I caught up with Mike after a book signing in San Francisco and he was gracious enough to answer a few questions about Cantina and his writing career.
MP: Sex and the City, the TV series, and Cantina are both about a group of career-minded women facing relationship challenges in an urban setting.
No musical biopic about the cantina band.
In Luvina, an educated and exhausted old man sits in a cantina, warning a young traveller about the town he is heading towards.
"There's money to be made in a place like this," he informs the cantina proprietor, and therewith sets about making it.His first piece of business is to gun down four Baxters, just to show that he runs an efficient operation and clue the Rojos into hiring him.
Think, in particular, about the Mos Eisley cantina with its seemingly endless variety of aliens.
For instance, when I started Cantina, my intention was to write a drama about a woman facing career challenges unique to the modern Latina.
I imagine Han Solo holding down a corner with Chewie in the Mos Eisley cantina, throwing back a few drinks, telling stories about how Leia finally dumped him - then maybe blasting a bounty hunter or two.
BEFORE I rave about the sensational paella at La Nacional, a quirky cantina nestled into a storefront on West 14th Street, there are a few things you need to know about the place.
Restaurant dynasties in the United States include the Canlis family in Seattle, the Bastianichs in New York and the prolific Pappas family in the Southwest, who have birthed about 80 restaurants: Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pappasito's Cantina and more.
