Madam Mayo: Cyberflanerie: Alain de Botton on Pessimism

I’ve been blogging here at “Madam Mayo” since 2006 about my works, recommended reading, and whatever and whomever else pops up a-blinking on my super-extra-interesting radar.

Why the funny name? A poet once wrote to me, Dear Madam Mayo, and I thought that was hilarious. (Ha, I’m old enough to remember the Gang of Four.)

In 2019 I will once again be blogging on Mondays, except when not, devoting the second Monday of the month to my writing workshop students and anyone else interested in creative writing, and the fourth to a Q & A with a fellow writer.

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NOW ALSO IN KINDLE

"A swashbuckling, riotous good time, befitting the fairy-tale promise of the opening sentence." --AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Get the paperback from all major online booksellers, including

NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR HISTORY

C.M. MAYO'S EYE-OPENING NEW BIOGRAPHY OF FRANCISCO I. MADERO, LEADER OF MEXICO'S 1910 REVOLUTION

"[A] masterful introduction to a topic that hasn't been explored in this accessible way before, and may never be again."

-- OCCULT OF PERSONALITY

> Read more reviews and excerpts

Get the paperback from all major online booksellers, including

C.M. MAYO AT THE UCSD CENTER FOR US-MEXICAN STUDIES, U TEXAS EL PASO, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS & MORE

New on Kindle, my longform essay on the Mexican literary landscape and the power of the book

"With great insight and humor, C.M. Mayo takes you by the hand and leads you on a guided tour through Mexico's complex and amazingly rich literary past... An engrossing and truly illuminating portrayal of the country's literary production throughout the ages. Highly recommended." —Diana Anhalt, author of A Gathering of Fugitives: American Political Expatriates 1947-1965

C.M. MAYO'S ON-LINE BOOKSHOP

Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution; The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire; Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion; Sky Over El Nido, and more titles by C.M. Mayo

Quetzalpugalotl & Quetzalpugtl Chillin' in Tepoztlan

MIRACULOUS AIR: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico

Get the paperback from all major online booksellers, including

Ur Posts from the Dawn of Blogging

ALL YE MULTITUDINOUS POSTS OF YORE, YONDER BACK TO AD 2006-- THE 930TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1066

Selected interviews with other writers and podcasters

Q & A with Other Writers

Q & A with Amy Hale Auker on "Ordinary Skin: Essays from Willow Springs"
Q & A with Mary Mackey on "The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams"
Q & A with Lynn Downey on Researching California History
Q & A with Yermiyahu Ahron Taub on "Prodigal Children in the House of G-d"
Q & A with Sara Mansfield Taber on "Chance Particulars"
Q & A with Nancy Peacock on "The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson"
Q & A with Leslie Pietrzyk on "Silver Girl"
Q & A with Mary S. Black on Travels in Texas
Q & A with Ellen Cassedy and Yermiyahu Ahron Taub on Blume Lempel's "Oedipus in Brooklyn"
Q & A with Shelley Armitage on "Walking the Llano"
Q & A with Carolina Castillo Crimm on "De León: A Tejano Family History"
Q & A with Paul Cool on "The Salt Warriors"
Q & A with John Kachuba on "The Savage Apostle"
Q & A with Karen Benke, Poet, Creativity and Fun Maven, Letter Writing Aficionada, and Author of "Write Back Soon!"
Q & A with Edward Swift on the Big Thicket, New York, the Orphic Journey, San Miguel de Allende, the Sierra Gorda, and More
Q & A with Sonja D. Williams on Writing "Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom"
Q & A with Roger Greenwald, Poet and Literary Translator of Gunnar Harding
Q & A with Rev Stephen Hermann on Francisco I. Madero as Medium
Q & A with Independent Publisher Michele Orwin, Founding Editor of Bacon Press Books
Q & A with Tod Goldberg about Podcasting with Literary Disco
Q & A with Mexican Historian Alan Rojas Orzechowski on Painter Santiago Rebull
Q & A with Rice Freeman-Zachery on Creative Podcasting
Plus: Podcast interviews in "Conversations with Other Writers"
Plus: Many more interviews on the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project

A MENU OF POSSIBILITIES TO CONSIDER

VISIT MY OTHER BLOGS (NO, I DO NOT BLOG ALL DAY THOUGH THAT SURE WOULD BE FUN)

MARFA MONDAYS BLOG

The blog for the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project: Exploring Marfa, Texas & Environs in 24 Podcasts, 2012-2013. All about the podcasts, plus photos, books, videos, and more about Marfa and the Big Bend. This blog and the podcasts are apropos of a work in progress, World Waiting for a Dream: A Turn in Far West Texas.

MAXIMILIAN ~ CARLOTA BLOG

A once-in-a-while-on-Tuesdays blog to share my (copius) research and other information related to my novel set during the 1860s in Mexico-- that tumultuous period known as the Second Empire or French Intervention.

READING TOLSTOY'S WAR & PEACE

Finally, after numerous attempts, I tackled the behemoth in 2011. This blog, now closed but ever open for perusal, I kept for myself, for fellow W&P travelers past, present and future, and for my writing workshop students so they can see precisely what I mean by "reading as a writer."

GIANT GOLDEN BUDDHA & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises (ex-blog / blog archive)

A long-ago blog by Yours Truly and friends, now an ebook. Help yourself.

Click on the cover to learn more about this rare eyewitness memoir of Maximilian

C.M. MAYO'S ONLINE LIBRARY OF OUT-OF-COPYRIGHT TEXAS BOOKS

> Click here.

NOTE: THIS BLOG PARTICIPATES IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM.

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