More Madero: Interviews by Jeffrey Mishlove and a Review by Michael Tymn

It's sometimes curious the way books wend their way to their readers. When I started out writing under the name C.M. Mayo more than (ayy) two decades ago, like most young writers, I hyper-focussed on short-term goals such as getting an agent, getting published, winning prizes, and selling oh-so-many copies. I still relish getting published, winning prizes, and selling copies, when that happens to happen, but my view of the value and meaning of this peculiar endeavor we call "writing books" has since expanded into more esoteric realms, and in more ways than one. 

As those of you who have been following this blog well know, back in 2014 I brought out Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual, which includes my translation of Manual espírita, by "Bhima," that is, the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico from 1911-1913. In other words, I wrote a book about and translated a book of transcendental importance to the 1910 Revolution itself, among other things, to which, for more than a century, only a handful of specialists in Mexican history had paid more than a whit of attention. (And why not? Two words: cognitive dissonance.)

The thing is, a book is both a commodity, as anyone who works with a major New York publishing house or, say, a rare books dealer, can aver, and a mystical package, that is, a complex amalgam of thought-forms that, so encapsulated, code on paper, can travel forward across even vast realms of time and space to unleash its contents into the imaginal realm of a human mind. When that happens to happen.

Right now, as I am working on a book about Far West Texas, I have on my desk a mystical package that is 474 years old. Specifically: a paperback edition of the English translation by Rolena Adorno and Patrick Charles Pautz of the Relación or report of 1547 by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca to the King of Spain-- a story that is an odyssey if there ever was one.

To the news. I am very honored to announce that just this week Michael Tymn reviewed Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution on his blog over at White Crow Books. 

Among many other works, Tymn is the author of Resurrecting Leonora Piper: How Science Discovered the Afterlife. 

And I am also honored to announce that Jeffrey Mishlove conducted a three part interview with me about Spiritism in the Mexican Revolution for his program "New Thinking Allowed." As of this week, the first two of three segments All three segments are now on-line.













Mishlove is the author of The PK Man, a book that took him 20 years to publish, is now 15 years old, and is yet finding ever more readers. It may have gotten a slow start but I believe that Mishlove's The PK Man will stand as one of the landmark works of the 20th century. I explain in my forthcoming review of Jeffrey Kripal and Whitley Strieber's Super Natural.

On Writing About Mexico: Secrets and Surprises

(Centennial lecture for University of Texas El Paso)

Why Translate? The Case of the President of Mexico's Secret Book

Lifting the (Very Heavy) Curtain on Mexico's 1910 Revolution

CLICK HERE.

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

From The PK Man to Primates of Park Avenue: Whiplash Extremes of Human Behavior

I believe that through narrative we become more human; truth is beauty; exploration is infinite. Some years ago, in my literary explorations, I encountered Jeffrey Mishlove's The PK Man and found it astonishing. Well, because it is. (Read it if you dare.) 

Last week I had occasion to reread Mishlove's The PK Man, and now, as the author myself of a book about another astonishing book-- Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual, I found it even more astonishing, for I understood what courage it must have taken to not only write The PK Man, but to publish it. (Never mind, in my own case, to read it twice, cover to cover.) When it comes to this sort of material, most people, including myself back when, encounter a block of cognitive dissonance oh, say, the size of Greenland and Alaska and Antarctica combined. Multiplied by 11,999.

What prompted me to reread The PK Man was that I flew to Las Vegas to be interviewed about my book on Jeffrey Mishlove's show, New Thinking Allowed. (Stay tuned for the video links.) It was honor indeed. Of course I brought my copy of The PK Man for him to sign.

UPDATE: See "Axe of Apocalypse," my review of Strieber and Kripal's Super Natural for Literal Magazine, in which I discuss Mishlove's The PK Man at length.

UPDATE: Here are the links to the 3-part interview with me on Mishlove's "New Thinking Allowed":

But whoa, after all the metaphysical talk, as I was about to get back on the plane, I really needed to do a sharp turn on this teacup ride-- I mean, read something grounding, something very focussed on the materialistic. Anthropologist Wednesday Martin's personal memoir Primates of Park Avenue was just the thing. Highly recommended.

(And if you think The PK Man was more than a little weird, I point to Wednesday Martin's Park Avenue apartment which, by her own testimony, features an entire closet devoted to her handbags, including a much-coveted "Birkin" that has a markup over cost akin to the price of a small car.) 

(How was Las Vegas? Well, apart from the interview, the only thing I did was to go hiking in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I did pass the Trump casino on the highway, which made me wonder, as I often do whilst perusing the news of the current presidential campaigns, whether I haven't slip-slided into some alternative universe.) 

> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

On Writing About Mexico: Secrets and Surprises

Occult of Personality: The Interview

12 Tips for Summer Day Hiking in the Desert