Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Luchador
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.erin-finnegan.com/
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.erin-finnegan.com/about-erin/ * http://www.paulinebjones.com/why-erin-finnegan-wrote-luchador * http://www.hirschi.se/blog/luchador/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2015088285
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2015088285
HEADING: Finnegan, Erin (Novelist)
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670 __ |a Sotto voce, 2014: |b title page (Erin Finnegan) about the author (a former journalist who grows, ferments and drinks Syrah and Zinfandel in the foothills outside Los Angeles; Sotto voice is her first novel)
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist and public relations professional.
AVOCATIONS:Sports and making wine.
AWARDS:Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2016, for Luchador.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Erin Finnegan is a former journalist and public relations professional who has published two novels. Finnegan developed an interest in making wine and is now an independent winemaker in Southern California, in the foothills of Los Angeles.
In an interview on the Novel Approach website, Finnegan was asked what made a good book: She responded: “First, give me some good characters. Give them purpose, make them real. Give them believable names. . . . Be original. . . . If everyone’s publishing mysterious, glittery billionaire vampires, write something else. Originality is everything to me. And prose, of course; writing that is not just competent, but thoughtful and rhythmic. I love a well-paced book where the author clearly understood that writing is about rhythm. My advice to aspiring writers, for what it’s worth? Read every word of what your write out loud. It will change your writing and rock your world.”
Sotto Voce
Finnegan’s first novel, Sotto Voce, published in 2014, is set in California’s wine country. Thomas Baldwin is a powerful New York wine critic, capable of making or breaking careers with the column he writes for Taste Magazine. When he is told by his publisher to go to California for a year to profile up-and-coming winemakers and to create a competition between the older, established wineries and the smaller wineries of the Sonoma Valley, he runs across a mysterious young winemaker, Greg Kennedy, who is more interested in concentrating on the art of winemaking over the business of it. Over the next year, Baldwin and Kennedy become close, and a romance ensues.
Reviews of Sotto Voce were positive. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: “It’s a book to be savored and enjoyed from the sweet, light beginning to the subtle middle notes, which culminate in a refreshing, delicious finish.”
Luchador
Finnegan’s second book, published in 2016, is Luchador, which was voted one of the best books of 2016 by Publishers Weekly. Gabriel Romero is openly gay and lives in Mexico City with his aunt and uncle, who took him in when his parents died. Gabriel has always had an interest in luche libre, the professional wrestling of Mexico. When an opportunity arises to train as a luchador—or wrestler—Gabriel jumps at the chance. However, he finds himself being mentored by two very different wrestlers—an ambitious young luchador who is achieving stardom and a gay exotico wrestler. He must decide which path to follow, while surrounded by his new family of wrestlers, and whether ambition, sex, or loyalty is the most important factor in determining his future.
Luchador received rave reviews. A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote: “The sweat and blood in the ring don’t detract from the sweetness on display here; the setting may be outside the mainstream, but it’s an old-fashioned love story at heart.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “The central relationship is the love between Gabriel and his vocation, and readers will cheer them all the way to their happy ending.” Hans M. Hirschi, on the Hirschi website, gushed about the characters in Finnegan’s novel, writing: “I don’t know when Luchador is going to leave me. For now, I enjoy its company, as I ponder the mystery of life. Luchador is a novel you’ll cherish and read again. I know I will. Gabriel, Miguel, Ray, Jason and some of other secondary and even tertiary characters are people you’ll want to revisit every now and then. I have a hunch I’ll pick up even more nuances from this masterpiece.”
A reviewer on the Just Love: Queer Book Reviews website, wrote: “The book was well-written and well-researched. The author not only succeeded in bringing the characters and the sport to life, but also the city itself—to the point where I now really want to visit Mexico City, and not just to take in a match. The book also came with a glossary of commonly used terms in Mexican wrestling, which proved to be helpful for the uninitiated like myself.” Finally, a reviewer on the Michael Joseph website observed: “In addition to its engaging story line, Luchador is an extremely well crafted book all around.”
In an interview on the Novel Approach website, Finnegan was asked what made a good book: She responded: “First, give me some good characters. Give them purpose, make them real. Give them believable names, good lord. Be original. How many times can I underline that last one? If everyone’s publishing mysterious, glittery billionaire vampires, write something else. Originality is everything to me. And prose, of course; writing that is not just competent, but thoughtful and rhythmic. I love a well-paced book where the author clearly understood that writing is about rhythm. My advice to aspiring writers, for what it’s worth? Read every word of what your write out loud. It will change your writing and rock your world.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2016, review of Luchador.
Publishers Weekly, August 4, 2014, review of Sotto Voce, p. 35; October 24, 2016, review of Luchador, p. 62.
ONLINE
Erin Finnegan Website, http://www.erin-finnegan.com (June 28, 2017).
Hirschi, http://www.hirschi.se (November 4, 2016), Hans M. Hirschi, review of Luchador.
Just Love: Queer Book Reviews, https://justlovereviews.com (November 4, 2016), review of Luchador.
Michael Joseph, http://michaeljoseph.info (December 13, 2016), review of Luchador.
Novel Approach, http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.com/ (June 28, 2017), interview with Finnegan.
Erin Finnegan is a former award-winning journalist and public relations professional who now writes and makes both wine and trouble in the foothills outside Los Angeles.
Her novel Luchador was named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2016 and also received a PW starred review. Set amid the backdrop of Mexico City's professional lucha libre circuit, Luchador is a story about a young exótico wrestler's search for identity from behind a mask.
Her debut novel Sotto Voce (2014), a story of love and wine, also received a Publishers Weekly starred review, as well as a Foreword Reviews Indiefab Silver Book of the Year award.
A lifelong sports fan, she has had to dive out of the way of flying luchadores at matches in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Luchador By Erin Finnegan
luchador-900px-front-with-reviews-tumblr
Luchador By Erin Finnegan
SUMMARY
Each week, Gabriel Romero’s drive to Sunday mass takes him past “El Ángel,” the golden statue at the heart of Mexico
City that haunts his memories and inspires his future. Spurred by the memory of his parents, Gabriel is drawn to the
secretive world of lucha libre, where wrestling, performance art and big business collide.
Under the con f icting mentorships of one of lucha libre’s famed gay exótico wrestlers and an ambitious young luchador
whose star is on the rise, Gabriel must choose between traditions which ground him but may limit his future, and the
lure of sex and success that may compromise his independence. Surrounded by a makeshift family of wrestlers, Gabriel
charts a course to balance ambition, sexuality and loyalty to f nd the future that may have been destined for him since
childhood.
Excerpt:
braved the stutter-stop congestion of Paseo de la Reforma, using it to cut through the park past the museums and onward north, hoping to beat the afternoon crowds that would later close the avenue. It was the same every Sunday. Gabriel, slumped in the backseat of his godparents’ Mercedes Benz, ticked down the moments until the golden landmark triggered his weekly pre-mass sacrament. He drifted off into a silent world of his own, watching the posh glass and steel boutiques of the chic boulevard not quite push the city’s aging mansions out of their way.
In moments, they would pass Monumento a la Independencia, the golden angel of victory most people simply called El Ángel. It reached high above the center of the traffic circle mere blocks from the cathedral where he worshipped with his aunt and uncle each weekend—even though there were a dozen churches between their home in Lomas de Chapultepec and the Zócalo.
The statue could be seen from kilometers away along the wide, tree-lined avenue. Each week as they drew closer, he watched for it, a golden beacon in an azure sky.
Character Bio:
What is your character’s name? Does the character have a nickname?
Gabriel Romero goes by a lot of names, depending on the audience: Gabriel to his family; Gabe to his friends; El Fenix Oscuro and, eventually, El Ángel Exótico to his fans. Each name is a part of what makes Gabriel whole.
He gets the full name treatment from his aunt if he gets into trouble. His closest friend in the wrestling world, a former American champion, simply calls him Gabe. His instructor Miguel usually just calls him “college boy”. But as he enters the world of lucha libre, his fans know none of this. In lucha, the identities of enmascarados, or masked luchadores, is a closely guarded secret. He starts his career as the Phoenix, a reference to his upbringing in Arizona and the theme of rising from the ashes of his childhood. But as his career takes off and he signs with a major empresa (league), he comes to be known as El Ángel Exótico, a reference to the fact that he wrestles as an exótico wrestler, a luchador who is openly gay and typically competes as a form of drag act. The Angel, a nombre de batalla he had wanted since his youth, references the Angel of Independence statue along the Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, and may be a veiled reference to his parents.
What is your character’s hair color? Eye color? What kind of distinguishing facial features does your character have?
Gabriel’s hair is dark brown, with unruly waves. He tried and fails between bouts to grow a beard, but it rarely gets beyond scruff. He’s too baby-faced for it, and he has to stay clean-shaven for his character in the ring. His eyes are more amber than brown and though he won’t admit it, he thinks that the gold trim on his mask brings out the color of his eyes.
Whether or not his mask brings out the amber in his eyes, it was designed to play up his two strongest facial features: his sharply-cut jaw and his thick lips. It also hides a small scar under the back of his jaw, the result of a miscalculated leap over the ropes that landed him in the ringside seats of one of his early matches.
Who are your character’s friends and family? Who does he surround himself with? Who are the people your character is closest to? Who does he wish he were closest to?
Born in Tuscon, AZ but raised since age 10 by his aunt and uncle in Mexico City, Gabriel initially throws himself into his studies, but eventually dedicates himself to lucha libre, surrounding himself with a makeshift family of professional wrestlers, including Miguel, a veteran exótico who goes by the stage name La Rosa and becomes Gabriel’s trainer and mentor; Arturo, a talented and determined young rudo; and Ray “The Dark Storm” Michaels, a former champion American wrestler with a personality like sunshine who is determined to become a luchador.
Does he have a secret?
In lucha libre, everyone has secrets—especially the masked luchadores, whose identities are a closely-guarded secret. But Gabriel’s biggest secret is the fact that he is training to become a luchador, fact he has hidden from his family.
Fun & In-Depth Questions
Look at your character’s feet. Describe what you see there. Does he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother?
Getting into costume shouldn’t take so long, especially when there is so little to it. Gabriel wears trunks, not wrestler’s tights, after all, but it’s the boots that consume his time.
White patent leather with gold trim, from toe-to-heel they look like most competitive wrestler footwear, save for the addition of a slight heel intended to give him the illusion of height, and the inlays of golden wings along the base. It is the boot shaft that’s the problem, but it’s also the signature piece of El Ángel Exótico’s costume, because the shaft runs from ankle to mid-thigh, and the entire thing has to be laced up. As he finishes lacing them an ties them off with a knot, he sighs, stands, and inspects his handiwork in a mirror. A pain, but he has to admit, they’re kind of hot.
What is one strong memory that has stuck with your character from childhood? Why is it so powerful and lasting?
The mask. A child’s toy, a cheap knock-off of a luchador’s mask that his father had purchased on a whim.
Red metallic with silver trim, Gabriel wore it religiously each weekend while we watched lucha libre broadcasts with his father. When he moved in with his aunt and uncle at age ten, the mask became a sort of talisman, a security blanket of sorts that he kept with him at all times. As he grew older, he still kept it among his prized possessions, until he found a reason to part with it on a visit to Arizona.
Years after his father had given it to him, Gabriel decided to return it.
Your character is getting ready for a night out. Where is he going? What does he wear? Who will he be with?
There’s a bar not far from the old Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. They like to think of it as an homage to lucha libre, its walls covered in old lucha magazines and posters from El Santo movies. The floors are sticky with spilled beer, the customers well-versed in lucha history, and the corner jukebox hopelessly outdated, but Gabriel has loved it ever since the wrestlers from Gymnasio Ciudad took him there to celebrate his receiving his license to wrestle professionally. It’s his favorite place to hang out with friends after a night of lucha at the Coliseo, and he doesn’t even have to get dressed up.
QUOTED: First, give me some good characters. Give them purpose, make them real. Give them believable names, good lord. Be original. How many times can I underline that last one? If everyone’s publishing mysterious, glittery billionaire vampires, write something else. Originality is everything to me. And prose, of course; writing that is not just competent, but thoughtful and rhythmic. I love a well-paced book where the author clearly understood that writing is about rhythm. My advice to aspiring writers, for what it’s worth? Read every word of what your write out loud. It will change your writing and rock your world.
Interview and Giveaway: Luchador by Erin Finnegan
luchador-revised-banner
TNA: We’re so pleased to welcome Erin Finnegan to The Novel Approach today, author of Luchador, which was just named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2016. Congratulations, Erin, and thank you for the interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Erin: Thanks for having me! It’s a relief (and kind of exciting) to finally be talking at length about Luchador, since I first started working on it three years ago! I’m really honored by the announcement from PW, and I’m still trying to form words, other than to say that I’m incredibly grateful.
Luchador is my second book. My debut, Sotto Voce, is also set in a world that I have a lot of love for—the independent winemakers of Sonoma County. I’m a winemaker myself, and I am a big fan of the somewhat smaller and mellower half of Northern California’s wine country.
Luchador is, no surprise, set in the world of lucha libre, or Mexican masked wrestling. But don’t be put off by the sweat, blood and Gatorade. Luchador is really a coming of age story of a young man who is looking to chart his own course in a world with set rules. There’s also Lycra.
TNA: Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than any others? Love? Action? Romance? Tragedy?
Erin: That’s a great question, and I have a perfectly wishy-washy answer for it. It depends, and changes from project-to-project. Luchador is a great example of this for me. I had no problem writing some fairly graphic sexual content in my first book, Sotto Voce. The book is a slow build, and there aren’t a lot of sex scenes, but when they happen, they’re fairly detailed.
When I sat down to write intimate scenes in Luchador, I was stymied at first. I would get to a certain point and hesitate. What was stopping me? An editor figured it out, and explained it in a way that made perfect sense, but I hadn’t considered it. Sex scenes, she said, are really a form of action sequences. But with the absolutely necessary action scenes in the lucha libre rings, trying to add lengthy sex scenes to the already action-heavy book could throw off the pacing.
She was absolutely right, and her critique helped me strike a balance between action in the ring and, well, action in the bedroom.
TNA: What do you think makes a good story?
Erin: So, so much. First, give me some good characters. Give them purpose, make them real. Give them believable names, good lord. Be original. How many times can I underline that last one? If everyone’s publishing mysterious, glittery billionaire vampires, write something else. Originality is everything to me. And prose, of course; writing that is not just competent, but thoughtful and rhythmic. I love a well-paced book where the author clearly understood that writing is about rhythm. My advice to aspiring writers, for what it’s worth? Read every word of what your write out loud. It will change your writing and rock your world.
TNA: Do you hear from readers much? What do they say?
Erin: I love hearing from readers! Sotto Voce, my first novel that was set in the world of the Northern California wine industry, was a lot of fun because readers starting sending me wine rec’s, and fan art (oh my god, I love that!), and notes about visiting some of the locations from the book. I still get questions asking about what wineries to visit in Napa and Sonoma, and I giving travel/foodie/wine tasting advice, which makes me happy to no end.
One of the early readers of Luchador sent me a note that said, “I want La Rosa fan art.”
Me too, early reader. I hope readers who may be new to lucha libre are curious about it, and ask questions about it, whether they are directed to me or someone else. Readers being inquisitive or inspired to learn more because of your book? It’s the highest compliment.
TNA: How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Erin: Two! I do not work fast. Please don’t ask me the Sophie’s Choice question. They’re both my babies, and I love them equally and for entirely different reasons.
TNA: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Erin: I make wine! I have a little vineyard called Finnegan’s Hill where I grow, harvest, and ferment Syrah and Zinfandel. People seem to think that winemaking is a sort of “elegant” hobby. No, it’s agriculture, and science. There’s dust, and bugs, and the need to clean up after my two sheep dogs, who seem to think that the vineyard is the perfect place to poop. But about three years after I harvest my grapes, I have enough wine to have a hella good party.
Dividers
About the Book
luchador-updated-coverEach week, Gabriel Romero’s drive to Sunday mass takes him past “El Ángel,” the golden statue at the heart of Mexico City that haunts his memories and inspires his future. Spurred by the memory of his parents, Gabriel is drawn to the secretive world of lucha libre, where wrestling, performance art and big business collide.
Under the conflicting mentorships of one of lucha libre’s famed gay exótico wrestlers and an ambitious young luchador whose star is on the rise, Gabriel must choose between traditions which ground him but may limit his future, and the lure of sex and success that may compromise his independence. Surrounded by a makeshift family of wrestlers, Gabriel charts a course to balance ambition, sexuality and loyalty to find the future that may have been destined for him since childhood.
Purchase Links: Interlude Press || Amazon || iBooks || All Romance eBooks || Kobo
Dividers
Excerpt
Once Gabriel had thought that he had a sophisticated knowledge of lucha libre. But the more he spent time with Miguel, the more he realized that his understanding of the sport and its significance in Mexican pop culture—even Mexican political movements—was on a novice level at best.
Lucha libre was no longer the simple entertainment of his childhood. Leaps, flips, and locks were trained, drilled, and earned. Masks were symbolic and served a purpose in defining characters and telling their stories. It was not just the show on television—“A circus,” Miguel would complain—but a serious mélange of art, sport, and metaphor that Gabriel was only beginning to understand.
The more he learned, the more he wanted to absorb. Campus gradually took a back seat to the gym, his new source of higher learning.
So he listened to Miguel and did as he was told—usually—to ensure that his education continued. If that meant standing by a piss-soaked pillar outside a crumbling civic arena to meet someone he couldn’t identify, he’d do it.
In many ways, the little venue reminded him of Arena Coliseo, the one-time boxing arena in north-central Mexico City now dedicated full-time to lucha libre. Arena Coliseo was close to fans’ hearts for its history in the sport—and its cheap beer—and had seen better days. Its beach ball-colored seats were crusted with grime and acrylic paint. The sound system squawked. Its lighting bore down on the ring with little concern for staging. It didn’t hold a candle to the relative glitz of Arena México, its cross-town rival that featured light shows, fog effects, booming music, and ring girls—all on display for the weekly lucha libre broadcasts.
“Excess,” Miguel would say, if the topic came up, though Gabriel took it with a grain of salt. La Rosa had wrestled on some of those broadcasts, after all, and with some of the flashiest costumes and biggest entourages of all the luchadores.
Miguel clearly preferred Arena Coliseo, despite its aging surrounds. He said it brought fans closer to the authentic purpose of lucha libre—the good-versus-evil narratives played out by the técnicos and rudos each week—rather than light shows and loud music. Gabriel suspected this was why Miguel still agreed to perform in these small, unsanctioned, questionable events outside of the city.
QUOTED: It's a book to be savored and enjoyed from the sweet, light
beginning to the subtle middle notes, which culminate in a refreshing, delicious finish.
Sotto Voce
Publishers Weekly.
261.31 (Aug. 4, 2014): p35.
COPYRIGHT 2014 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Sotto Voce
Erin Finnegan. Interlude, $15.99 trade paper (270p) ISBN 978-1-941530-15-3
Finnegan's debut surprises and delights, pairing wine culture with an intoxicating contemporary romance. Thomas Baldwin is one of the wine
industry's foremost critics, traveling the world for New York-based Taste magazine. He's caught by surprise, however, when his boss gives him a
year-long assignment profiling the venerable giants and smaller boutique wineries in California's famed Napa nd Sonoma counties while planning
a tasting event. California vintner Greg Kennedy matches Thomas's passion for everything related to the vine, as well as for music. Over the
course of Thomas's year on the West Coast, their relationship grows, closely mirroring the vineyard's seasons. Brimming with technical terms but
never inaccessible, this tender romance is wide-ranging and utterly satisfying. It's a book to be savored and enjoyed from the sweet, light
beginning to the subtle middle notes, which culminate in a refreshing, delicious finish. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Sotto Voce." Publishers Weekly, 4 Aug. 2014, p. 35. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA377662265&it=r&asid=59d7ace5f3c8ee0c27e94456e09ed1c1. Accessed 31 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A377662265
---
QUOTED: The central relationship is the
love between Gabriel and his vocation, and readers will cheer them all the way to their happy ending.
5/31/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496285598751 2/3
Luchador
Publishers Weekly.
263.43 (Oct. 24, 2016): p62.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Luchador
Erin Finnegan. Interlude, $16.99 trade paper (244p) ISBN 978-1-941530-97-9
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Finnegan's glorious coming-of-age story is as much a sweet and touchingly rendered love letter to lucha fibre as a romance. Gabriel Romero's
love of the Mexican wrestling circuit began when he was a child in Tucson, Ariz., and it becomes a personal passion when he attends a match in
Mexico City and sees an exotico wrestler for the first time, the famous and flamboyant La Rosa. Gabriel, sensing a queer kindred spirit, persuades
La Rosa to train him to become a luchador. Gabriel's struggles to balance wrestling training with college classes and familial obligations provide
a poignant tension as he studies the deep roots of lucha fibre storytelling, particularly the social movements tied to it. But as Gabriel pursues his
career passions, his romantic passions center on El Cadejo, a closeted wrestler who shares Gabriel's dreams of becoming a superstar. Torn
between lucha fibre's traditions and the practicalities of modern spectacle, as well as his desire to be open about his sexuality without trapping
himself in the role of a cross-dressing exotico, Gabriel deftly carves a path for himself straight to readers' hearts. The central relationship is the
love between Gabriel and his vocation, and readers will cheer them all the way to their happy ending. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Luchador." Publishers Weekly, 24 Oct. 2016, p. 62+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468771824&it=r&asid=825a2a68e007f5d9daa9ef15e7022919. Accessed 31 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468771824
---
QUOTED: The sweat and blood in the ring don’t detract from the sweetness on display here; the setting may be outside the mainstream, but it’s an old-fashioned love story at heart.
5/31/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496285598751 3/3
Erin Finnegan: LUCHADOR
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Erin Finnegan LUCHADOR Interlude Press (Adult Fiction) 16.99 11, 3 ISBN: 978-1-941530-97-9
An unconventional romance wrestles, at times literally, with issues of identity and belonging.Gabriel is a good student and grateful nephew to the
aunt and uncle raising him in Mexico City since his parents died. He’s out and accepted as gay but has another secret to contend with:
the dream of becoming a luchador. In the world of lucha libre, to be gay means wrestling as an exotico, a flamboyant character even by the
theatrical standards of the sport. He’s willing to put in the work but wants a character who doesn’t play to stereotype. Author
Finnegan (Sotto Voce, 2014) juggles several themes here but they resolve into a story, familiar to the gay community, of choosing your own tribe
or family. Gabriel’s problematic first love and subsequent relationship mirror his transformation as a wrestler taking control of his career
and happiness; his first mentor is an exotico whose story is a valuable lesson in appearances versus reality. Descriptions of the grimy gyms and
the touring company of luchadors and burlesque performers working in Los Angeles as a kind of nightclub act bring the action to life. The
planning and execution of wrestling matches is surprisingly exciting; despite the action being scripted, the injuries and potential for accidents are
still very real. Spanish terminology is almost all easy to understand in context, but there’s a helpful glossary at the end to help readers
distinguish between rudos and tecnicos. The sweat and blood in the ring don’t detract from the sweetness on display here; the setting
may be outside the mainstream, but it’s an old-fashioned love story at heart.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Erin Finnegan: LUCHADOR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463216107&it=r&asid=949ff5e6ea680dca6c452c733031079e. Accessed 31 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463216107
QUOTED: I don’t know when Luchador is going to leave me. For now, I enjoy its company, as I ponder the mystery of life. Luchador is a novel you’ll cherish and read again. I know I will. Gabriel, Miguel, Ray, Jason and some of other secondary and even tertiary characters are people you’ll want to revisit every now and then. I have a hunch I’ll pick up even more nuances from this masterpiece.
I’m still wrestling with “Luchador”, Erin Finnegan’s (@eringofinnegan) latest chef d’oeuvre #amreading #LGBT #asmsg
by Hans M Hirschi | Nov 4, 2016 | Blog, Books, Review, Writing
I’m still wrestling with “Luchador”, Erin Finnegan’s (@eringofinnegan) latest chef d’oeuvre #amreading #LGBT #asmsg
Luchador: Who knew that wrestling could be so enticing?
I had no second thoughts when Erin Finnegan’s publisher Interlude asked me to read her second novel, Luchador. I had read her debut and absolutely loved it (here’s my review). Not speaking much Spanish myself, I had no idea what “luchador” meant. It means ‘fighter’, and the novel is about Lucha Libre, aka free fighting, the Mexican version of wrestling. What had I gotten myself into?
Wrestling? In an LGBT novel? Come again? My mind immediately wandered to the only wrestling I’d ever witnessed. None live, I couldn’t/wouldn’t do that to myself, just pictures of it, from the London 2012 Olympics, and as gay as that looks, that wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to ‘read’ about:
wrestling1
Yeah, it sure does ‘look’ gay, but it seems these two lads still need a bit of coaching to get it right…
So, this was my mindset as I opened the book and began to read, cautiously, not really wanting to. Yet despite my prejudice, my fears and flight instinct kicking in, I was almost instantly transported back to my own home state of Arizona and South Tucson, a rough neighborhood in the city my sister calls her home town, a place I’ve been to many times. We meet ten year old Gabriel, who loves to watch Lucha Libre with his dad on Sundays. Wearing a mask, just like the big stars in Mexico, he throws himself off the arm of the couch, launching attacks at his father while they’re watching live broadcasts from the DF (‘distrito federal‘, Mexicos version of DC).
Luchador
The beautiful cover of Luchador, the new novel by Erin Finnegan, crafted by C.B. Messer.
However, tragedy soon strikes and we move through time and space to Mexico. Several years pass and Gabriel now lives with his relatives in Mexico City, goes to college and still dreams of Lucha Libre…
It took me exactly ten seconds to get hooked to this story, and I had a hard time putting it down. However, my body needs sleep and so I took a break and finished it the next morning, ignoring both husband and son (sorry!) to the best of my ability. Luchador is an amazing story, and I feel pretty privileged to have been able to read it before it was released (which was yesterday, actually, 11/3). Just as Erin did in her previous book, Sotto Voce, she wraps the character development and the arc story around a topic. In Sotto Voce it was wine making, here it is Mexican wrestling. I’ve seen snippets of Lucha Libre on TV before, and it was as appealing to me as any other sort of contact sport is, which means: zilch, nada, not at all. Count me out!
Yet after having finished Luchador, I turned to YouTube to find some Lucha Libre (plenty of it there) to watch. I had to turn it off, because it’s just not for me. Still! Although, I’ll share this clip with you, about an exótico wrestler, i.e. gay luchadores, which are a thing in Lucha Libre, and the book is very much about the exóticos of the Lucha Libre circuit. This isn’t a statement about Erin’s writing or storytelling, and even though I have gained a respect and some knowledge for the sport, its history and the work going into it, I still can’t watch it. I’ll stick to Erin’s mental images of the authentic independent Lucha Libre as opposed to the empresa version of it (which you can watch on YouTube).
Erin’s writing is absolutely stunning, and as an author and non-native English speaker, I’m full of envy of her capability to craft the most beautiful and picturesque language. But she does more than that, for instance when Gabriel and his mentor, Miguel, have this conversation about what it means to be gay and a luchador:
“You may admire us, and train with us, but you don’t want to be one of us. You want to be out and you want to be one of them. Well, let me tell you, mijo, you play straight like Arturo? That’s no different than playing camp with us, because that’s an act, too. Besides, he’s right about one thing—it’s too late for that.”
This discussion, about straight acting vs femininity is age old, and it’s still ongoing. Don’t believe me? Download Grindr and find out for yourself. Straight acting is the thing to be if you want to get laid. Just as woman are considered worth less than men by society, so are feminine guys, camp guys, considered worth less than masculine, straight acting guys. Pathetic, yes, but nonetheless a fact. Then there’s this quote from a discussion with the closeted Arturo, who refuses to play Exótico:
“You act like being exótico is second class.”
“So do you,” he said. “You defend them, but tell me, Gabriel—do you want to be one?”
Gabriel went silent.
“There it is,” Arturo said. His voice was softer now, less combative. He had won this round.
Ms Finnegan goes deep here, and we get to explore the challenges to being LGBT in the world of sports, with parallels to the U.S. and American football, well fleshed out in Gabriel’s love interest. As the luchadores are often masked, they have the possibility to play a part very different from that of their own life, which Arturo does. The intricacies of gay life are mirrored within this macho world against heteronormativity and Ms Finnegan’s writing captures the very essence of the greatest struggle within the LGBT community in this story in the most astonishing way.
Gabriel embraces his own form of exótico, pushing the boundaries of exóticos, expanding his universe, but, and I think this is the most important quote in the entire novel, there is a price to pay:
“Whatever you decide, understand that at some point, you’re going to have to sacrifice for it.”
“I don’t understand.”
Miguel leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, as if the dim bulbs and acoustic tiles held the answer to life’s great mysteries. “You will.”
The author of Luchador and Sotto Voce, Erin Finnegan
The author of Luchador and Sotto Voce, Erin Finnegan
This scene is about a third into the novel, and it’s stayed with me. In fact, it still rings in my ears, because in it, Erin very aptly captures what it is like to be LGBT, not just in the sports world, but in life in general. In fact, I might be inclined to say it’s true for human life in general. We all have to pay a price for the decisions we make, particularly if said decisions go against what is considered acceptable by society. The price we pay as LGBT may be higher, but that isn’t to say there aren’t prices to be paid by all of us.
One of my best friends hasn’t seen his family in five years, the steep price he pays for being gay, out and proud. That is the real life price to pay, very different from the price of glitter, lipstick and eyeliner that Gabriel must pay to appear as El Ángel Exótico.
Luchador is an unusual novel, introducing us to a sport, a form of entertainment of sorts, which is unknown to most of us, while at the same time discussing the very mystery of modern life, trying to be true to ourselves, navigating family, relationships, love. The blending of American and Mexican is very refreshing and a beautiful middle finger at the current political climate where Mexico is the scapegoat du jour for Republican politicians. Ms Finnegan shows that underneath the masks, we’re all human, regardless of our skin color, faith or nationality.
I admired the way Erin introduced me to the art and craft of wine making in Sotto Voce, but this is something else entirely. Luchador lingers with me, envelops my consciousness and keeps asking me important questions about life itself, the choices we make, and the consequences we face because of them. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this before, and I’ve read quite a few…
Let me also say a word or two about Ms Finnegan’s writing. Yes, I am envious of her incredible talent, and the book is very well crafted. There are a couple of instances where I lost track of where I was, but that could be due to the fact that I read an early draft of the book. I found the jumps in time, as justified as they are from a storytelling point of view, hard to grasp at first; for instance the move from Tucson to the DF, or Miguel’s accident, or the move to LA. But I put that down to the fact that I was reading an ARC, not the final product. The language is absolutely stunning, and I’ll exemplify it with one single sentence from the book:
His rich baritone settled over Gabriel like comfort food: delicious, impossible to say no to, and undoubtedly unhealthy.
I wish I could come up with writing like that… Totally envious. LOL
I don’t know when Luchador is going to leave me. For now, I enjoy its company, as I ponder the mystery of life. Luchador is a novel you’ll cherish and read again. I know I will. Gabriel, Miguel, Ray, Jason and some of other secondary and even tertiary characters are people you’ll want to revisit every now and then. I have a hunch I’ll pick up even more nuances from this masterpiece.
Luchador is available from Interlude Press and is sold online through Amazon and other retailers.
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Have a wonderful weekend.
Hans
QUOTED: The book was well-written and well-researched. The author not only succeeded in bringing the characters and the sport to life, but also the city itself – to the point where I now really want to visit Mexico City, and not just to take in a match. The book also came with a glossary of commonly used terms in Mexican wrestling, which proved to be helpful for the uninitiated like myself.
Book Review by Rafa: Luchador, by Erin Finnegan
NOVEMBER 4, 2016 / RAFA BREWSTER
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luchador-erin-finnegan
Luchador, by Erin Finnegan
Publisher: Interlude Press
Release Date: November 3, 2016
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
5-of-5
summary
Each week, Gabriel Romero’s drive to Sunday mass takes him past “El Ángel,” the golden statue at the heart of Mexico City that haunts his memories and inspires his future. Spurred by the memory of his parents, Gabriel is drawn to the secretive world of lucha libre, where wrestling, performance art and big business collide.
Under the conflicting mentorships of one of lucha libre’s famed gay exótico wrestlers and an ambitious young luchador whose star is on the rise, Gabriel must choose between traditions which ground him but may limit his future, and the lure of sex and success that may compromise his independence. Surrounded by a makeshift family of wrestlers, Gabriel charts a course to balance ambition, sexuality and faith to find the future that may have been destined for him since childhood.
From the author of “Sotto Voce,” a coming of age story about finding your identity behind a mask.
tropes-tags
M/M Pairing
Gay Characters
POC Characters
New Adult
Contemporary
Sports (Mexican Wrestling)
Luchador was a thrilling and thought-provoking read. This will sound silly (and doesn’t even begin to factor into why I enjoyed this book so much), but it totally transported me back to my youth when I used to watch WWF and WWE. Granted, there are many differences between the Mexican and American leagues, but the battle between good versus evil being played out in tights and masks are pretty familiar territory to me.
Apart from being a wonderful tale of self-discovery, the book is an unapologetic love letter to the sport of Mexican wrestling. Through young Gabriel and a larger-than-life cast of characters, Luchador explores the role of exóticos – male wrestlers in drag –and pushes the boundaries of their traditionally campy, often effeminate roles within lucha libre.
Right from the beginning, I empathized with young Gabriel, whose loving parents died tragically as they tried to carve out a new life for their son in America. He’s taken in by his aunt and uncle back in Mexico City and he grows up wanting for nothing. Years later, spurred by memories of his parents, he eventually gives in to the lure of lucha libre and finds himself juggling university classes and a rigorous training schedule under the tutelage of premier exótico, the enigmatic La Rosa.
I loved the behind-the-scenes look into the nudge-nudge, wink-wink tactics and the business end of the sport. But I especially appreciated the internal conflict that Gabriel was faced with as he thought about his future – not just the push-and-pull of the age-old themes of good versus evil, light versus dark, and traditional versus modern, in the industry – but also what it would mean to be a gay luchador.
Another aspect I really liked was the supporting characters throughout the book, many of whom were part of the business. Despite the every-changing costumes, makeup and even stage names, I was able to get a good grasp of their stories and their personalities. I was also a big fan of Gabriel’s slow-burning romance with American college athlete Jason, who is the brother of one of Gabriel’s closest wrestling buddies.
The book was well-written and well-researched. The author not only succeeded in bringing the characters and the sport to life, but also the city itself – to the point where I now really want to visit Mexico City, and not just to take in a match. The book also came with a glossary of commonly used terms in Mexican wrestling, which proved to be helpful for the uninitiated like myself.
For the most part, I enjoyed the author’s frank, understated writing style. The only time her no-frills tone didn’t work for me was during some of the action scenes in the ring, which were well depicted but somewhat lacking in excitement or urgency. That being said, the final bout (of course there’s a big final bout, it’s a book about wrestling) was simply thrilling, and the book ended on the perfect note. A highly recommended read!
more-from-author
Erin Finnegan is a former journalist and public relations professional. She was born and raised in Southern California, where she lives with two sheep dogs and grows, ferments and drinks Syrah and Zinfandel in the foothills outside Los Angeles. A lifelong sports fan and occasional sports writer, she has had to dive out of the way of flying luchadores at matches in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Her first novel, Sotto Voce, was published by Interlude Press in 2014 and received a PW star and a Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book of the Year award. Luchador, her second novel, will be published November 3, 2016.
Connect with Erin at erin-finnegan.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/ErinGoFinnegan, on Google+ at google.com/+ErinFinnegan and on Twitter at @eringofinnegan.
QUOTED: In addition to its engaging story line, “Luchador” is an extremely well crafted book all around.
Review - Luchador by Erin Finnegan
My rating:
Luchador
Luchador
by Erin Finnegan
After his parents are killed in a gang shooting in Phoenix, 10 year-old Gabriel is raised by his aunt and uncle in Mexico City. He matures into a smart and athletic young man, but one thing from his childhood remains constant: his love of Lucha Libre, the popular form of wrestling that combines athletics, performance art and folklore. When attending an event with his would-be boyfriend, Gabriel witnesses a match featuring a wrestler known as La Rosa and is instantly enthralled. La Rosa is an exótico, a persona that is strongly gay, yet he commands the ring with his prowess as well as his charisma. Gabriel convinces the wrestler, whose real name is Miguel, to train him at his gym, setting Gabriel on the path to becoming a luchador.
It's a difficult path Gabriel chooses to follow, full of hard choices and compromises. Lucha libre is big business in Mexico, and it's the promoters who call most of the shots, and even own the rights to the personas the luchadors play. Gabriel is an out and proud young man, but he may not be comfortable with the role the promoters want him to play. Fortunately, he has a strong mentor in Miguel as well as a second family of sorts in the troupe of misfits that work under Miguel's tutelage.
You don't have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy “Luchador”. The writing really brings the action alive to give you an insight into what it feels like for the wrestlers and why it's so popular. However, fundamentally this isn't a book about Lucha Libre, per se. You could call it a coming-of-age story, although may make it sound a bit more of a “young adult” theme than it is. Like all of us, Gabriel has to choose the path he wants to take in life, and that path involves making hard choices. Then there are the ‘surprises’ that life also throws in our way. Gabriel and his friends are forced to deal with everything that life has to offer.
Gabriel is painted as a very realistic character, and he is surrounded by a rich set of family and friends who are all very three dimensional. Some of Gabriel's friends are faced with their own hard choices, and all are depicted honestly.
In addition to its engaging story line, “Luchador” is an extremely well crafted book all around. The proofing is nearly flawless and unlike so many books these days, the cover art actually not only has something to do with the story, it realistically portrays the picture you get of Gabriel.
“Luchador” is available from Amazon.