Red Room Has Gone Dark (Sigh) / Ye Very Olde "My Favorite Bookstore? C.M. Mayo Celebrates a Batch of Bookstores"

Redroom.com was the Author Facebook wannabe for a while there… then it seems they tried to be the self-publisher's Etsy (sort of... I just glanced what they were charging to sell books and I thought, nope). Now it seems they've been bought out by Wattpad. Huh. I never could figure out what Redroom's angle was, precisely. But I wished them well. I did a few blog posts for Red Room when I was touring for my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire,  and then when I realized how easy it was to use their blogging platform, I would copy-paste from this blog, Madam Mayo, whenever I had a spare three minutes. The one original post I wrote for Red Room, back in 2009, now seems to me an ode to Times of Yore. That link has gone dead, but ha, I dug it out of the Wayback Machine Internet Archive:

MY FAVORITE BOOKSTORE?

C.M. Mayo Celebrates a Batch of Bookstores

November 4, 2009

But why choose? Herewith a few favorite things about many favorite bookstores:

The mammoth selection of Vroman's (Pasadena CA)

The coziness and curated neuroscience section of the Book Works (Del Mar CA)

The elegant just-walk-in-open ambiance of Mrs. Dalloway's (Berkeley CA)

The breezy feeling and uber-cool but on-their-toes staff (and excellent cafe next door) of Kepler's (Menlo Park CA)

The convenient parking and quirky children's section of Books, Inc. (Palo Alto CA)

The travel selection and travel paraphernalia of Book Passages (Corte Madera CA)

and... moving on east...

The sunny gemutlichkeit and southwest section at the Bookworks (Albuquerque NM)

Endless nooks crammed with surprises (including possibly tripping over someone's Bernese Mountain dog) and music book selections at Explore Booksellers (Aspen CO)

The sunless labyrinthical experience, university press selection, and superb economics section of The Seminary Coop (Chicago IL)

The Washingtoniana and (free!) afternoon tea and cookies of Riverby Books (Capitol Hill, Washington DC)

The politics section and T-shirts that quote Groucho Marx ("Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read") at Politics & Prose (Washington DC)

and south...

The thoughtfully theatrical set-up for author readings of Book People (Austin TX)

The owners's very nurturing care for book groups of Blue Willow (Houston TX)

and seriously south...

The Baja California and Chicano book selection at El Tecolote (Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico)

Bodacious author readings (and selection of Moleskines!) at the Librería del Fondo Rosario Castellanos, Centro Cultural Bella Época (Mexico City, Mexico)

The lush garden, the capuccinos, sunbathing cats, and thunderous views of the Tepozteco of La Sombra del Sabino (Tepoztlan, near Cuernavaca, Mexico).

Red Room Blog Post: My Favorite Bookstore?

Photo: Yours Truly doing a reading and booksigning at the Bookworks in Albuquerque NM. Today over at the Red Room Authors Blog: "C.M. Mayo Celebrates a Batch of Bookstores": Vroman's, Kelper's, the Book Works, Bookworks (yes, they are two different bookstores), Blue Willow, Seminary Coop, Riverby Books, La Sombra del Sabino, and more.

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire: Southern California Book Tour

This week the book tour for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire goes to Southern California:

May 26, 2009 Pasadena CA
Reading, Discussion & Book Signing
Vroman's
7 p.m.
695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena CA 91101 tel (626) 449-5320

May 27, 2009 La Jolla CA
Book Discussion / Lecture
Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, UCSD
12 p.m.
C.M. Mayo to discuss the original research behind the story of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. IOA Complex: Deutz Room. Free and open to the general public.

May 27, 2009 Del Mar CA
Reading, Discussion & Book Signing
The Book Works
7 p.m.
2670 Via De La Valle, Ste A230, Del Mar CA 92014 tel (858) 755-3735

May 28, 2009 Los Angeles CA
Reading, Discussion & Book Signing
The Mexican Consulate of Los Angeles
7 p.m.
2401 W. 6th St, Los Angeles CA 90057 tel (213) 351-6800

Coming up: Albuquerque, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Washington DC and more. Click here for the full schedule.

Cinco de Mayo: It's Pub Date for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C.M. Mayo (Unbridled Books)

Here's the announcement:

Who knew that Mexico once had a half-American prince? Or that this little boy’s future was hotly debated not just in Mexico but in Washington D.C. and in every court in Europe? Set in the mid-19th century when Maximilian von Habsburg was Emperor of Mexico, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is based on the true and never before completely told story about a half-American, half-Mexican boy who, as in a fairytale, became a prince and then a pawn in the struggle-to-the-death over Mexico's destiny. Read all about it here and buy it now at your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, Powell's, basically, you-name-it, here.

Epic in scope, Mayo's impressively researched novel set in mid-19th century Mexico City mines the true story of the short turbulent reign of the archduke of Austria, Maximilian von Hapsburg, who was made emperor of Mexico in 1864. Childless and desperate for an heir, the emperor makes substantial monetary promises to the parents of a young boy named Agustin. With much trepidation, they agree to give over the boy, who becomes a pawn in a custody battle that begins when Maximilian adopts the two-year-old Agustin with the hopes of having him inherit the throne. Agustin's American mother, Madame de Iturbide (née Alice Green), soon becomes dissatisfied with the arrangement and pleads with Maximilian to return her son. Maximilian has Alice deported, which sets off an international brawl. Maximilian finally concedes as Mexico devolves “into bankruptcy and lawlessness” and Maximilian's wife, Carlota, becomes increasingly “unmoored.” Lengthy, expository, meandering and grandiose, Mayo's reanimation of a crucial period in Mexican history should satisfy history buffs and those in the mood for an engaging story brimming with majestic ambition.
Publisher's Weekly

...a ton of juicy history to savor. Mayo has an elegant style that weaves in and out of fact and fiction as she reaches into the minds of the major players and then deviates to introduce supporting characters (nearly all of them real as well)... After finishing this wonderful novel I have new respect for the trials suffered by our southern neighbor in the recent past and also a deep desire to learn more about so many of the names involved, not the least of which the little boy who almost became the future ruler of a nation.
Bookslut

Mayo resurrects a sad story from the footnotes of history and embroiders the few details known about it into a rich historical novel... Mayo comfortably blends fiction with fact while illuminating a dark corner of North American history.
Booklist

The Last Prince deserves attention. It is an ambitious book for tackling such a complicated little sliver of history, and Mayo brings her historic characters to life with a compelling story for a modern audience.
Rose City Reader

...impeccably researched and beautifully rendered. Those readers who love complex historical novels and who want to learn more about this time period in Mexican history will enjoy Mayo’s work.
Caribou's Mom Book Blog

...a story that is both grand yet intimate about a child who sparked an international scandal. The intriguing tale of the Prince of Mexico offers a fine historical lesson about why Maximilian’s paternalistic adventure in a country that did not want him was doomed from the start.
The Latin American Review of Books

The search for an heir is the ostensible subject... The couple find a boy who had been born to a grandson of the previous emperor of Mexico, Augustín Iturbide, and they sign a contract with the parents saying that they will raise him, starting at age two... If this is all too confusing, don't sweat it: everything is made clear, charmingly so, in The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. The book is chockablock full of royal families, royal rumors, royal disputes, as well as being an Upstairs, Downstairs to 19th Century royal life of uplands Mexico.
The Review of Arts, Literature, Philsophy and the Humanities

T]his epic novel takes on a convoluted period in Mexico's history and the complicated families ruling or eager to rule in the mid-19th Century. Mayo does exceptionally well with multiple points of view, description, and character development to create a vivid dramatization. The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire would make a great book club selection and discussion.
Savvy Verse & Wit

This short but tumultuous period of Mexico’s history is fantastically told by first-time novelist, C.M. Mayo, fans of Mexican history will devour it.
Sherri Gallentine Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CA

Click here to read excerpts, view photos, and much more.