Guest-Blogger John Scherber, Author of Into the Heart of Mexico: 5 Expat Meccas

My San Miguel de Allende-based fellow-American, fellow writer and bodaciously successful publisher of San Miguel de Allende Books-- if you're lucky enough to attend this year's San Miguel Writer's Conference, look for him in the conference's bookstore-- John Scherber has a new...

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More About the Mysterious Dr. Krumm-Heller and His Book, Für Freiheit und Recht (For Freedom and Justice)

My book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual is available in Kindle and days from being available in paperback. One of the main characters in this novelesque tome of nonfiction is Francisco I. Madero's personal...

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The Future of Bookstores

Author and blogger Carmen Amato has asked how me and other bloggers how we see the future of bookstores. It's a question I'm delighted to contemplate because, from the time I was a small child, bookstores have been a Mecca for me, and, as an author, when it comes to selling my books, an oasis of delightfulness-- though sometimes, alas, a...

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M.M. McAllen's New Book Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico

News over on my other blog, Maximilian-Carlota: A  blog for Researchers of the French Intervention/ Second Empire:M.M. McAllen has just published Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico, available from Trinity University Press. I read it in draft...

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John Kachuba, Expert on the Dead, to Lead Day of the Dead Expedition in Mexico

www.johnkachuba.comMy metaphysical amigo, Metaphysical Traveler John Kachuba, author of several books on (eeeee!) ghosts, is leading a cultural tour to Mexico October 29- November 3, 2014-- a great opportunity to travel into the heart of Mexico on some of its most special days...

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Cyberflanerie: Cryptocurrency Edition

Back in the Pleistocene I used to work as an economist, so in my armchair capacity I still take an interest in certain topics. A conversation about Bitcoin with a fellow economist got me thinking... is there anything new under the sun? (Must youth be ever-callow?) Naiveté abounds, yea, even amongst the grey-suited poobahs of the European...

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Paper vs Digital: The Three Stages (So Far) of Awareness

Digital vs Paper?1. Not aware, not interested, love my paper.Profile: would not use a Kindle if you paid them. Hates that grandchildren and pedestrians are constantly distracted by their hand-held devices. Uses one easy to remember password for everything, on a scrap of paper...

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Sherlock Holmes and Spiritualism

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on archive.org(this is a screenshot; does not link)What a rich resource is archive.org! I'm on there almost daily, researching one or another other of my writing projects. Recently I surfed upon a ten minute video on archive.org of Sir Arthur Conan...

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A Visit to Swan House: Presidio Texas' Unique Adobe Teaching House Inspired by the Legacy of Hassan Fathy

My article for Cenizo Journal, winter 2013, is now available on my webpage.  (I read this and did a Q & A for PEN San Miguel de Allende, listen in anytime here.)I first spied it from a Jeep on Casa Piedra Road: a huddle of oddly shaped brown buildings baking in...

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My Uncool "Cool Tool": Grandma's Recipe Box Solution to Internet Password Management

The uncoolest "Cool Tool" ever? A super cheap & easy-to-grok paper system ideal for some people.Personal organizers take note.Since I know many of you who follow Madam Mayo are writers, and many are my workshop participants, guys, this one's for you.Oh, what a...

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Cyberflanerie: Butterphilia Edition

Weston Price Foundation on Why Butter is BetterFood Renegade on Why Butter is a Heath FoodButterworldMy favorite pudding recipe which, of course, includes butter.The Guardian on butterSeth Roberts weighs in:Arithmetic and ButterAcquired ButterphiliaButter and Heart...

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Bruce Berger's The End of the Sherry

I like to say that books are thought-capsules that can travel through time and space-- e.g., here I am rereading Cabeza de Vaca's 16th century Naúfragos, his memoir of (who'd a thunkit?) far West Texas, and other yonder beyonds. But the fact is, thanks to our books, we writers...

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