Product Description
Taking a metaphor from the title story, Mayo is constantly concerned with what lies behind our seemingly humdrum and even frivolous lives: B horror, not even frivolous lives: B Horror, not even even high horror-is that what we're all about? Yes and no, for Mayo makes two other moves in this collection. The first uses a fine, stoic, sense of humor to permeate such stories as "Who Made You" and "Mortal Sins." The second elevates B Horror to grand tragedy when Mayo moves his final stories to Lithuania where World War II yet pervades the possibilities facing humans. Then Mayo brings it all back home in the final story, an odd sexual tryst between a presumably normal male and a quadriplegic female. In that story, reminiscent of Terence's claim that "nothing human is alien to me," Mayo points out that nothing there is really nothing alien to any human, after all. Mayo's metaphors and images are enhanced by a deceivingly simple prose that uses flatness to convey both humor and shock. As with the best of all riting, this work offers us the solace to continue. ... Read more

Product Description
This haunting collection marks the debut of a gifted storyteller, a lyric and transcendent voice. The stories reverberate with a soul-aching need to fit the puzzle pieces together. Wendell Mayo reveals the power of family storytelling, both real and imagined.Amazon.com Review
Centaur of the North takes on the themes of family,myth, and memory as Wendell Mayo explores how narrative can tie peopleto a place and to one another and how disrupting such discourse canthrow folks into confusion about who they are and where they comefrom. Mostly set on the Gulf Coast in Corpus Christi, Texas, thestories in this collection delve into family legends and questions ofveracity. Mayo's writing is assured and evocative, painting a pictureof hot places where the vapors of memory and language answer burningquestions of "Who am I?" only with bits of family lore anduncertain memory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ghosts, poetry, conquistadors
This is a beautiful book. Don't miss the story "Conquistador," a graceful and heartbreaking tale. These are stories to be read aloud. If you believe that the best fiction reads like poetry, Mayo's your man. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 997. ... Read more

Product Description
Fiction."In his beautifully achieved collection... Wendell Mayo explores the hard truths of the post-Iron Curtain era.Through the person of Paul Rood, who takes his enthusiasm for Walt Whitman to a country that has known only the depredations of Nazi and Soviet tyranny for half a century, the reader enters into the recognition of what tyranny, with its attendant corruption, economic exploitation, and cynicism do to the human spirit... It is a book of great humanity and splendid prose" --Gladys Swan. "... a marvelous experience. IN LITUANIAN WOOD brings the reader a profound, ambitious, and complex vision of a part of the world few of us know ... a rare fiction, executed with equally rare skill and compassion' -- Gordon Weaver. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Baltic Grain of Wood
Lithuanian Wood is this moment resting on my coffee table. The edges show a little comfort of wear and tear. I couldn't resist turning these pages... As Lithuania is neighbor to my own Latvia (I hold dual citizenship for Latvia and USA), Mayo's tales charmed me with similarities to the culture in which I was raised and nurtured. I am astounded that a non-Lithuanian could capture the essence of another culture so well.

A Must Buy for Lithuanian Americans!
This book provides a touching and artistic view of post-communist Lithuania. You really get a feel for how the years of communist rule affected the way people think, act, and live. The short stories arecreatively interwoven and make this book an enjoyable and quick read. ... Read more

Product Description
The Idaho Review is an annual Literary Journal published by Boise State University. ... Read more

Product Description
Volume of poetry and prose published by Bucknell University. ... Read more