Author and A-B Tech adjunct instructor David Pereda’s life reads a lot like one of his own thrilling adventure tales. The personable Cuban American currently teaches basic math at A-B Tech, though he has lived many other lives, including author, English instructor, world traveler, and international business consultant. When not in the classroom, Pereda pens novels with plots centered on kidnappings, politics, and international intrigue, often set in his native Cuba.
Asked if he is more right-brained or left-brained, Pereda smiles. “I relax doing math problems,” he jokes. “Writing is the hardest thing I’ve done.”
His love for words dates to growing up in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. From the time he was nine, Pereda loved American writers like Louis L’Amour, who wrote about cowboys and the western frontier. Pereda’s first book, written at 9, was a cowboy story.
Pereda admits he felt out of place growing up in Cuba after Fulgencio Batista came to dictatorship and the universities, one by one, began to shut down. As a teenager, Pereda spent his time dancing salsa and “chasing girls or having them chase me.” It wasn’t until his family immigrated to Tampa when he was 19 and Pereda enrolled at the University of South Florida (USF) that he felt fully at home. “I felt I belonged there,” he said. “I thought, ‘this is a place where I can learn’.”
Pereda earned two degrees at USF, one in English and one in math, and went on to get an MBA in California. When he was 28, he landed a business consulting job at Booz Allen Hamilton. His career took him to Mexico and Venezuela over the next decade, where he worked with many companies doing business consulting. During this time, he also managed to juggle family life, with five children born in Texas, Mexico, Venezuela, and California.
A Career in Letters
Pereda’s publishing career began in his 20s when he sold his first book, an erotic novel, to a publisher in Florida. The novel, written under a pen name, sold relatively well, and Pereda was asked to write more, but decided against it. “I didn’t want my kids growing up with a dad that wrote pornographic novels,” he said. “I still have one copy of that book hidden someplace.”
From there, it took Pereda many tries to get another novel published. In 2022, he found an agent online who placed his first thriller, “Havana Confidential,” with a publisher. The book sold well online, paving the way to more book sales. Since then, Pereda has taken his career into his own hands, going without an agent and querying publishers directly. He’s now sold 14 books to five publishers. His best-selling book “The Wall”, won the Gold Medal in the 2023 Latino Books Into Movies Awards in the Drama TV Series category. Centering on the lives of immigrants from San Salvador, it has received over a hundred reviews by customers on Amazon. One reads: “Pereda has brought the plight of people fleeing their own country right to our door, and it may change your view on the many people striving to get from Mexico across the border to America.”
Pereda points out that he has succeeded at his craft only after much rejection and persistence. Paraphrasing one of Roosevelt’s famous quotes, he points out that the best we can do in life is not to worry about winning or losing, but simply to stay active and engaged in the “arena”. “Weak or timid” souls never know victory or defeat. The feisty writer, who also competed as an equestrian in his younger years, finished his latest novel in the days following Helene, writing by candlelight after he lost power.
Pereda’s favorite adventure these days is teaching math at A-B Tech, where he’s worked as an adjunct teaching computers, creative writing, and math for 18 years. His students struggled with math in high school and came to him needing developmental math instruction on their way to an associate’s degree.
“I love teaching them, “he says. “(Older students) come here after their kids have grown and say, ‘I was never good at math.’ Then, after they finish the course, they say, ‘I’m good at math!’ I love helping them achieve their dreams.”