C.M. Mayo's Podcast

Ever since I first heard about Marfa and the remote mountain ranges of West Texas, I yearned to go there. About a decade ago, on a brief visit, I drank in the majesty of the vast spaces, the bluer than blue skies, and at night, stars beyond stars, and— yes, they're real—the Marfa Lights. But the people? Breezing through, I didn't have a chance to talk to many, for I was deep into writing another book, Miraculous Air, about Baja California, Mexico's nearly 1,000 mile long peninsula. Once that wrapped up, I wanted to come back to explore Marfa but first, what I imagined would be a lickety-split project: researching and writing a novel based on the strange but true story of, as the title says, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. It seems a pattern with me, that writing a book always takes about seven times longer than I had planned, but never mind, finally, I am returning to Marfa and West Texas. No, not to live: I'm based in Mexico City, but over the next two years, in a series of journeys, I'll be writinga book about Marfa and environs. 

So why the podcasts? In the past, as I did while writing Miraculous Air, I would have turned out a series of travel articles for newspapers and magazines. I may still write an article or three, but I am less interested in which is the cheapest / best / coollest bed-and-breakfast & etc., than I am in talking to people and, now that podcasting is possible, rather than stash my notes and taped interviews in the drawer, I can share them widely. 

With this series of 24 podcasts, scheduled for the third Monday of each month from 2012 through 2013, I invite you to join me in this adventure in listening. 

Learn more at www.cmmayo.com/marfa

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Sara Mansfield Taber, author of the memoir Born Under an Assumed Name: The Memoir of a Cold War Spy's Daughter. For Taber, growing up in Taiwan, Japan, Washington DC, the Netherlands, and Borneo was tough as well as exotic, and she found the experience even more unsettling because, as she learned at fifteen, she was the daughter of a covert CIA agent. In this lyrical memoir, Taber captures the painful journey as she ― and her adored father ― struggle to understand who they are and what it means to be an American. The conversation ranges from her father's work in Asia, including his daring rescue of over a thousand Vietnamese after the fall of Vietnam to the Vietcong, and his disenchantment with the agency while working in Germany; Taber's childhood in Taiwan, highschool years in Washington DC during the Vietnam War; her previous books, including, Bread of Three Rivers and Dusk on the Campo; other travel writers, reading as a writer; writing practice, and teaching writing. Visit Sara Taber at www.sarataber.com 

The sensory and emotional detail of this memoir is as delicately wrought as bone china, yet saved from fragility by Sara Taber’s uncompromising journey deeper and deeper inward with every page...a beautiful, mysterious, and unexpectedly suspenseful story of the struggle to find a place in the world.

-William O’Sullivan, features editor, The Washingtonian Magazine


Sara Mansfield Taber has worked magic with this intoxicating memoir of her exotic childhood. With a child’s innocence and sensitivity, Sara composes her family’s haunting story, stroke by exquisitely beautiful stroke. This vibrant family portrait of love and heart-ache also reveals much about America—our passion, confusion, contradictions, and especially, the tragedy we bring upon the world despite our very best intentions.

-Mary Stucky, National Public Radio

As part of the series of occasional conversations with other writers, C.M. Mayo talks with Solveig Eggerz, author of the fiercely poetic novel Seal Woman. Inspired by the Icelandic fairytale of the seal woman and the true story of some 300 German war widows brought to Iceland to marry and work on the remote farms, Seal Woman has been widely praised and translated into both Hebrew and Icelandic. The conversation ranges from the author's unusual background (from Iceland to England to Germany to Alexandria, Virginia), Iceland's book culture, fairytales, advice for writers, and more. Visit Solveig Eggerz at www.solveigeggerz.com

Award-winning writer and workshop leader C.M. Mayo explains the power of the 5 minute writing exercise. The end of the podcast includes an exercise-- so if you're listening, get out your pen and paper. For more exercises, visit "Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises," all free at www.cmmayo.com (click on 'workshop"). 

From C.M. Mayo's "Techniques of Fiction" workshop: the number one technique. An explanation with examples-- plus a nugget of advice from Chekhov. For C.M. Mayo's upcoming workshops, and for many more resources for writers, visit www.cmmayo.com

C.M. Mayo, author of several works of fiction and creative nonfiction, long-time workshop leader at the Writers Center and the San Miguel Workshops, and a veteran herself of uncounted workshops (Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Bennington, and more), offers her top ten tips for you to get the most out of your writing workshop. For more resources for writers, and C.M. Mayo's updated writing workshop schedule, visit www.cmmayo.com and click on "workshop."

C.M. Mayo reads her article from Inside Mexico about a conversation with Rosemary Sullivan, author of Villa Air-Bel: World War II, Escape, and a House in Marseille, a work of fundamental importance to the history of modern art in Mexico. 

C.M. Mayo reads an excerpt from her memoir, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions paperback; Dancing Chiva e-book). It covers, in part, the history of the Jesuit Conquest. For more about this book, including excerpts, photos, videos, and more podcasts, please visit www.cmmayo.com

"A luminous exploration of Baja California... a work of nonfiction that elides into modern myth" -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A sensitive and knowing over-view of a place and a people so near and yet so far from the U.S. or Mexico" -- Harry W. Crosby, author of Last of the Californios and Antigua California 

Read more reviews of this book here. 

From a panel discussion on writing historical fiction, American Independent Writers Conference 2011, held at the Writer's Center, Bethesda MD (just outside Washington DC). For more resources for writers, visit http://www.cmmayo.com/workshop-resources-for-writers.html

www.cmmayo.com

A reading from the series on creative writing at the Madam Mayo Blog. To read this blog post in its entirely, visit
http://madammayo.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-decluttering-or-integrity-of-design.html

For more resources for writers, visit 
http://www.cmmayo.com/workshopnotes.html 

Presentación El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano, la novela basada en la historia real, en la ciudad de México 26 de mayo, 2011 con el Dr. Javier Garciadiego, Carlos González Manterola, el novelista Carlos Pascual, Eduardo Turrent, y la autora, C.M. Mayo. La novela, originalmente publicada en inglés como The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, y nombrado uno de los mejores libros de 2009 por Library Journal, fue traducido por Agustín Cadena y publicado en septiembre de 2010 por Grijalbo Random House Mondadori. 


"En México se han escrito novelas históricas que recrean con erudición, maestría y poesía una época, un episodio, una atmósfera y unos personajes. Pienso, desde luego, en Noticias del imperio de Fernando del Paso; también en la obra de Enrique Serna sobre Santa Anna, la de Rosa Beltrán sobre Guerrero o la reciente novela de C.M. Mayo: El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano, sobre el nieto de Iturbide en la corte de Maximiliano."
Enrique Krauze


"Después de realizar una investigación imponente, Mayo, ganadora del premio Flannery O'Connor para cuento corto por su libro El cielo de El Nido, ha compilado una historia que es a la vez grandiosa e íntima sobre un niño que suscitó un escándalo internacional. La intrigante narración del príncipe de México nos ofrece una excelente lección de historia sobre las razones por las que la aventura paternal de Maximiliano en un país que no lo quería estaba destinada al fracaso".
Latin American Book Review

"He leído algunas novelas históricas fascinantes que han quedado grabadas en mi memoria: La guerra y la paz, de León Tostoi es una de ellas; otra es Historia de dos ciudades, de Charles Dickens y Doctor Zhivago, de Boris Pasternak. Ahora puedo agregar a mi lista El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano."
James Tipton, Mexico Connect

"Un logro impresionante… una sugerente novela que dista mucho de las aburridas lecciones de historia."
El Paso Times

"Una rica novela histórica donde las ambiciones políticas, las intrigas de la corte imperial y la relación entre países en la cúspide de la colonización europea son el hilo conductor de la intricada trama de la novela, que nos transporta en un viaje vertiginoso desde Washington hasta Veracruz y París, y de regreso a México y Estados Unidos. Las evocadoras descripciones e irónicos comentarios sobre la relación entre culturas hace de ésta una novela importante y disfrutable, de particular relevancia en los tiempos que vivimos".
Literal: Latin American Voices / Voces latinoamericanas

An introduction to Mexico and Mexican literature: C.M. Mayo reads her prologue to her collection of 24 contemporary Mexican writers, MEXICO: A TRAVELER'S LITERARY COMPANION (Whereabouts Press).
Visit www.cmmayo.com to read more, including table of contents, list of contributors, excerpts, and C.M. mayo's interview on National Public Radio, and more.

"It will open your eyes, fill you with pleasure and render our perennial vecinos a little less distante."
Los Angeles Times Book Review

C.M. Mayo's reading at the PEN Writers Aloud Reading Series in San Miguel de Allende, January 2011, from her novel The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, with Q & A from the audience.

C.M. Mayo reads an excerpt from Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico (Milkweed Editions, 2007) from the chapter "The Sea is Cortes", about a visit to the East Cape for the story of Baja California's spectacular sportfishing industry.

"With elegant prose and an artist's eye for detail, Mayo may just have written one of the best books ever about Baja California. Highly recommended"
Library Journal

"Miraculous Air is rich with its own evocative descriptions of the peninsula's raw beauty... Her journey of 1,000 miles is a trip worth taking."
The San Diego Union-Tribune

Read more about this book at www.cmmayo.com

How thin is the veil between our world and the next? C.M. Mayo reads a guest-blog post about the writing of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, her novel based on the true story, for the "Hist Fic Chick" blog, October 15, 2010. For more about the novel visit www.cmmayo.com  

Read the original blog post at

www.cmmayo.com/last-prince-haunted-fiction.html

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