“The Children of Justo” by Fran Ortega

“The Children of Justo” by Fran Ortega, the novel about Seville that Dan Brown has not thought to write.

Francis Ortega is a promising writer whose first novel, The children of Justo, bursts into the crime novel catalog with force. He does it through self-publishing, through a publishing house that operated on Amazon and that no longer exists today. This means that the author retains all rights and that, right now, he wants to make them dance. A reissue with unpublished content is even being proposed.

The children of righteous Its peculiarity is that it is a crime novel that detonates in the weeks prior to the holy weekouch that puts the entire city in check until Palm Sunday, where it comes to an end. As the author has already explained in other interviews, knowing how a city as focused on its festivities as Seville will react to events that may disrupt its Holy Week is one of the novel’s strong points.

1– Fran, have you gone ahead to write the novel about Seville that Dan Brown hasn’t thought of yet?

Well, I would never want to disrespect a role model for me like Dan Brown. Neither to him nor to his legion of followers. And maybe if I told you yes I would be doing it in a certain way.

But, yes, in the end there are elements in my novel that perhaps he would not have been able to count on, not because of a lack of imagination and talent, which he has in abundance, but because they are things that I have been living with since I was born. . They are experiences and in the end there is no documentation that surpasses an experience.

2– As they say now, Seville is just another character in history, right?

Seville is the canvas. In the end, Eva, we Sevillians often sin from excess of local chauvinism. We are proud of the city and my pride leads me to show it in the background in this novel.

To highlight a city that was once the center of the entire known world. Little is said about it.

3– The Macarena dressing room is empty, Fran. What happened?

Well, the Sons of the Just are very serious. It’s playing with “what if…”. A basic element that those of us who dedicate ourselves or want to dedicate ourselves to telling stories play with. And I imagine that, if a group of disturbed people wanted to flood the city with fear, they would do a series of things and, I think one of them could be that, saying to everyone: “Pay attention, I can play with your traditions and your culture.” as I please.” And the clearest way to say that could be to hijack this image, the Hope of Triana, the Christ of the Great Power… references for the entire city.

4 – I know that you don’t want them to focus on the fact that your story is a crime novel, brother, but this topic really attracts my attention. Even so, I’m going to help you out, and I’m going to ask you to simply tell me about the noir genre. What elements of this can we find in The children of Justo?

Well, analyzing it coldly for this interview and for the first time, I think it fulfills many of the characteristics that crime novels usually possess.

To start, the atmosphere. Los del Río said in their famous song that “Seville has a special color.” It is a challenge for me to dye the city gray, the obscurantism, people’s nerves, the topics of conversations in bars, not trusting anyone… it is interesting, I repeat, to dye gray a city that has a palette of colors so extensive.

Then, the element of the detective, or the investigator (in this case it is a Police Inspector) with a personality that is, let’s say, tormented by the fact of losing his wife in a brutal attack some time before.

Also, we have that parity between the Inspector and the reader when it comes to unraveling the plot. Also, let me tell you that writing from the Investigator’s point of view, in the first person, makes it more interesting because the character opens up in the process.

Another thing is that there is organized crime, in fact, The Sons of the Righteous I can tell you that they are a terrorist organization that acts as such and it can be said that they are the main enemy.

And finally the clues, false clues, etc., which are also integrated with legends and peculiarities of the city and give it a more truthful aspect, so to speak.

Come on, brotherhood is, of course, important, Eva. But I think the novel has many more things.

5– I can’t help it: Do you think it could be of interest to followers and curious members of brotherhoods? What could a large audience find there?

I think it is a novel where the brother public can find winks, but the general public can learn things from the brother world or let themselves be carried away by their passion, perhaps understanding the other party a little more. There is room for everyone here.

6– Ken Follet said, in an interview in which we were with him, that in each chapter there has to be a hook for the reader or, at least, that the action is continuous enough to build a best seller. Do you agree with him?

Well, at the moment I have zero best sellers written, but I think the way to get a best sellerIt is for the audience to be attentive to the story and for that, without a doubt, you have to put in a lot of hooks and the action has to be very close, yes. In fact, I consider it to be my way of writing, partly because it is what I like to find when I read a novel.

7– Where do you see yourself presenting your novel when a publisher signs you? 😛

On Sierpes Street. There are several sites with a strong literary load where I would be delighted to be able to present a reissue of my novel which, by the way, Eva, if the publisher lends itself, could have content worthy of even those who have the previous edition buying it. . Because putting a face or shape to things that you imagine while reading…always likes it, right?

I would tell you that my favorite place would be the Caótica bookstore, here in Seville, but unfortunately it hasn’t been operational for a while. I hope it is soon and maybe it won’t be, but I can announce and present my second work there.