Five Quick Questions for Agustín Cadena, author of Las tentaciones de la dicha

This Wednesday's guest-blog post is in a somewhat different format-- instead of the usual 5 links, there are 5 questions for Mexican writer Agustín Cadena, apropos of his splendid new collection of short stories, Las tentaciones de la dicha. As I noted in a previous post, I've long been an admirer of Cadena's writing, and have translated some of his stories, most recently for a collection edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo to be published by Small Beer Press. This collection-- Las tentaciones de la dicha-- has been published by Editorial Jus in Mexico City. And check out the trailer-- it's one of the best book trailers I've seen.

Q #1: You have been living for some time in Hungary. Has Eastern European literature influenced your writing? In particular, the vampire stories?

A: I am not fully aware of the influences that are affecting my writing. It's true that I have been living in Hungary for almost eight years, but I think my inspiration sources come mainly from English and Russian literature. In relation to vampire stories, it's interesting to note that they are not really common in Eastern European literature, as many people would assume. They come rather from British and American (and nowdays even Swedish) authors.

Q #2: Has living in Hungary changed the way you see Mexico and Mexican literature?

A: I think it has. I have become more tolerant.

Q #3: How would you describe the Hungarian literary scene? (And how does it compare to Mexico?)

A: Hungary has a strong literary tradition, but this has bloomed in times of political crisis. Hungarians seem to need some degree of stress to let out the best of themselves. And I am not sure this is a good time in this sense. Most people are just happy celebrating their membership to the European Union, and trying to get all possible advantages from it. Something similar happens in Mexico, I think, though with a different background. There is a crisis in México, of course, but the literary elites do not seem to realize it. They are just too busy getting fat on grants and privileges, traveling, forging alliances, and bullying the weak. The necessary stress is missing.

Q #4: Blogging is such a new form and a radical change for those of us born in the 1960's. But with "El vino y la hiel" you've been blogging for a few years now and you have a multitude of followers. What would you advise younger writers about blogging?

A: Keep writing, keep posting, at least once a month. And try to define your profile from the beginning. Choose a few topics and keep writing about that.

Q #5: Of all the stories in this new collection, in your opinion which would best lend itself to a "vook"--- a video enhanced e-book?

A: Maybe the last one: “The Castle”.

P.S. More Cadena links:

Interview for Tameme (in English and in Spanish)

"Lady of the Seas" a short story by Agustin Cadena translated by C.M. Mayo

Las tentaciones de la dicha (Editorial Jus)

Agustín Cadena in Mexico City: Las tentaciones de la dicha

For many years now I've been a big admirer of Mexican writer Agustin Cadena's fiction. One of his short stories, "Lady of the Seas," appears in my anthology, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts Press, 2006), and another was the first Tameme Chapbook ~ Cauderno, Carne verde, piel negra / An Avocado from Michoacán (Tameme, 2007). A third translation of mine, his story "Parque Murillo," is forthcoming from Small Beer Press, in a collection edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo. I strongly feel that many more of Cadena's works deserve to be translated into English. For those of you who read Spanish, check out his blog, El vino y la hiel. And if you're in Mexico City this week don't miss the launch of his new collection of short stories, Las tentaciones de la dicha (Editorial Jus), with presenters Eve Gil, Miguel Couturier, and Luis Bernardo Pérez, this Thursday at 7 pm, address: Donceles 66, Col Centro (entre Rep Chile y Palma). The event is free and open to the public.

Here's the jacket text:

Hay, en las historias de Agustín Cadena, un diálogo con los aspectos tristes de la vida que sin embargo nos arrancan sonrisas y complicidades para envolvernos en la oscura magia de sus desgracias. Los cuentos que componen este libro son una muestra de ello: viejos vampiros en busca de inquilinos, una pareja que al vacacionar en las playas del mar Negro encuentra a un hombre con un misterioso maletín, un castillo convertido en hotel de lujo donde se dan cita personajes excéntricos. Una a una las historias de Las tentaciones de la dicha nos seducen, nos vuelven cómplices, nos hacen reír mientras veladamente asistimos a la pérdida de la inocencia del mundo que nos rodea.

P.S. Cadena, I am truly honored to say, is the translator of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, which comes out next month as El último príncipe del Imperio mexicano, with Random House Mondadori.

More anon.

Ten Reflections on the Occasion of "Madam Mayo" Blog's Fourth Anniversary

The fourth anniversary of this blog has just slipped past... It was March 31st. So, I've been blogging steadily for longer than I imagined, and it looks like I won't be giving it up any time soon. What have I learned / concluded, and what do I continue to ponder? A quick ten items:

1. Blogging is whatever you want it to be. And that morphs. I don't worry about this so much as I once did. I just blog.

2. Thanks to the robots (search engines, web-crawlers), when regularly added to, over time, a blog becomes an increasingly powerful magnet for web traffic. Translation: though there are readers following this blog via RSS feed, and more recently, google blogs and facebook networked blogs, many if not most of my readers on any given day happen upon "Madam Mayo" via a search. This blog gets hits almost daily for ancient posts such as "what to feed your dog" (2007), "Pug Discovers Crop Circle in Carpet" (2008) and "Michael Talbot's Holographic Universe" (2009). I also get several hits a day for Catherine Mansell Carstens-- a name I haven't written under for more than 10 years.

3. But blogging isn't necesarily all writing; it can integrate video, photos, widgets, hypertext-- the genre is getting rich, soupy, and ever-morphingly fascinating. So what does it mean to be a writer? Not what it did, I know that much.

4. Many more writers are beginning to understand the power of blogging. Bless 'em. (But would you all newbies please blog about something besides your new book?)

5. Integrating facebook and twitter does help boost traffic, yes.
Follow the tweets @madammayo
@cmmayo1

6. I'm finding it increasingly less interesting to even think about querying newspapers and magazines. I've written for the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Mexico, Inside Mexico, and the like, and until I started my blog, I assumed I would continue to do so. But I prefer to put my effort into writing books (long form) and blogging (short form). Maybe I'll rethink this. Sometime.

7. On several occasions, when pressed for time, and wanting to spend more on my fiction writing, I considered quitting the blog. But then I remembered point #1 (see above).
P.S. My personal mantra: THERE IS NO WHITE-BEARDED COMMITTEE IN THE SKY.

8. Because its archive of posts is so easily searchable, a blog can also be a cabinet of curiosities. I sometimes post links (such as 11 Cool Beans and Blogs Noted) just to I know I'll have them handy later. Yes, I could just "bookmark" them, but it's fun to think someone else might enjoy seeing them, too.

9. A really good blog is, alas, rarer than I had hoped. Here are a few of the few I've been following regularly for more than a year:

Apifera Farm
Donkeys, pie & art (and lots of lambs & lavender, too) by artist / farmer Katherine Dunn.

Buzz, Balls & Hype
Ruminations and more about the publishing biz by M.K. Rose advertising guru and author of potboilers (and owner of a very cute little white lapdog).

Christine Boyka Kluge
Gorgeous poetry blog.

Clusterfuck Nation
By James Howard Kunstler. His posts are sometimes a bit much of a curmudgeony downer, but for the zippy zingers, halleluja.

El vino y la hiel
By Mexican poet and writer Agustin Cadena.

Seth Godin
Squiblets du jour by an angel of art and compassion disguised as shiny-headed marketing guru.

David Lida
Photos and more about (mostly) Mexico City.

Phronesisiacal
Founded by a DC area professor of political philosophy; very eclectic; love the fruit pix; could skip the torture parts, though.

Real Delia
By Delia Lloyd, political scientist turned generalist. "Tips for Adulthood" and more. An especially intelligent blog, and rich with links.

Right Reading
Eclectic, aesthetic & amusing, by California-based translator, writer, editor, designer Tom Christensen.

Derek Sivers
By the founder of CD Baby. A music business outside-the-box thinker.

Swiss Miss
By a New York-based Swiss designer. Astonishing fun, like a daily jelly bean in a wierdly yummy flavor.

Work in Progress
Announcements, guest-blogs, advice, reflections both practical and personal, by my amiga novelist Leslie Pietrzyk.

10. More anon.

El Paso Times Reviews "An Avocado from Michoacan"

Today's El Paso Times features Rigoberto Gonzalez's glowing review of Tameme's first bilingual chapbook--- Agustin Cadena's short story "Carne verde, piel negra" translated by Yours Truly as "An Avocado from Michoacan". "A gem of a story," writes Gonzalez, "reminiscent of Juan Rulfo and Mariano Azuela." Click here for the full review.... and by the way, another wonderful short story by Cadena appears in my anthology, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion. Cadena blogs, too, at El vino y la hiel. More anon.