Spanish Speakers Can Now Follow the Irrepressible Urban Crime Fighter’s Journey as She Fights International Conspiracy in Her Native Ecuador in this Fifth Installment of the Filomena Buscarsela Crime Series

Oakland, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/10/2018 -- LAGO DE SANGRE (BLOOD LAKE) marks the first novel in this crime fiction series by mystery writer, Kenneth Wishnia to be translated into Spanish. The newly released Spanish language title also marks the first foray for PM Press into fiction in Spanish translation. The book is the 5th installment of Wishnia's crime series featuring his female heroine, NYPD-cop-turned private detective Filomena Buscarsela. LAGO DE SANGRE (PM Press; August 2018; Trade PB: $17.95; E-book $8.95) is a thriller that introduces Filomena's colorful extended family, and forces this single mother to confront her turbulent past, and some of the most bizarre characters in Third World politics.

"We've always published titles on Latin America, including bilingual titles and Teaching Rebellion in Spanish, and this is our first foray into a Spanish Fiction title. We did it because we believe in Ken and his work, and we believe it deserves to be available to as many people as possible to inspire and excite," says Stephanie Pasvankias from PM PRESS.

In LAGO DE SANGRE, Filomena takes her teenage daughter Antonia on vacation to her native Ecuador only to discover that she cannot escape trouble, especially when her past is a big part of it. Filomena hasn't been back in years, and the trip brings back memories of her previous life as a revolutionary.

"One of my goals with the publication of the Spanish translation of LAGO DE SANGRE is to help increase the visibility and empowerment of this much maligned group, and to be a part of the struggle to move Latinos from the margins to the center of American social, political and cultural life," says Wishnia.

Unlike Wishnia's other 4 installments of the Filomena Buscarsela series, which usually depict the New York metropolitan area in all its gritty detail, the narrative of LAGO DE SANGRE is unique: the latest novel conflates events that unfolded in different regions over the course of many years, and compresses them into a single insanity-filled period of about three weeks. Even before Filomena even has time to adjust to her new surroundings, a priest is murdered, a man who, years ago, saved her life and helped her escape to the United States. She owes him her life; now it's time for the debt to be repaid, and she vows to find his killer. It's an election year, and the dirty hands of politics seem to be everywhere, perhaps even in this senseless death. Filomena's investigation promises to lead her back to the very people she escaped all those years ago. Filomena is up against the mighty "North Guayas Militia," a fictional right-wing paramilitary group, controlling the northern section of the coastal province of Guayas.

As the country is wracked by natural and man-made disasters—landslides, floods, food shortages, protests, crackdowns—Filomena becomes a fugitive from the law, racing across the country toward a climactic confrontation in the Amazon jungle. Wishnia provides a novel rich with the sights, sounds—and dangers—of Ecuador, and a compelling look at the provenance of one of mystery fiction's most dynamic heroines.

LAGO DE SANGRE is also written on a broader canvas than the previous novels in the series. The introduction by noir crime writer, Liz Martinez, states that LAGO DE SANGRE is not a Fodor's guide to Ecuador. Wishnia wants the reader to feel a bit disoriented and unsure of her footing, since Filomena is going through that as well. In this manner, LAGO DE SANGRE describes some of the dangerous and destabilizing conditions that have led to so much migration by Latin American refugees to the United States.

"I'm excited about this novel coming out in Spanish because this series relates to what's happening today in our society. I married into Latino culture more than 30 years ago when US Latinos were still something of an invisible 'minority,' and I wrote the first novel in this series as a way to help introduce that culture to a wider US audience. Nowadays, Latinos are the largest 'minority' in the US, but they are still viciously attacked by racists and white supremacists in the media and at the highest levels of government, and they still lack proportional representation in US media: Sure, we've had WONDER WOMAN and BLACK PANTHER. But where's the Latina superhero? Look no further! You'll find her in Filomena Buscarsela," adds Wishnia.

About Kenneth Wishnia
Kenneth Wishnia's novels include 23 Shades of Black, an Edgar Allan Poe Award and Anthony Award finalist; Soft Money, a Library Journal Best Mystery of the Year; Red House, a Washington Post "Rave" Book of the Year; and The Fifth Servant, an Indie Notable selection, a Jewish Press Best Mystery of the Year, winner of a Premio Letterario ADEI-WIZO, and a finalist for the Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery Award. His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Queens Noir, Long Island Noir, Send My Love and a Molotov Cocktail! and elsewhere. Most recently, he edited the Anthony Award-nominated anthology Jewish Noir for PM Press.

He was born in Hanover, NH, to a roving band of traveling academics. He has lived and worked (and been chased by riot police) on three continents, including several years in Scotland, France, and Ecuador. The urgent need for a day job forced him to earn a BA from Brown University (1982) and a PhD in comparative literature from SUNY Stony Brook (1996). He teaches writing, literature and other deviant forms of thought at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Long Island, where he is a professor of English. His official site: http://www.kennethwishnia.com

Links for Kenneth Wishnia:
Web: http://www.kennethwishnia.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKennethWishnia
Publisher: http://www.pmpress.org

LAGO DE SANGRE
By Kenneth Wishnia
with Introduction by Liz Martinez
PM Press; August 1, 2018 (available for pre-order)
Trade Paperback: $17.95; e-book: $8.95)
Page Count: 376
Size: 8X 5
ISBN: 978-1-62963-443-2
Subjects: Fiction/Mystery

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/15/2015 -- Jewish Noir edited by Kenneth Wishnia (PM Press, October 2015, Trade Paperback Original, 448 pages, $17.95, 978-1-62693-111-0) is an anthology of new stories by some of today's best-known crime writers examining the re-emergence of noir in our culture. This unique collection has stories by Jewish literary and genre writers including award-winning authors such as Marge Piercy, Harlan Ellison, S.J. Rozan, Nancy Richler, Moe Prager (Reed Farrel Coleman), Wendy Hornsby, Charles Ardai and Kenneth Wishnia. There are also a few stories by non-Jewish writers, illustrating that perhaps you don't need to be Jewish to write Jewish Noir!

The collection also features two vintage reprints, A Simkhe (A Celebration), a story first published in Yiddish in the Forverts in 1912 by one of the great-unsung writers of that era, Yente Serdatsky, who has recently been rediscovered. This will be the story's first appearance in English. The second story, Final Shtick, was originally published in 1960 and is by the great short story writer Harlan Ellison, who has provided his current comments.

Why Jewish Noir? Because nobody's done it yet! We live in an age which parallels many of the conditions that gave rise to the first generation of noir writers--economic insecurity, corruption at all levels of government, disillusionment with the American dream, while those responsible for it all make their millions and get away with murder. The stories in this collection explore the question of how Jewish identity produces a particular tendency toward the cynical voice of noir. They range from noirish literary to pulpier crime stories and examine a myriad of issues including:

- The Holocaust and its long-term effects on subsequent generations,

- The contradictions of ethnic identity and assimilation into American society,

- Child sexual abuse in an insular ultra-Orthodox community in Brooklyn,

- The disaffection and alienation from modern religious Judaism that may result from traditional sexual attitudes and gender roles,

- The violent struggle to found the State of Israel,

- Jewish support of the Civil Rights movement,

- Greedy Jewish businessmen who reinforce a negative ethnic stereotype,

- The appeal of "tough" Jewish cops and gangsters,

- How real estate fortunes are made, and the consequences of political corruption on the working poor,

- How obsession can lead "good" people to do "bad" things.

Kenneth Wishnia's novels include 23 Shades of Black, which was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel and an Anthony Award for Best Paperback. His most recent book, The Fifth Servant, was an Indie Notable selection, a Best Jewish Book of the Year according to the Association of Jewish Libraries and the Jewish Press.

About Kenneth Wishnia
Kenneth Wishnia's novels include 23 Shades of Black, which was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel and an Anthony for Best Paperback Original; Soft Money, a Library Journal Best Mystery of the Year; and Red House, a Washington Post Book World "Rave" Book of the Year. His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Queens Noir, Long Island Noir, Send My Love and a Molotov Cocktail, and elsewhere. His latest novel, The Fifth Servant, was an Indie Notable selection, a Best Jewish Book of the Year according to the Association of Jewish Libraries, won a Premio Letterario ADEI-WIZO (the Italian chapter of the Women's International Zionist Organization), and was a finalist for the Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery Award, a category of the Macavity Awards. He teaches writing, literature, and other deviant forms of thought at Suffolk Community College on Long Island.

Scheduled events for Kenneth Wishnia:
Tuesday, Oct. 20: Temple Isaiah, 1404 Stony Brook Road, Stony Brook, 7:30 PM

Sunday, Nov. 8: Am Hasefer Book Club, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
125 East 85th Street, bet. Park & Lexington Ave. Bring books.

Tuesday, November 10: Barnes & Noble, 7PM
Broadway at West 84th Street.

Sunday, November 15: KGB Sunday Reading Series
85 East 4th St, bet. Bowery & 2nd Ave., NYC
Arrival 6:30-6:45pm Event: 7:00pm - 9:00pm Bring books.

Tuesday, November 17: Sachem Public Library, 150 Holbrook Road, Holbrook, 7 PM

RALEIGH, NC:
Bouchercon Oct. 8-11: Panel: "Jewish Noir," Friday 10/9, 10 AM

LOS ANGELES:
BOOK SOUP in LA on Thursday, October 22nd, 7pm.

Brentwood Public Library on Saturday, October 24th at 2pm

The Book Frog on Saturday, October 24th at 5pm

BOOK CARNIVAL in Orange County on Sunday October 25th at 10:30am

Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego for Sunday, Oct 25th, 2pm or 3pm

BAY AREA:
Thursday, October 15th - Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, 7 PM

Wednesday, October 28th - Books Inc in Berkeley, 7 PM

Thursday, October 29t: Janet Rudolph Salon in Berkeley, 7 PM

Friday, October 30: Green Apple Books in San Francisco, 7 PM

Saturday, October 31: Book Passage in Corte Madera, 1 PM

Sunday, November 1: 3 – 4:30 PM plus book signing
Venue: Congregation B'nai Shalom, 74 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek

Wednesday, Dec. 9: City Lights Bookstore, SF, 7 PM

BROOKLINE, MA:
Thursday, November 5: Brookline Booksmith in Boston, MA, 7 PM

HOUSTON, TX:
Thurs. Nov. 12 at Houston JCC, 7 PM

SCOTTSDALE, AZ:
Wednesday, February 24, 2016: Poisoned Pen Books, 6 PM

PHOENIX, AZ:
Feb. 25-28, 2016: Left Coast Crime. Panel TBA

Meryl Zegarek Public Relations, Inc.
255 West 108th Street, Suite 9D1
New York, New York 10025
Office landline: 917-493-3601 mz@mzpr.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The Irrepressible Urban Crime Fighter Is Back! This Time Fighting an International Conspiracy in Her Native Ecuador in the Fifth Installment of the Filomena Buscarsela Crime Series

Oakland, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 07/30/2014 -- NYPD-cop-turned private detective Filomena Buscarsela takes her teenage daughter Antonia on vacation to her native Ecuador only to discover that she cannot escape trouble, especially when her past is a big part of it. Filomena hasn't been back in years, and the trip brings back memories of her previous life as a revolutionary. The 5th installment of mystery writer Kenneth Wishnia's series, Blood Lake (PM Press; August 2014; Trade PB: $17.9; E-book $8.95) is a thriller that introduces her colorful extended family, and forces this single mother to confront her turbulent past, and some of the most bizarre characters in third world politics.

Unlike Wishnia's other 4 installments of the Filomena Buscarsela series, which usually depict the New York metropolitan area in all its gritty detail, the narrative of Blood Lake is unique: the latest novel conflates events that unfolded in different regions over the course of many years, and compresses them into a single insanity-filled period of about three weeks. Even before Filomena even has time to adjust to her new surroundings, a priest is murdered, a man who, years ago, saved her life and helped her escape to the United States. She owes him her life; now it's time for the debt to be repaid, and she vows to find his killer. It's an election year, and the dirty hands of politics seem to be everywhere, perhaps even in this senseless death. Filomena's investigation promises to lead her back to the very people she escaped all those years ago. Filomena is up against the mighty "North Guayas Militia," a fictional right-wing paramilitary group, controlling the northern section of the coastal province of Guayas.

As the country is wracked by natural and man-made disasters—landslides, floods, food shortages, protests, crackdowns—Filomena becomes a fugitive from the law, racing across the country toward a climactic confrontation in the Amazon jungle. Wishnia provides a novel rich with the sights, sounds—and dangers—of Ecuador, and a compelling look at the provenance of one of mystery fiction's most dynamic heroines.

Though Filomena's distinct voice--a mixture of social realism and stand-up comedy--drives the narrative, Blood Lake is also written on a broader canvas than the previous novels in the series. The introduction by noir crime writer, Liz Martinez, states that Blood Lake is not a Fodor's guide to Ecuador. Wishnia wants the reader to feel a bit disoriented and unsure of her footing, since Filomena is going through that as well. In this manner, Blood Lake describes some of the dangerous and destabilizing conditions that have led to so much migration by Latin American refugees to the United States.

Blood Lake takes place during a violent and corrupt presidential campaign--is there any other kind?--with Wishnia taking creative liberties to shape utterly corrupt figures based on his own personal observations while living in Ecuador with his family. Wishnia takes components from Andean neighbors, Colombia and Peru, to heighten the dramatic impact of the story.

Critics' Praise:

"Enormously engaging… touchingly real… It's as if Wishnia were attempting to rescue the thriller from the bloat and preposterousness of Ludlumization in order to return it to its more Graham Greene-like roots in a recognizably mean world–just as Chandler and Hammett rescued detective fiction from drawing room gentility and yanked it down to the mean streets that had always been its natural habitat."

The Washington Post

"Vivid and unforgettable."

Publisher's Weekly

"Dazzling."

Booklist

"One of the most distinctive series in mystery fiction… Refreshingly original and complex."

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"There is too much to praise about this book, so suffice it to say that every element that makes a book great is in this novel, making for a truly memorable read."

Romantic Times

"A knockout narrator who hits the reader in the heart and the head… If there's any justice, Fil Buscarsela will find a home on reader's shelves and in their thoughts. Just try to keep her out."

The Drood Review of Mystery

"Another absorbing page-turner."

New Orleans Times-Picayune

"BLOOD LAKE works equally well as a private eye novel, and atmospheric regional mystery and a political thriller that relies on people, not techno-gadgets, to tell a story of a country under siege."

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Links for Kenneth Wishnia:
Web: http://www.kennethwishnia.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKennethWishnia
Publisher: http://www.pmpress.org

BLOOD LAKE
By Kenneth Wishnia
with Introduction by Liz Martinez
PM Press; August 1, 2014 (available for pre-order)
Trade Paperback: $17.95; e-book: $8.95)
Page Count: 384
Size: 8X 5
ISBN: 978-1-60486-430-4
Subjects: Fiction/Mystery

About Kenneth Wishnia
Kenneth Wishnia's novels have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Anthony and Macavity Awards, and made "Best of the Year" lists at the Washington Post, Booklist, Library Journal, and The Jewish Press. His novel The Fifth Servant was an Indie Notable selection, a Best Jewish Book of the Year (Association of Jewish Libraries), winner of a Premio Letterario ADEI-WIZO, and a finalist for the Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery Award.

Kenneth Wishnia was born in Hanover, NH, to a roving band of traveling academics. He has lived and worked (and been chased by riot police) on three continents, including several years in Scotland, France, and Ecuador. The urgent need for a day job forced him to earn a BA from Brown University (1982) and a PhD in comparative literature from SUNY Stony Brook (1996). He teaches writing, literature and other deviant forms of thought at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood, Long Island, where he is a professor of English. His official site: http://www.kennethwishnia.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm