I am very excited to bring you today’s guest, Amparo Ortiz. Amparo is the author of a young adult fantasy book called Blazewrath Games about a Puerto Rican girl who aims to play in an international competition with dragons and she ends up embroiled in an international conspiracy. The sequel, Dragonblood Ring is coming out in October, so look forward to that. In true Puerto Rican fashion, we had a very long conversation starting with memories of Old San Juan and the fanfiction she wrote about the nuns in her Catholic school, then going into how much of the real world artists should use for inspiration. If “Cat Person” means anything to you, that’s what we get into. If not, you’ll just have to find out. We also had a great discussion about religious iconography and grace and forgiveness in the age of social media. And then we brought it all home with a discussion about her current and upcoming work, and Latinx identity in Blazewrath Games. Find the most comfortable couch at your titi’s house because we are not leaving this party for a long, long while. Follow Amparo Ortiz: Twitter: @amparo_ortiz Instagram: @amparo_ortiz TikTok: @amparo_ortiz_author Buy Blazewrath Games: https://bookshop.org/books/blazewrath-games-9781662036941/9781645670797 Pre-order Dragonblood Ring: https://bookshop.org/books/dragonblood-ring/9781645673163 Email the podcast at encuentroslatinxs@gmail.com. Facebook: UCC Encuentros Latinx This episode was recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.