C. M. Mayo – författare

“Mother rescued the three zebras that escaped from the London zoo”—so begins the first story in this whirlwind collection by C. M. Mayo. Though Mayo’s characters ricochet around the globe in search of diversion, money, enlightenment, cachet, and escape, she sets many of the stories in Sky Over El Nido in Mexico. This is not the gringo’s Mexico of margaritas, mariachis, and inscrutable house servants, but a fin-de-siècle world where a Mexican boy who guards tourists’ cars for small change wears a T-shirt that says “Six Flags Over Georgia.” Mayo’s strangely beautiful yet disturbing stories reveal characters who envision the solutions to their lives in a world where nothing is stable, nothing can be nailed down, and we are all suddenly, dizzyingly faced with sharing the same pitiless sky.

Mexico has long been the top travel destination for Americans. But until now, there has not been such a panoramic vision of offered by some of Mexico's finest contemporary writers of fiction and literary prose. Here are writings -- many translated for the first time -- that bring you to the people of the beaches, the deserts, jungles, snow-capped mountains, and megacities. The voices are rich and diverse, the stories enthralling and strange. These writings shatter stereotypes as they provide a rollicking journey from the Pacific to the Gulf, from Yucatan to the U.S.-Mexico border, from humble ranchos to a fabulous mountaintop castle. Contributors include Daniel Reveles, Carlos Fuentes, Ines Arredondo, Jesus Gardea, Elizondo Elizondo, Agustin Cadena, C. M. Mayo, Carlos Monsivais, Juan Villoro, Guadalupe Loaeza, Fernando del Paso, Monica Lavin, Pedro Angel Palou, Angeles Mastretta, Raul Mejia, Martha Cerda, Araceli Ardon, Bruno Estanol, Ilan Stavans, Raymundo Hernandez-Gil, Julieta Campos, Alberto Ruy Sanchez, Rosario Castellanos, and Laura Esquivel.

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is a sweeping historical novel of Mexico during the short, tragic, at times surreal, reign of Emperor Maximilian and his court. Even as the American Civil War raged north of the border, a clique of Mexican conservative exiles and clergy convinced Louis Napoleon to invade Mexico and install the Archduke of Austria, Maximilian von Habsburg, as Emperor. A year later, the childless Maximilian took custody of the two year old, half-American, Prince AgustA--n de Iturbide y Green, making the toddler the Heir Presumptive. Maximilian's reluctance to return the child to his distraught parents, even as his empire began to fall, and the Empress Carlota descended into madness, ignited an international scandal. This lush, grand read is based on the true story and illuminates both the cultural roots of Mexico and the political development of the Americas. But it is made all the more captivating by the depth of Mayo's writing and her understanding of the pressures and influences on these all too human players.