Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born and raised in Argentina. Educated in the U.S. I came to Mexico in 1962 with Time/Life International. I have been a regular lecturer to newly arrived foreign residents titled: Mexico – History, Legend and Cross Border Culture. I published two novels in Mexico, “The Crystal Bull” and “The Line/La Línea” (rewritten under the new title “The Long Way Home.” In 2012 my first nonfiction book, “Mexico Behind The Mask,” was published by Potomac Books in Washington, D.C. and the University of Nebraska Press. My latest book, in the form of a Limited Edition, is titled “Pebbles In Time.” I have represented The “Financial Times” and “Business Week” (not as a foreign correspondent) for over twenty years. From 1975 to 1985 I published a series of magazines along the west coast of Mexico titled “About”: About Tijuana (including Ensenada, Loreto, and San Felipe), Los Cabos (including La Paz), Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Guadalajara, and Acapulco.
In the 1980s, as a representative of Business Week, he published four special sections on “production sharing” along the border. As a representative of the magazine, he was also a member of a Mexican think tank in Mexico City known as The Pinnacle Group. During these years in the late nineties, I had the opportunity to meet and listen to many leading Mexican politicians and businessmen. For a period of fifteen years I outsourced for Bancomext (Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior) publishing the annual Mexican Directory of Foreign Trade. I have lived in Mexico these last fifty-two years. On my latest book, I decided to revisit the country of my youth drawing from my own experiences but those of my older brother and father. My father immigrated to Argentina after World War I.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
El Ombú – A British Family Saga in Argentina is a story that relies on many historical facts. I decided to revisit Argentina, the country of my birth, and tell a story surrounding the rise and fall of the British and Anglo-Argentine hegemony in Argentina that lasted approximately 150 and is little known outside that country.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since I’m bilingual I have a hard time with grammar as I get confused between the English and Spanish grammar
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Hermann Hess’s book Sidharta highlighting personal experience over the classroom.
What are you working on now?
I haven’t made up my mind.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.beldonbutterfield.com
Beldon Butterfield.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t write query letters and stay away from literary agents. These people don’t read, they only make deals. Concentrate on editors since they get paid to read.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Youth is wasted on the young,” by Oscar Wilde and ingrained in me by my father.
What are you reading now?
“The Unlikely Spy” by Daniel Silva
What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t know.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Anything by Daniel Silva and Michael Connelly