Cyberflanerie: Flying Above Earth, Seth Godin, Nassim Taleb, Sakura Review, Babel Cube, Your Clothes

Just back Austin's totally bodacious Texas Book Festival-- will post anon.New literary translation journal, Sakura ReviewSpeaking of translation, Babelcube is up to something that looks like a paradigm-morph...Hat tip to Swiss-miss: Angel's view (takes...

Madero Conference in Mexico City's National Palace: From Spiritism to the Bhagavad-Gita and Other Esoteric Influences

Francisco I. MaderoIt's in Spanish, of course, but it's worth noting here because (1) I know that many of you, dear readers, also read in Spanish;(2) I'm speaking in the conference, December 2, together with Ignacio Solares, one of Mexico's most respected novelists, and; (3)...

Karen Thompson Walker at the Writer's Center

Karen Thompson ParkerAn announcement / invitation from the Bethesda, Maryland Writer's Center:Visiting novelist Karen Thompson Walker, who is the third recipient of The McLaughlin-Esstman Stearns First Novel Prize, will be reading 2:00 p.m., Sunday, November 16 at The Writer’s...

In Which I Review the Review in RALPH

Francisco I. MaderoMy latest is one very strange book— or rather, two strange books for the price of one with —bonus!— the painting of "Gerbara and Eye" by Kelley Vandiver. Of late, I've been getting extreme reactions (though none hostile, yet, which is funny,...

Women Writing the West 2014 in Golden, Colorado: An Eclectic Community of Writers and (...Sigh...) a Sharper Focus on Publishing

It's been a happy adventure to have joined Women Writing the West. Since I mainly write about Mexico, I might seem an unlikely candidate for membership. What prompted me to send off my application year before last was that, first, as a veteran member of several other...

Cyberflanerie: Sarah Zalan's Photoblog, Music Theory, Brown Bears, Mecca, and You Are Not Late

Sarah Zalan's glorious photoblog, "One" Coursera's Fundamentals of Music TheoryPuffer Fish "Crop Circles"More geewhiz animal stuff: Brown Bears at Brooks Falls, AlaskaGeewhiz people stuff: Aerial ropeways for cargo transportSkip Atwater says he didn't make goats fall...

Writers Tool: StandStand the Portable Standing Desk

Hat tip to Swiss Miss: I am so psyched to learn about this Kickstarter project, the StandStand portable standing desk, because it looks like exactly what I need-- but at a fraction of the cost offered elsewhere. Plus, it's portable. I ordered the bamboo model, and fingers crossed,...

Guest-Blogger Historical Novelist Claudia H. Long on 5 Secrets About the Crypto-Jews of Mexico

Claudia H. LongDelighted to once again host historical novelist Claudia H. Long, whose latest is The Duel for Consuelo. From her official bio: "Claudia Long is a highly caffeinated, terminally optimistic married lady living in Northern California. She writes about early...

A US-Mexico Border Memoir: Lisa G. Sharp's A Slow Trot Home

Lisa G. Sharp, author of the memoir A Slow Trot HomeIt was thanks to Women Writing the West that I first came upon the extraordinary writing of Lisa G. Sharp. Mexicans sit up and take notice when I mention that she's the granddaughter of the owner of the Greene Cattle Company,...

Ceci n'est ce pas une Newsletter October 2014

Just sent out my October 2014 newsletter, chock full of book news, the best from the blogs, the news about the Texas Book Festival, and more. Read it here. My one day only workshop on Literary Travel Writing will be this Saturday October 11 at the Writer's Center...

Lonn Taylor's Texas People, Texas Places

Ever since I first came upon Lonn Taylor's column for the Big Bend Sentinel, "The Rambling Boy," I've been a big fan. I devoured his collection of columns, Texas, My Texas: Musings of the Rambling Boy— and added it to my list of top 10 books read in 2012. My mini-review:"[T]his...

The All New Workshop Page: For Creative Writers

Ye olde home page, www.cmmayo.com, which got started back in the Paleolithic, I mean, the summer of 1999, has been undergoing some super seismic shifts, one of which is a re-do of the Workshop page. It even has a new name: For Creative Writers.This is a page that I began over...