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Began writing my new novel:Esteban and the Blues.
Book of real life African Slave that becomes a Conquistador of the Americans in year 1530, the mirror story is Thomas, an African American Pilot in the 1970s that connects and finds his past in the African Slave.
Let me know if you want updates... Anthony Garcia
March 2022 Review with the Author
Anthony Garcia’s family has been in the New Mexico/Colorado area since the 1500s — nearly 400 years.
Garcia grew up in a small town in northern Colorado and has lived and worked in Denver since the mid-1980s. He settled in the Washington Park neighborhood in 2010.
Currently self-employed in private health care and as an author, Garcia writes primarily within two genres: Indigenous and the Sephardic Jewish community.
“Both areas relate directly to our state of Colorado,” he said.
A running theme in his books is the first contact of Indigenous peoples and Europeans — a topic of interest to Garcia personally.
His first book, “Portal of Light,” came out in 2014. It is the first of three on the Sephardic Jewish community. Garcia’s other two published books are on Indigenous people, as well as his sixth and latest book — a novel of historical fiction called “African Slave Conquistador: Esteban and Blues” — that came out in January.
But it was back in 1983 when Garcia was studying in Spain that Esteban piqued his interest.
“I never forgot about him,” Garcia said, adding that while some history has been written about Esteban, there wasn’t an extensive account of his life.
Esteban was born in an African village called Cufu, located near the Nile River. He was eventually sold to a Spanish conquistador, and in 1535, was the only African slave among 350 or 400 Spanish soldiers to embark on an expedition to explore the New World, landing on the Florida shore. Only four people — Esteban being one of them — survived the trip, and upon landing, it became an eight-year journey through the U.S. Gulf Coast and southwestern states to eventually reach New Mexico.
“African Slave” is a fictional story based on the real-life journal of Cabeza de Vaca’s Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America that recounts how Esteban made first contact with natives and found creative ways to survive, including pursuing leadership roles as a linguist, intermediary and Shaman healer. While it tells Esteban’s story, the book is also about finding oneself, and it weaves present-day characters into the story.
“African Slave” is in the young adult category, but Garcia has found adults also enjoy his books because of the historical aspect. Garcia spends about six months researching his books and also uses an Indigenous editor to ensure the stories are historically consistent and verifiable.
“It’s very real,” Garcia said.
Garcia believes it is vital to place “importance upon communities-of-colors’ contributions of valuable qualities that can add and enrich this land’s essence and life,” he said. “You don’t know yourself until you know your history.”
Q&A with Anthony Garcia
What do you find most enjoyable about being able to recount tales of first encounters in your books?
The first encounter is the most fascinating engagement of two opposing groups — neither side knows what to think of each other and there is a curiousness, a wondering of what skills an opposing camp maintains, an organic but never proven fear of each other.
In “African Slave Conquistador: Esteban and Blues,” the Black Moor Esteban encounters the Indigenous of Florida and is assigned to communicate with this camp. He does not speak their dialect or tongue, yet organically learns to sign in order to survive.
Why do you think Denver residents of all ages enjoy reading historical fiction?
People enjoy knowing the details of history — of the dynamics of a time period:
a. Natural competitors and the conflicts/battles that eventually would take place.
b. How people lived, how they dressed, what they ate, technology utilized to win in life.
c. Strategies to survive — people find these most interesting.
What did you find most interesting about Esteban while researching and writing about him, and why?
What was most interesting about Esteban was the spatial intelligence. He was educated in his organic faith of Yoruba, learned to be Muslim and requeued to sign a document converting to be Catholic, and lastly, learned the Indigenous faiths. Yet he never forgot who he was and his pride in being an African boy from Cufu. A boy wonder that somehow used words, feelings and value placement to be an interpreter to Indigenous bands that spoke a different dialect themselves and rarely spoke to each other, Esteban was able to bridge and communicate with all.
One of my motivations of this research is showing Persons of Color’s contribution to this America that is rarely recognized nor spoken. Esteban, an incredible example of sacrifice of his life demonstrating valor and commitment to advance the European entry into the new world, rarely is spoken of his contribution.