy in general. Maybe I’m too focused on heroes. On the people who want to save the world. On the ones who are supposed to be perfect. The Superman. The Captain America.

This is crazy pants because I LOVE a well done baddie. I love Cardan and the Darkling and Regina from OUAT. Literally one of my favorite books last year was Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan, and I think it was in part because it was 1) hilarious and 2) deeply layered. We love a well done baddie. I also don’t think that the answer to this is how hot the bad guy is, like those Blood Bunnies, (is that what they’re called?), who love hot serial killers. No judgement. I’m not that horny. (Or maybe just horny for a monster with a heart of gold.)

Why do I struggle with this? Back in the Harry Potter craze, I was never interested in the Slytherin/Malfoys. In Star Wars, I truly believe in the Rebellion and Resistance, even though light and dark are binaries. Maybe, deep deep down, I get stuck thinking about who gets to be a villain in the real world, and who gets to be one in fiction. Aside from superior aesthetics, what am I rooting for? What does it mean to do something heinous and cruel? What does it mean to take a life? What does it mean to destroy? I come from communities that are currently villainized by the government. The history of my ancestors is full of true terrors, so maybe I am holding back in some way. Or maybe I’m over analyzing something simple I can fix with craft. The answer isn’t as straightforward.

I’m not sure, but I am currently trying to untangle this knot within the bounds of fiction.

Perhaps it’s also a side effect of getting older. I wrote my first urban fantasy between the ages of 20-24. I didn’t know anything about anything, so good and evil was a binary. Now I want to dig deeper into that delicious gray area.

I want a hero who is dipped in the “darkness” the way Achilles was plunged into the river Styx by his ankle to shed his mortality. I want the weakness to be all the good, whatever way it manifests. I want to sit and examine this gray area. Admitting to myself that I have punked out with some villains, is helping me shape a lot of the action in Rebel Angels, and other projects I’m working on. I am also remembering the best parts I love about this ruinous process. When I was writing The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina I kept telling myself Dig deeper. Go there. Take a swing, even if it doesn’t work. So I’m going to listen to myself, for once, and dig deeper, go there, take a swing with these complicated and unruly characters I’m trying to shape. I want to believe that’s true for all of us in this on-going writer journey.

In other release news, I published my first ever Star Wars comic! Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III Annual

✨ I got to write a one shot called THE ADVENTURES OF CHURO THE HUTT AND THE HEART OF EROUDAC. It’s in the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Phase III Annual and includes some brilliant stories from The high Republic authors. In mine my best lil’ Hutt goes on an adventure to the planet Eroudac because he wants to SAVE THE GALAXY. See? Heroes.

If you have read any of my STAR WARS books, then you’ve heard this world mentioned before. It’s topography is inspired by South America 🇪🇨, but by way of A Galaxy Far Far Away.

It’s illustrated by the excellent @juansamuart. Letters by Comiccraft’s Tyler Smith and Bobby Bradford.

>>This anthology issue collects five tales of Republic bravery and Nihil treachery from across the galaxy! Featuring Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh, Jedi Younglings Jon, Bree, and Toko, Churo the Hutt, the sly Nihil Driggit, and the sinister Baron Boolan as they navigate the perils of the impending Battle of Eriadu! Brought to you by some of the most influential creators of the High Republic saga, including @justina.ireland, @crashwong , @cavanscottwriter, meeee, and @charlesdsoule and Rosemary Soule! • Illustrated by fan-favorite artists Liana Kangas, Nick Brokenshire, Andy Duggan, My girl @dianasousaart on some colors, and more!

I went to Forbidden Planet NYC with my friends and we each got a copy. I hope you do too!

Speaking of launches. Here’s a rewind to the first day of the rest of my life. (Que dramatica.) Making slow but steady progress on WIPs. Wrote a weird short story for a Latinx horror anthology edited by .

Speaking of villains, I am deep in a Dexter first-timer binge and I need to write about it soon. Also, went to watch my brother play live (check out his new song!), saw my agent, celebrated Little Ukrainian Christmas hosted by my bestie and had delicious horseradish vodka shots. Forgot to take a lot of photos at other events like the SCBWI party, where I bumped into my anthology editors for the Untold Legends series! [pictured below].

This is a long one. Thank you for reading. Let me know if there’s any writing or publishing topic you’d like to see from me in the next newsletter. This month’s fiction in The Midpoint #2 will be some monster romance. Definitely another venue for me to explore my dark side.

Love, love.

'The Midpoint' #1 - Novelizing a short story

Welcome to THE MIDPOINT. This is my monthly series in which I will share original fiction, including snippets from what I’m working on, genres I want to experiment with, and more.

This month, I want to talk about novelizing a short story. I love a short story, even though I don’t write them as often as I used to. When I was a teen writer, and then in college, this was the way to get your feet wet and experiment with voice. On an episode of Deadline City, the podcast I used to host with Dhonielle Clayton (one day we’ll bring it back!?) we talked about short stories. It’s been a while, but I think I said something like, “a short story is a a slice of a pie. A novel is the whole pie.”

In hindsight, this no longer feels as true. Not always. In my experience writing (mostly Young Adult) short stories, the perception is that this scene can be a novel, but not every moment can go on for 323 pages. Some moments are simply that, moments. Readers in YA and adult Romance in particularly are the ones who leave comments like, “this needs to be a whole novel!” “two stars because it was only 15 pages long.” Or something like that. Some moments are simply that, moments and I’d like to start thinking how to write more of these pieces of flash fiction.

Heh, even calling it a “piece” of something feels like it should be part of a bigger whole. Maybe it’s me, I’m the whole of it.

The first instance in which I novelized something was when I wrote The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. The original was called “Divine are the Stars” and it was published in Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft. It followed a young woman named Marimar Montoya. (For the Millenial Latinas, yes, she was named after Thalia’s character in the telenovela Mari Mar.) My Marimar Montoya was returning home with her cousin to witness her grandmother’s passing. I started with an image: A woman transforming into a tree.

My first editor at Atria bought an idea of a novelization. And let me tell you, it was hard to do. I knew I wanted to expand on this moment, but what if it was just a moment? Instead, it became like a bread starter, this mother dough blob of promise. (I am not a bread baker so wtf am I even talking about.) What followed was. figuring out where the story was going and where it came from. I zoomed out, not just in the scope of the setting, but through the lives of every character. It evolved from the first 15 pages of text. Character names changed, the setting changed completely, new timelines were required, and by the end of it, it felt like an entirely different entity.

Pinterest vibes

This is my most successful novel, and so it worked. I don’t think I could do this for every short story I’ve published. They don’t all need it. But there is one that I keep thinking about after its 2022 publication in Reclaim the Stars (I really like stars okay?) an anthology I edited. This story, unlike Orquídea, isn’t an idea that evolves into a different shape. Instead, it goes back to my first metaphor. It’s actually a slice of the pie. The biggest and only real change is character names. Maybe I had the world building more solidified it. Maybe it was less vibes. Maybe I became a stronger writer during the four year gap in which these two anthologies were released. Whatever it was, I put together the first few chapters and a proposal, which is out on submission right now with editors. It’s crossover fantasy. A gender-bent Hades & Persephone by way of a South American inspired kingdom. A farm boy willing to unleash an ancient darkness, all for true love. The short story is a condensed version of parts of chapter 1 and what is now Act II-part I, so I was able to fill in the blanks. To be honest, my short story clocked in at 15,000 words and my editor helped me trim it so it felt like that slice.

I want to share with you some (a prologue and two chapters) of what this story is now. But first, some vibes and house keeping.

I’m running a promo on my monthly fiction, so support if you can. It’s all appreciated. February’s THE MIDPOINT will feature a monster romance.

A serial monster fucker romance…

Now…to this month’s fiction.

TAME THE WICKED NIGHT

BOOK 1

by

Zoraida Córdova

SUMMARY: A gender-bent Hades & Persephone meets The Princess Bride. When twenty-year-old Leonidas Saturnelio offends rejects a marriage alliance from a powerful family, he must set off on a quest known as “taming the wicked night,” to restore honor to his family. The quest requires him to bring back the head of a mythical beast, something no one has returned from—dead or alive.

PROLOGUE

This isn’t the story of war, though the kingdom of Lutríste has been clashing on some distant border for decades with no signs of stopping. Nor is it the story of the worst drought ever experienced by the provincial town of San Miguel de las Palmas, though it does play a part in the events. No, this is the story about the boy who would unleash an ancient power for the desperate sin of true love.

I was that boy.

My name is Leonidas Saturnelio and I am to be executed at dawn. This is my confession.

ONE

Leonidas

I have a collection of bad days, but on occasion, I’ve had a few bad years. There was my eldest sister’s wedding day, when I vomited all over her dress. In my defense, I was merely ten months old, but I’ve heard about that incident going on twenty-one years. There was the day my classmates stole my clothes while I swam in the lake, which might have been a hilarious prank if I hadn’t had to walk, naked, through the town square, all the way home. Then there was the entire year I turned fifteen, followed by my disastrous courtship of Rosalinda Nuñez. Now, my twenty-first year could go either way. Time will tell, though I may be running out of it.

I’d like to make it clear that I did try to have good days. (Who wants the opposite?) So when it was my turn to work my family’s farm stall on the eve before the Feast of San Mercurio, I hoped, at the very least, for an uneventful one.

The market was empty while every good citizen sat through a long afternoon sermon in the holy cathedral. Each family in our parish was required to send at minimum one person to mass or draw notice from the deacons who served the High Priest. My sister Marcella represented the Saturnelios that weekend, while our parents ran the household in preparation for the following day’s festivities. Though I would much have preferred sweating and kneeling on a wooden pew in reverent silence than making small talk with the whole town.

As it had for three hundred and ninety-nine years, the feast heralded the beginning of spring and consumed every aspect of life in our town. For days leading up to it, the market square overflowed with decadent bouquets and gas lamps strung in magnificent arches. Tourists from all over the kingdom descended on San Miguel de las Palmas to buy artisanal glass baubles, glittering gems, fine leather sandals, lace hand-made by the cloistered nuns in the Order of Perpetual Mercy. Revelers queued up for local goat stew said to cure all ailments, gorged themselves on buttery caramel, and downed vials of our famed burnt rum. More betrothals were announced on record than any other day of the year, and the maternity ward always prepared for overcrowding in exactly nine months.

The quatercentenary meant every extravagance would be quadrupled accordingly, and so would every family’s yearly tithe. But the drought had ravaged through every corner of the Kingdom of Lutríste going on two years, forcing many stalls and shops, restaurants and cantinas to shutter. Even luceres mass had low attendance as families risked moving closer to the capital citadel for work, despite its proximity to the front lines. As fortune would have it, my family’s stall was open because despite the scorching sun, and lack of rainfall, our farm thrived. Our trees were always in bloom, our grass never yellowed, our crops never spoiled, and our well spring never dried out. It was as if by a miracle, but my family’s legend told us we were blessed by the saint himself.

As the cathedral bells signaled the middle of the day, and end of mass, the gilded doors opened to let out the parishioners. I readied for the oncoming rush by finishing my tepid, bitter cafecito. I tucked my tunic into the waistband of my linen trousers and straightened my leather suspenders. I finger combed my black waves, damp from the heat, before plopping my wide-brim straw hat back on. Then I tossed my pile of orange peels on the cobblestones as a snack for my helper—Pulga the Immortal—my scruffy goat, then faced my first customer of the afternoon.

“Buen dia, Leonidas!” Don Teodoro shouted, plopping his basket down between us, loaded full of fruits and a few heads of purple corn. He was deaf in one ear, from his turn at the draft. Thin scars spread from his ear like an intricate spider web against his bronze, brown skin. He jabbed at his hip and said, “Haven’t seen you were yay tall. Shot up like a palm tree, didn’t you?”

I had, in fact, seen him at luceres mass the previous week, but still, I humored him, and accepted the handful of sucres he handed me. “Just trying to catch up to you, señor.”

“Oh, you’ll have a crackin’ good time tomorrow night, I bet.” He wagged an arthritis-swollen finger at me, and smirked like we were in on the same joke. “Take it from me, take a step back before you jump into marriage.”

“I’d have much to think of before jumping anywhere,” I said, and handed him his wicker basket back. The season made everyone, even old veterans, speculate about the impending matches coming up. No one had to worry on my part. I’d proposed to one person two years before, and after quite the public rejection, I was not in a rush to try again…

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Defying gravity, and the catharsis of Paul Mescal's thighs

Like many of us, I’ve been ready for the year to end since the night of the election. That feels both very dramatic and very (US)American. This idea that I can speed up time simply because something I hated happened because the world revolves around me. But, also like many of us, I’ve had a hard time feeling creative for the last month. I want to write. The words are in my head but I can’t get them out. I’ve kept myself busy with everything I could think of: redecorating my apartment, culling books I’ll never get to, a personal project that has nothing to do with publishing, visiting friends and family, and watching movies. All of this, and I could not get my creative spark back. That is…until a couple of days ago when I did a double feature of Wicked and Gladiator II.

This is not to say it’s all 5k word days. Or that I’m back to my old self. There’s more than the election in my life. Some annoying health stuff. A project I’ve been working on for the last year. Dating misadventures. Waiting on edits for my Angel Book. These things might also have something to do with the dimming of my creative spark.

Somewhere between Gladiator II and leaving the theater at midnight after Wicked, I rushed to write. In my notebook. By hand. I think these are some of the reasons behind it:

Gladiator II was surprising. I honestly have little memory of the first movie other than handsome Russel Crowe. I was excited for Gladiator II because I love Pedro Pascal. He was wonderful. Nuanced and complicated and tragic. He was fighting for his country against tyrannical ginger twins after being tired of being an agent of death. Then there was Paul Mescal’s character. The echoes of the film are truly beautiful: Hanno sifting grain early on and then Hanno sifting sand in the arena pit. His threadbare tunic is later on replaced by his {redacted} armor. Hanno and Acacius (Pedrito) are both up against an empire but in two very different ways. Acacius is idealistic but ready for revolt. Hanno is a reluctant hero who has to put idealism into action. Yes, I am weary of women’s death’s used to further the male hero’s emotional plot, and the true villain’s meta-narrative needed more development. But, I still felt a wide range of emotions.

Paul Mescal has a very deep, quiet strength and rage that fuels him. He steals every scene with his steady stares but manages to never be surly. Angry, murderous, yes, but not surly. He’s lost everyone he loves and all he has is the memory of a country that was never truly his, but now he must fight for it. He loses everything except who he is. Also, this DP/cinematographer knew what I was there for, framing his thigh tan in ways that felt erotic. EROTIC. So, yes, freedom and heroism, but also, THIGHS and tragic brown eyes. There is zero part of me looking for historical accuracy in Roman history, but I love that everything was a feast for the senses. Blood, sweat, and tears. I left feeling a sense of catharsis as if I had been the one fighting because “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” F*ck yes!

FOUR AND A HALF CHAOS STARS. ✨✨✨✨

Now, after dinner with family and friends, we returned to the theater to watch Wicked. The first time I saw it was circa 2010. Every now and then when I get tipsy and YouTube “best broadway songs” videos (do not judge me bro) and listen to Idina Menzel absolutely destroy “Defying Gravity.” I went into Wicked knowing I love the soundtrack, have never finished the Gregory Maguire novel, and that Jon Chu does not miss. {I loved In the Heights, so haters can eat it.} I walked out of it crying, shaking, screaming, throwing up (my feelings). Just like Gladiator II, this movie is also full of rage. I felt choked up every time the notion of being “different” was mentioned. We are in a volatile time where trans & queer kids are under attack, where Texas is allowing Christian doctrine to be taught in a complete defiance of our separation of church & state, local governments are censoring books and authors and here the subplot is A PLOT TO CAGE ALL THE ANIMALS AND TAKE AWAY THEIR VOICES AND ERASE THEIR HISTORY. It might feel on the nose if this hadn’t been in the novel the movie and musical are based on. Cynthia Erivo takes the role of Elphaba to another level. She and Paul Mescal have the same thoughtful stares, like they’re watching the world wondering how they can be in it while still being incredibly apart from it. Until, they accept their parts of the story. A story, which is ultimately about the ways good and evil are portrayed. A “normal” exterior is good. A green one is evil. Meanwhile, the normie Ga-linda and her group of mean gworls are truly heinous to Elphaba. It feels surreal that we cannot escape moments like this in fiction—the moment where we know the heroine is going to get viciously, cruelly punked by hateful “friends.” I wish I could say we are socially better or have outgrown this, but it isn’t. Ariana Grande is believable and utterly charming as a privileged, perfect blonde foil. She is calculating, and virtue signals while ultimately doing everything she can to uphold her status quo, which benefits her. I loved her version of Glinda, and her comedic timing is *chef’s kiss*

Speaking of kisses. I haven’t even mentioned what a bisexual dreamboat Jonathan Bailey is as Fiyero. I’ve only seen him in Bridgerton, and it took me a season to warm up to his Anthony, just because Anthony is so cold. But by season 2, I would punch Boq the Munchkin for this man. His ‘Dancing Through Life’ was a masterpiece. I didn’t know he could dance like that. When he first started singing, I thought of James Marsden, especially in Enchanted.

This moment is going to live rent-free in my head.

The final number felt worth the TWO HOUR AND FORTY minute movie. Every second of it.

FIVE CHAOS STARS. ✨✨✨✨

Both of these movies ended with revolt and uprising and characters who become who they were meant to be. I needed to be reminded of some of that hope.

If you’ve watched them, let me know! See you next month where I’ll (hopefully) have all my favorite things of the year, plus end of the year updates. For now, I’ll go put this fresh creative spark do you, and hope you are finding your own wherever possible.

✨Join me in the land of Faerie

Wonder what it’s like editing three anthologies with your bestie?

In 2020, while floating in a Gulf Coast pool, Natalie C. Parker and I envisioned what would eventually become Vampires Never Get Old.

Our goal was to take familiar magical beings and give them a global twist. We wanted to see vampires from different points of view. Bipoc, queer, disabled. And still, with all the mystery and enchantment that has captured our imaginations for centuries.

Next came Mermaids Never Drown and Faeries Never Lie, which launches today.

The best part about working on an anthology is getting to read the work of authors you admire. People often ask us how we choose, or how we come up with our roster. To be honest, we approach authors with a specific prompt. What is your version of vampires? What do your mermaids look like? What is your rendition of faeries? I’m so happy to say that every author delivers.

Don’t miss the companion podcast for exclusive behind-the-scenes chat with anthology authors!

These collections are special to me simply because I got to spend so much time editing, and writing with Natalie. She’s incredibly hard-working and ambitious and doesn’t get enough credit for all she does. If you’ve read our other anthos, you might be surprised that we wrote separate stories for Faeries. We’d always planned on it, but things happen. It was very weird not seeing Natalie in our shared drafts working on her side of the story, but I hope you enjoy our individual entries.

In this collection, you’ll find a little bit of everything: many bargains, wild hunts, historical and contemporary settings, secondary worlds, a touch of horror, and original mythologies. Plus! Dhonielle Clayton returns to her gorgeous version of New Orleans but from a faerie POV. Anna-Marie McLemore gives us a peak into a fan-favorite character from their Venom & Vow novel, co-written with their husband Elliott. And the Queen of Faerie herself, Holly Black, wrote a short story set in the Folk of the Air world!

Welcome to our realm of magic and mischief. I hope you pick up your copy from your favorite bookshop and don’t forget to claim your pre-order prizes here. We are having a launch party on October 5th in NYC. RSVP now to guarantee your seat. There will be tarot readings, goodies and treats, and a signing with seven of the contributors!

Thank you, always, for reading and sharing.

New Book Tuesday! Star Wars & More...

I have a book out today! Welcome to the world Beware the Nameless. Meet my kids and space monsters! Don’t worry, the Nameless just want to cuddle and play hide and seek.

This is my 23rd novel out in the world, but that shiny new feeling never gets old. Every book is special for different reasons. Sometimes it’s because I’m trying something new. Sometimes it’s because I’m writing in a world that I love. Sometimes it’s because the deadline killed me, and I am a celebratory ghost. I never want to take this for granted again.

Don’t forget to grab your copy from your local bookshop or wherever books are sold!

B&N * .org * (signed!)

Some of my friends have books out today too!

Come Out Come Out is such a stellar horror. Don’t take my word for it. Look at all this praise! I wish my blurb could have been “the first horror novel that made me cry with emotion at the end!” And she’d in Lawrence, Kansas celebrating her launch on Wednesday the 28th. If you go, tell her “ZORAIDA SAYS HI EXCLAMATION POINT.”

Long Live Evil is probably going to be my favorite fantasy novel in 2024! It has voice, humor, epic fantasy, and all the feels! It takes all the familiar tropes we know about villains and what makes a villain/hero and turns it on its head with irreverently wicked humor. Highly recommend the audio. Sarah is coming all the way from Ireland, so if she’d in a city near you, save the date in September!

If you’re in Kansas City, go celebrate this wine-infused adult debut by Adib Khorram!

Prince of the Palisades came out last week, but it is still a delight! YA romance by Julian Winters. Julian wrote a short story in my co-edited anthology Mermaids Never Drown. All of his works feels like freshly baked cookies—warm, sweet, and the perfect treat.

See you next time!

Churo the Hutt is almost here!

It’s time for Churo the Hutt to make his debut! My next novel is Star Wars: The High Republic: Beware the Nameless. It’s the companion novel, and next up in the middle grade novels of Phase III of our High Reblic series. I’m smack in the middle, which means we’re getting close to the end of the incredible story that began with Light of the Jedi. Fear not…the galaxy is a big place.

Right now, if you need a High Republic primer, check out this post from StarWars.com

One of the questions I get asked asked most often is “What does it feel like to write for Star Wars?” 

The honest answer? It still feels surreal in a way I can’t always articulate. When I’m nervous during an interview, the first thing that comes to mind is always “oh my gosh I’m so lucky” or “It feels amazing what else can I say?” These are a little canned, but honest. I feel lucky. It feels amazing. But I also know that luck is a sprinkling factor, because I also work really hard and think deeply about the characters that I write. I agonize over sentences and decisions in the story and the limits of what makes it “feel” Star Wars or not. So I know it’s not just luck, but it still feels amazing.

My job is describing feelings and putting them on the page, so why is this one any different? I understand and know that this galaxy isn’t just home to me and my formative memories from childhood. I see the endless possibilities and stories that are actively being discovered and told. I think we all feel so much about Star Wars, which is why everyone has their own hot take. I can only focus on mine, which goes:

Writing for Star Wars feels like holding your breath when that yellow text starts scrolling against the pinpricks of stars. Writing for Star Wars feels like reaching back into a version of myself that will be forever young. *Queue the song*. Writing for Star Wars feels like having some pretty damn good writers around me to keep me sharp because I want to be just as good. Writing for Star Wars feels like chaos and hope and sleepless nights at my desk, and thirteen empty coffee cups fueling months of deadlining. Writing for Star Wars feels like coming home.

This has been the opportunity of a lifetime, and I am so deeply excited for this next book. 

Beware the Nameless is about a group of kids surviving against a threat much bigger than themselves. There are hard lessons, big emotions, laughs, lots of lightsaber action, new planets to explore. But above all, this book is about friendship. It’s about finding people who understand you and are there by your side when things get rough. While I was writing this for 11-year-old I once was, I think kids and adults alike will find something for them.

Art: Petur Antonsson

Here’s a little bit more about Beware the Nameless coming August 27th, 2024 in ebook and print. 

The High Republic continues in this fast-paced adventure that picks up from Escape from Valo , perfect for fans of sci-fi action. Think Sailor Moon meets Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting by way of Star Wars . . . with a dash of Last Kids on Earth !

The fearsome Nihil continue to spread chaos inside the Occlusion Zone, aided by the mysterious creatures called the Nameless that feed on the Force itself. When the people of an embattled world plead for help with the Nihil threat, a team of both Republic Defense Coalition members and Jedi—including Ram Jomaram—is sent to their aid.

The team soon discovers that their ship contains four stowaways—Jedi younglings Kildo, TepTep, and Jamil, and Zenny Greylark, a senator’s daughter determined to find her sister. When a distress call comes in from a nearby planet, Jedi Master Adi-Li Carro agrees to take the stowaways to investigate. There, they will encounter a young Hutt on a mission, a stranger with mysterious motives, and the creatures they fear the most. . . .

This next installment in the New York Times best-selling series is written by award-winning author Zoraida Córdova and features six full-color pages of art!

Pre-order from one of my favorite bookstores in Queens, NY. If you’re in New York City, we’re having my launch at World’s Borough Book Store on August 31st, 2024 at 3PM, where i’ll also be personalizing online orders! There will be a raffle for a Hasbro lightsaber! There will be free High Repulic posters for all attendees (while supplies last). I hope to see you then! 

For the aspiring writers, I’m teaching a course in a couple of weeks at THE WRITER’S CONSEVATORY. It’s all virtual, and feels like a masterclass on writing. My class is going to focus on world-building and everything that goes into creating a fantasy that is unique to the story in your mind. Read more and sign up here.

Summer Romances, Or a Little Mermaid retelling, a bruja novella and a santa erotica walk into a romance conference

“She was Ariel del Mar, and her whole life was waiting.” This is how chapter 1 of Kiss the Girl, my modern-day remix of Disney’s The Little Mermaid ends. I love this book. I was ~*meant*~ to write this book, no pun intended. 

Writing this book was my homage to a story that has meant so much to me. I could ramble about how Ariel does make choices, and her bargain was for her own freedom and not just a man, and how Eric is a himbo, but unlike other princes, he has my favorite dialogue and I love him. But I’ll spare you. Instead, you can read it in Kiss the Girl. 

A few months ago, the book came out in audiobook, but due to internal cover snafus beyond my control, I couldn’t bring myself to promote something with that many typos. Many months later, it has been updated and I’m happy to share it here. Kiss the Girl audio is available at your favorite audiobook retailer, but might I recommend Libro.FM, which supports indie bookstores. Kiss the Girl is narrated by Inés del Castillo and Anthony Rey Perez who do a phenomenal job. 

Buy the Kiss the Girl audiobook at these retailers:

AUDIBLE

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

DISNEY BOOKS

So, a few years ago I self-published the Santa Claus-inspired holiday romance I’d been talking about forever. At first it was just for funsies. Something to keep away the sadness demons during the first year we realized the Covid pandemic was here to stay. I used the name Rizzo Rose, inspired by my maternal grandmother’s last name, and an appropriate flower for alliteration. 

The book was called The Heart of Winter, and I told only a handful of people. I meant to write a sequel right away, but then I got slammed with traditional publishing contract after contract, which I’m not complaining about. Times are rough for most writers, so I take job security whenever I can. Usually, I keep a “just for me” project I work on slowly, but 2022-2023 was so intense with drafting and terrible brain feelings that I wasn’t able to write the sequel. The reason I’m telling you is because I have sold two new audiobooks! 

One is The Captive Merman’s Promise, a novella I wrote for the first Bonker’s Romance Kickstarter in 2022. I have a brand new cover by Emily Wittig (who did both of these). The text is still the same with “preferred text” updates.

The second book is The Heart of Winter, which will now be published as Zoey Castile, just like my other high-heat romances. The book was featured on this episode of Fated Mates, so perhaps some of you have already picked it up. I’ve added about 5k words in preferred text.

It feels a little strange republishing WINTER after almost three years under a new name, but I’m finally writing again as part of #FantasyGirlSummer. Book two is called The Heart of Shadow and follows the eldest Espinoza sister, who makes a guest appearance in book one. 

The audiobooks for Winter and Merman will be available in the fall! Links and things will be up later but for now, you can get them in ebook and print online or when you see me at SteamyLit Con! 

If you’re coming to SteamyLit this year in Anaheim, be sure to say stop by. My booth number is M72. I’ll have all three of these books, plus a few other titles at the convention signing! You can reserve your copies by filling out my pre-order form. 

Love, 

Zoraida 

A Reflection On My 37th Birthday

* Faeries Never Lie * The Fall of Rebel Angels

If you want to give me a birthday gift, check out one of my books! Or buy me a drink so I can get tipsy on a Wednesday night: venmo @zcordova! Alas, still no Ca$h app.

* Rent stabilized apartment

* * This looks weird but you don’t cross or dot a capital letter T and I, lol.

* * * And by wiser, I mean unhinged.

* * * My spine already feels 37.