Are You Ready To Meet Death In Mexico?

For a dark literary stroll on the seedy sexy side of Mexico, one can hardly beat Rick Skwiot's novel Death In Mexico. Yet, this grave tale of grave digging digs even deeper. Nicholas Petrov's south-of-the-border quest for his dead father's body recalls a Maya myth about legendary hero twins who visit the underworld to steal their father's remains from the lords of the abyss. Of course, a father's funeral bell always tolls the son's mortality as well, so it's no surprise this book won the Hemingway First Novel Award. And the tale likewise tolls for thee.

Like many boys becoming men, Nicholas Petrov was intimidated by his father's life force and annoyed by his old school ways. His old man was an archaeologist. So, the ancient mariner's boat was anchored on the bedrock of mystical Olmec art and classical Western civilization, while his son's life drifted from shore to shore on the winds of fashion and the whims of the moment. Still, death before dishonor. Dishonor is often defined by sons as having to admit the crusty old fart was often right.

Pedophilia, Public Education, and Other Crimes

While Saint Louis police, Ferguson residents, and media hacks were more interested in promoting their agendas than getting at the truth, author Rick Skwiot was polishing a crime novel that accurately portrays the harsh realities of governmental and educational corruption in Saint Louis slums. I just finished my review copy of Fail. This is the thinking man's Grisham, which is to say: it's the book John Grisham would write if he were more interested in fine literature than raking in money and empathizing with pedophiles.

Wandering Mystic Meditation From Forest Park

Even Rick Skwiot Likes It!

Rick Skwiot won the Hemingway First Novel Award and the Willa Cather Fiction Prize. He's the acclaimed author of Sleeping With Poncho Villa and Death in Mexico. So, I was a bit nervous when he reviewed my newest book, but apparently it doesn't suck. Here's what Rick wrote immediately after breaking Fresh Wind - er, breaking open Fresh Wind.

A uniquely witty and perceptive take on Mexico - Fresh Wind & Strange Fire: One Man's Adventures in Primal Mexico again shows Lyn Fuchs (who previously authored Sacred Ground & Holy Water) to be not just a mere travel writer, but also a practical philosopher à la Montaigne, with a dash of Henry Miller's American humor and sexuality.

Tech-quila University Grad

"I felt like time was running out and that I had done nothing with my life. I felt like a man trying to catch the last train ... Mexico's clear air, bright colors, and warm people seemed a corrective for gray skies and anxious Americans ... I saw that my life was mere clay, not a thing carved in stone, and that with my own hands and those of Fate it might be reshaped." San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: Memoir of a Sensual Quest for Spiritual Healing