Mario Barrera Releases KITTY AND SHEP

LOS ANGELES

A Berkeley ethnic studies professor turns his talents to fiction writing in a new book released by Dog Ear Publishing. The novel features two intertwined love stories: one a classic romantic triangle, the other a fresh take on Romeo and Juliet.

Los Angeles resident Jennie Livingston thinks that perhaps Hollywood screenwriter Casey Chandler may be her long-sought soulmate. But when her disgruntled ex tries to repossess her purebred Chartreux cat, Jennie gets some unexpected help from her neighbor Carlos, a celebrity shaman who has a secret crush on her, notes this new novel. To Jennie's surprise, Kitty is suddenly a beautiful young woman with a feisty personality, a French accent and an obsession with Scarlett O'Hara as her human role model.

In no time Kitty is trying to break up Jennie's budding romance with Casey and fix her up with Carlos instead. When not meddling in Jennie's love life, Kitty amuses herself by harassing Casey's English sheepdog Shep, who used to chase her up trees in her previous incarnation. But when Carlos transforms Shep into a handsome young British chap in order to save him from animal control, Kitty decides that what she really wants to do is play Juliet to Shep's Romeo, no matter what her old cat friends think.

The various romantic entanglements get put on hold when Jennie's ex kidnaps Kitty to change her back into a cat and breed her for money. The ensuing rescue mission by Jennie, Carlos and Shep leads to a climactic showdown and some surprising results.

Author Mario Barrera spent the 1960s in graduate school at Berkeley after graduating from the University of Texas. He went on to teach ethnic studies, politics, film analysis and screenwriting on five University of California campuses. The Mission, Texas, native was one of the founders of the field of Chicano Studies in the 1970s. His best-known book is "Race and Class in the Southwest" (1979). Barrera produced the documentary film "Chicano Park" and directed "Latino Stories of World War II." His current writing project is a memoir.

For additional information, please visit http://www.kittyandshep.com

Kitty and Shep
Mario Barrera
Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4575-3251-1
228 pages
$19.95 US

Available at Ingram, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and fine bookstores everywhere.

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