Mary - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm a writer, originally from a small, one-stoplight town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, now living in western New York. My work can be found the following places: Lit Pot , R-VK-R-Y , RE:AL , Pindeldyboz and has appeared or is forthcoming in Brevity , Primavera, Wisconsin Review, Xavier Review and other journals.I am also co-founder of The Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology a study abroad program located in Roseau, Dominica. I write a lot about science, nature, and environmental issues under the guise of fiction. Some of my favorite magazines along those lines are Orion , Ecotone and Isotope .

My Interests

Poetry, backpacking, rock climbing, snorkeling, SCUBA diving, environmentalism, my kids.

I'd like to meet:

Fellow writers and readers.

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Music:

Tracy Chapman, Nellie MacKay, The Beatles, Barenaked Ladies, Cold Play, The Talking Heads, Norah Jones, Suzanne Vega, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Crash Test Dummies, Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Hall and Oates, The Uppity Blues Women...

Television:

Not so much. Mostly I like to watch Survivor because I love camping, the outdoors, and survival-of-the-fittest stories. I also like The Simpsons.

Books:

Well, Charles Dickens was my first passionate love--the first writer for whom I wanted to read everything he had ever written. Next, was probably a Margaret Atwood obsession...went through a Lee Smith phase, too... and Barbara Kingsolver is probably the one that brought me back to reading after my three kids were born. But now, I read all over the spectrum: Edwidge Danticat, Peter Matthiessen, Edward P. Jones, Andrea Barrett, Anthony Doerr, J.M Coetzee, Rick Bass, Pinckney Benedict, Elizabeth Strout, Naeem Murr and anything written by a friend. I always buy my friends' books.

Heroes:

People who believe in and work for peaceful change and social justice.

My Blog

THE UNDERSTORY by Pamela Erens

Jack Gorse is a complicated man. The particularity of his nature is revealed in the book's opening paragraph as he describes an episode of curdled cream in his self-serve coffeean episode that led hi...
Posted by Mary on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:06:00 PST

Radical Gratitude video (raw footage)

Here is the raw footage that the publisher will be using to make a short promotional video for the non-fiction book which will be released in March 2008. They will edit it and make it pretty. Sorry th...
Posted by Mary on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 02:02:00 PST

Check out this event: SURREAL SOUTH Book Launch

Hosted By: Sheryl MonksWhen: Thursday Oct 25, 2007 at 7:00 PMWhere: Salem CollegeFine Arts Center (Shirley Recital Hall)Winston-Salem, NC 27021United StatesDescription:Sheryl Monks Click Here To View ...
Posted by Mary on Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:04:00 PST

Love books? Love the environment?

Eco-Libris is a cool site that allows you to balance a love of books with a love of the environment. Check them out here.
Posted by Mary on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:04:00 PST

THE SPECIES CROWN by Curtis Smith

In June of this year, Press 53 released Curtis Smith's most recent short story collection titled The Species Crown. Smith is also the author of the novel An Unadorned Life and two previous short story...
Posted by Mary on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:48:00 PST

LOTTERY by Patricia Wood

Perry L. Crandall would like you to know that he is not retarded. Retarded would be 75 on an IQ test, and he is 76. Besides, Perry takes care not only of himself, but also of his Gran, a crusty, no-no...
Posted by Mary on Tue, 15 May 2007 01:14:00 PST

THE LINE PAINTER by Claire Cameron

Carrie, the protagonist of Claire Cameron's debut novel The Line Painter, is consumed by grief after the sudden death of her boyfriend Bill. She takes off in Bill's car, headed, she decides, for the w...
Posted by Mary on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 09:16:00 PST

COMES THE PEACE: My Journey to Forgiveness by Daja Wangchuk Meston

Daja Wangchuk Meston begins his memoir dramatically with a desperate leap from a third story hotel window in a remote area of Tibet. It's a quick glimpse at a man pushed beyond his limits, unsure of h...
Posted by Mary on Thu, 22 Mar 2007 05:55:00 PST

My first author's interview!

Kelly Spitzer has launched her Writer Profile Project this week, and her first author is Yours Truly. What fun. I've decided I want to be a professional interviewee. You can check it ou...
Posted by Mary on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:01:00 PST

STORIES IN THE OLD STYLE by Al Sim

It took me several weeks to finish Al Sim's most recent collection--Stories in the Old Style--but before you conclude that I didn't enjoy it, let me explain. I, too, wondered why I had taken so long ...
Posted by Mary on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 01:19:00 PST