Like People You See in a Dream: An Excerpt from Miraculous Air About San Ignacio

The latest podcast is live: my reading of an excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions paperback; Dancing Chiva e-book). It's from an excerpt from the chapter about the Jesuit missions and San Ignacio, in the center of the peninsula. (Approximately 28 minutes.)

The e-book edition of Miraculous Air should be up on Kindle by the second week of August, if not sooner.

>Read more about this book here.
>Listen to another podcast from this book, about Baja California's pioneer sportfisherman, Bob van Wormer, here.

My podcasts are free; download them from podmatic or iTunes. For a complete list of podcasts, including those on creative writing, Mexican literature in translation, Mexico's Second Empire, and more, visit www.cmmayo.com/podcasts.html

Mexico City Melissa Garden and Las Azoteas de la Ciudad de México

It's the rainy season; almost every afternoon we get drenched. In the sunny mornings, the bees have been happily sipping at the lavender, but I couldn't find any on this rainy afternoon. Picadou (pug) stayed inside, cozy in her bed. (Acapulco it ain't.)

Here's another view, from the door, with the Ajusco in the distance.



What's a melissa garden? It is a honeybee and pollinator sanctuary. Click here to read all about the wonderful one in California.

Mexico City has long had a tradition of rooftop living. The flat rooftops are called "azoteas." Here's a classic and widely reproduced painting from the 19th century, "Las azoteas de la Ciudad de México" which shows the cathedral and the volcanos in the distance. (To my suprise-- and delight-- my publisher, Unbridled Books, included this painting in the cover design of my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. It's a little difficult to see on-line, alas.)

The Emperor's Little Pears

Over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, where I share research on Mexico's Second Empire, the tumultuous period also known as the French Intervention, a story from San Miguel de Allende.

Thanks to "greenfinger" at MorgueFile.com for the picture of the pears.

More anon.

Niño Fidencio: De Roma a Espinazo

As part of my research for the introduction to my translation of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual (forthcoming this November), I've been reading widely and watching documentaries about Spiritism in Mexico. One documentary I can recommend is the fascinating "Niño Fidencio: De Roma a Espinazo" which can be seen in its entirely, with English subtitles, at this link:
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/3005/Nino-Fidencio-de-Roma-a-Espinazo.

For anyone interested in Mexican spritism, this is a must-see, but even for those who are not, it provides a glimpse into the complexity and strangeness of Mexico, as well as the erosion of Catholic Church. The end of the film shows rare footage of Niño Fidencio being rolled over the top of a mosh pit and then, from on high, as a method of healing, pitching fruit at his followers.

For further reading, see Dore Gardner's Niño Fidencio: A Heart Thrown Open (University of New Mexico Press, 1999)

This is all very different from the more urban, Kardec-inspired Spiritism of Madero. But there are connections. More anon.

Interview by Jada Bradley for InReads.com

... in which I talk about Dancing Chiva and bringing some of my books into digital editions. Read the interview here.

More interviews about Dancing Chiva Literary Arts here.

More anon.

First Newsletter Out via MailChimp

Mailchimp seems to be a very popular e-mail newsletter service, and I can see why. It's playful, easy to use, and inexpensive, in fact, free up to a very large number of emails. I just wrangled my way around it and sent out my first-- July 2011-- newsletter, covering news about my books, forthcoming works, podcasts, videos, articles, events, and writing workshops. I also included a free 50+ page e-book of tips for creative writers.


>>To view the July 2011 newsletter, click here.

>>To get that free e-book, sign up for my newsletter. Next one goes out in September.

P.S. I'm aiming to adhere to my own idea of best practices in sending newsletters. Read more about that here.

More anon.

Guest-Blogger Eric D. Goodman 5 Train Stories Worth Riding

Guest-blogging this Wednesday is my fellow Maryland Writers Association member Eric D. Goodman, who has a new book out, Tracks: A Novel in Stories, set on a train traveling from Baltimore to Chicago. It has been garnering effusive praise, including from Madison Smartt Bell who calls it "a most cunningly crafted tale-- a perfect read for trains, planes, and automobiles... or even your armchair." Hop aboard at www.TracksNovel.com.

Five Stories Set on Trains
By Eric D. Goodman

The train is a wonderful setting for a story. Trains are mysterious, exciting, and always in motion, the setting virtually unset. Strangers on a train are placed side by side to share a journey into the unknown, and in many cases, by the end of the line they are no longer strangers. Movies, novels, stories; adventures, comedies, mysteries—genres and themes as diverse as the passengers on a train. There are hundreds, but here are five train stories worth riding.

1. The Train
Those who appreciate art should appreciate this classic film starring Burt Lancaster, based on the true story about the looting of master paintings from the Musee du Jeu de Paume. A German officer steals a collection of French masterworks and loads them onto a train set for Germany. Labiche and the resistance vow to stop the train before it reaches the border.

2. Murder on the Orient Express
For the mystery lover, it doesn’t get much better than Agatha Christie’s Poirot mystery confined on a train. It was adapted to film more than once, the most successful version being the 1974 film starring Albert Finny, Sean Connery, Lauren Becall, and Anthony Perkins. But if you’re only now boarding this train, read the book before witnessing the movie.

3. The Iron Tracks
For a fine literary ride about a person’s quest for revenge, this is a novel to savor. The narrator, Siegelbaum, spends his life traveling by train through Austria to recover stolen pieces of Jewish culture. But when he reaches his underlying goal, it’s not all he imagined.

4. Silver Streak
Need a little comic relief? Look no further than this Gene Wilder – Richard Pryor comedy. Wilder’s character is a book editor who takes the train because he wants to be bored. That doesn’t work out as he gets involved with romance, multiple murders, and even a runaway train.

5. Strangers on a Train
You may have seen the movie by Alfred Hitchcock. But have you read the book by Patricia Highsmith? The master novelist of psychological thrillers and crime fiction (who also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley) is best known for this “exchange murder” story … which inspired train movies like Throw Momma from the Train, Dead End, Once You Kiss a Stranger, and an episode of The Simpsons. But those are for another list.

--Eric D. Goodman

---> For the complete archive of Madam Mayo Blog's guest-blog posts, click here.
Some recent guest-blogs include:
*Susan Coll on 5 Comic Novels
*Richard Jeffrey Newman on 5 Sites to Learn More About the Shahnameh
*Roberta Rich on 5 + 1 Books to Inform a 16th Century Historical Thriller

Dancing Chiva's Maximiliana, Richard Salvucci on How Google Disprespected Mexican History, and Catherine Clinton on Mary Chesnut

UPDATE over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, where I share my research on Mexico's Second Empire / French Intervention of the 1860s:

This blog has been quiet lately because I've been preparing the launch this fall of several e-books, including a few works of Maximiliana, and the e-book of my novel in Spanish translation, El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano. (View the complete catalog here and watch my brief video about e-book cover design here.) ...CONTINUE READING

Podcasts for Writers

My podcasts for writers are now on their own reorganized webpage here. Download them for free on podomatic or itunes.

No workshop this summer, but on September 24 I'll be offering a one day workshop on "Techniques of Fiction" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda MD (near Washington DC) and in February 2012, for the San Miguel Writers Workshops, a two day, more in-depth workshop on the same. For updates, visit my workshop schedule.

More anon.

How Google Disrespected Mexican History

Just out: a profoundly important article by historian Richard J. Salvucci, about what happened to one of the priceless treasures of Mexican archives.

It should make us question the easy assumptions that digitalizing documents and books saves them for eternity, and so cheaply (a big argument thse days for cash-strapped libraries). Digitalization is more fragile, for both technical and economic reasons, than we often suppose-- and this story Salvucci tells about the sad odyssey of Paper of Record is a stunning example of that.

P.S. I have a deep affection and appreciation for old-fashioned libraries, having benefitted so much from so many of them. This is one of the reasons why my publishing firm, Dancing Chiva Literary Arts, while specializing mainly in e-books, will also be publishing limited editions beginning next year. I wonder whether e-books as we know them today will be around in even a few more years. Will the 2020 version of the Kindle or Nook download ancient (circa 2010) e-book libraries? Most people over the age of 25 have stories about once pricey but suddenly obsolete computers and computer paraphernalia. (Anyone still reading floppy discs?) In sum, as genuinely enthused as I am about digitalization, we must never forget the immense value of old-fashioned, you-can-actually-go-there-and-actually-touch-it archives and libraries.

More anon.