Authors Interviewing Characters: Stephanie Vasquez
ALL OUR WARS
For fans of Katie Gutierrez’s More Than You’ll Ever Know and Netflix’s Narcos comes a high-stakes thriller about the daughter of a high-ranking Mexican cartel leader dragged back to the life she fought hard to escape.
Twelve years have passed since Sofia De Luna’s mother was murdered. Sofia now leads a quiet life in Chicago, far from the cartel violence she was raised amidst. But when her narco father’s retirement catapults her to head of the family, that peaceful existence is upended.
Unhappy with this changeover of power, Sofia’s brothers and cousins are wary of her desire to legitimize the family and her insistent questions about her mother’s mysterious death. Meanwhile, in Mexico’s uncertain political climate, Andres Herrera, the ex-sicario accused of Sofia’s mother’s murder, sees the opportunity for his exit from the drug business. He just needs Sofia, his first love, to uphold the truce between the cartels before the war brewing at the border trickles down to Mexico City, marring the upcoming election.
After a chance meeting with a disenfranchised DEA agent reveals the true depths the Torres will go to keep their power, Sofia decides she must stop the war her cousins have put in motion. But if she sacrifices her family for the dream of peace, will she meet the same fate as her mother?
Interview with Diego and Sofia De Luna
The restaurant had been cleared prior to their arrival, the kitchen staff keeping an attentive eye, but being careful not to hover.
The two eldest De Luna siblings, Sofia and Diego, are sitting near the back of the restaurant, heads tilted as they whisper conspiratorially.
Sofia is even more beautiful than her pictures, her makeup light tonight, her clothing a simple well-made button-down blouse paired with tailored slacks and ankle-breaking stilettos.
Diego is devilishly handsome, the smile he gives me in greeting wide and bright. Heavy gold glitters at his neck, and his teeth.
The De Luna’s have long been known to keep to themselves, moving only in the highest echelon of society life, rubbing elbows with politicians and celebrities. However, since Sofia has taken over the family business, and with her budding career in politics, the siblings have begun to make themselves more accessible. And with Sofia succeeding her father as head of the De Luna agriculture kingdom, among other things, and the election nearing, now seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to know the De Lunas a little better.
“Thank you for meeting with me, I know you’re both very busy. We’ll start light, as my readers are sure to want even the slightest glimpse into the glamourous life of the De Lunas. So, what’s your favorite meal?”
Diego claps his hands together, gold rings clinking with the motion, “Easy. Tacos.”
Sofia smirks, “He prefers them in Tijuana. For the company.”
The two siblings share a look and a mischievous smile.
“Mine would be Milanesa because it reminds me of our mother. She used to make it for us,” Sofia looks at Diego, “Do you remember that?”
Diego rubs a hand over his beard, “I remember the cookies…”
“Alfajores!” Sofia exclaims with a smile, “Our mother used to make her own because she said it was hard to find good ones in Mexico, she wanted us to have the authentic Argentine experience.”
“Sofia,” I interject, “It’s obvious you think fondly of your mother, but she’s a bit of a polarizing figure in your family isn’t she?”
Sofia stiffens, “What happened to starting light?” she attempts to joke, but she’s already schooling her features, akin to battening down the hatches.
Diego clears his throat, “Our mother, she was ahead of the times. Some of her ideas were just too…”
Diego pauses then and looks at Sofia.
“Her ideals were at odds with what her family wanted at the time,” Sofia supplies.
“Can you give me an example?”
Sofia sits straighter in her seat, “The idea that Mexico belongs to the people. Our mother didn’t believe in kings and queens, especially not at the cost of others. Of their lives. She for damn sure didn’t believe in never-ending wars on people. The drug war that the Americans go on about…”
Diego touches his sister’s knee, “What Sofia is trying to say is our mother wanted more for us. That’s all.”
I hadn’t planned how to hit on the topic of drugs, but sitting with the family currently at the top of the narco food chain was like the elephant in the room breathing down my neck. And since Sofia brought it up I took my opening.
“What about the drugs Sofia?”
Sofia shrugs, “What about them?” The congeniality is gone from her tone.
“What does the future for Mexico look like, with you as the head of what’s widely considered the top narco family in the country? I know you want to rebrand your family, but the people won’t be that quick to forget.”
Sofia laughs then and neither Diego nor myself were expecting it.
“I have ideas. Like my mother,” Sofia replied sharply.
Diego clears his throat, “Life is not black and white, no matter how badly you want it to be. My mother thought in black and whites. She died for it.”
Sofia’s jaw clenches but she stays quiet.
“We want to live, for something,” Diego says, his big brown eyes imploring me to understand. To change the subject.
“In that case what are the hopes for your children?”
Diego exhales, leans back in his seat, mirroring his sister now, “That’s a big question.”
“The same hope our mother had I suppose,” Sofia replies, “That they have the freedom of choice.”
“Do you think your mother would be proud of you?”
Sofia thinks for a moment, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “She did her best. I hope I can do the same, as a daughter, as a sister, as a citizen of Mexico. All of these are my responsibilities. I don’t take them lightly. I want the chance to right the wrongs. That’s all I’m asking for.”
“Do you think the government will follow your lead? Especially as a woman?”
“We will have to see. The government is a big train, it takes awhile to change direction, but I can try. We can try,” she adds with a look at Diego, “I think the people are ready for something different.”
BUY ALL OUR WARS HERE
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Stephanie Vasquez has recently published essays on Refinery29 and The Opal Club. She has also reported for the Tombstone Epitaph in Southern Arizona. As a bi-racial Mexican American who grew up 60 miles north of the U.S. Mexico border, Stephanie was inspired to major in Journalism and minor in Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. Stephanie currently lives in Goodyear, Arizona.
Category: On Writing
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