Daína Chaviano (Author)

In this two-parts interview, Daína Chaviano talks about her life in Miami, her thoughts on Cuba and politics, her writing style, and the writers that inspire her: "Sometimes it puzzles me when someone says that my latest novel is magical realism, when in fact I wrote it using the same resources I apply in my fantasy and science fiction books. Critics are inclined to think that if a ghostly element is placed in a Caribbean setting it must be magical realism, but I could have placed that same plot in the Scotland of Mary Stewart. Maybe then they would have understood that this is a Gothic novel. In fact, I've said elsewhere that the novels of The Occult Side of Havana series belong to what I call Caribbean Gothic, a term I've used to classify my own books, because no critic has managed to do it. The truth is that the ways in which the characters in these novels act, and the things that happen to them, do not differ much from some situations in my fantasy books. (Complete text in PDF)