"One day in the middle of reciting one of my stories which had my sisters and friends rolling on the ground in laughter, I experienced an epiphany. It suddenly occurred to me that if I could make them laugh, I could  make them cry, so I began to slowly change the theme of the tale and before long they were in tears begging me to stop. It was so amazing that from that moment on, I  wanted to become a writer." M. N. Leal

  Manuel has had the good fortune of producing four plays in his hometown of Houston, Texas, three of which he wrote and directed ("Nuestras Vidas," "Sharif, the Christmas Camel," "Even the Sun Cried," and "Saytr," co-written with his good friend and business associate; Carlos Diaz Santana. 

 Manuel has three published books and a fourth is on the way!

 In the winter of 2010 and spring of 2011, Manuel had the honor of editing, the novel "ROMINUS," by Jonathan Amaret also a native Houstonian currently residing in L.A.

 "Rominus" was recently awarded Honorable Mention at both the New York and Hollywood Book Festivals in the Wild Card category.

Look for "Rominus," at CHIP's website linked below.

"Jonathan Amaret has arrived in Houston to promote his novel "ROMINUS." Details soon...