Woman in the Abbey – Writing Contest

On February 4, 2025, my new novella, Woman in the Abbey, will be released by Vine Leaves Press. The story involves a young woman who gets lost in a haunted abbey where ancient horrors gradually reveal themselves. As the story unfolds, our young heroine gets mired deeper and deeper in the evil the lies within. Filled with malevolence, retribution and revenge, Woman in the Abbey explores the evil that lies dormant in the world in which we live.

Woman in the Abbey has garnered praise for its fidelity to the gothic tradition. Norah Vawter, DC-based author and editor, states that the story is “an old-school gothic novel packed with horror, romance, and beautifully overwrought emotion.”  Elizabeth Bruce, writer and theater producer and author of Universally Adored & Other One Dollar Stories, says that Woman in the Abbey `is a “go-to novel for aficionados of the underworld visited upon a crumbling abbey filled with the tortures of the damned.“ And Edward Belfar, author of the award-winning novel A Very Innocent Man, says that “Mike Maggio’s Woman in the Abbey delivers everything that a fan of gothic fiction could want — a crumbling, haunted abbey, an endangered heroine, supernatural intervention, unrelenting suspense. It will have you guessing till the end.”

To celebrate the publication of this, my eleventh book, I am sponsoring an essay contest which is open to all. Here is how you can participate:

Woman in the Abbey is a gothic novel containing all the necessary requisites of that genre: a damsel in distress, a dark, crumbling edifice, mystery, and elements of the supernatural. However, gothic novels are not necessarily horror stories for, in addition to dealing with ghosts and other supernatural beings, they probe the depths of the human psyche and expose truths about human nature.

Keeping this in mind, write a short essay analyzing some of the themes in Woman in the Abbey. What do you think the story is trying to reveal? What makes the novella more than a simple horror story? Include examples from the story to support your argument. The essay should be between 5 and 7 pages

  • The contest closes on March 15, 2025.
  • The winner will be announced on my web site on May 1 and will receive $50 and a copy of my short story collection, Letters from Inside.
  • The winning essay will be posted on my web site, www.mikemaggio.net
  • Other selected essays will also be posted.
  • All published essays will be copyrighted in the author’s name and all rights will return to the author.
  • Direct all question to abbey@individual-author

    I look forward to your participation.
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Woman in the Abbey – An Old School Gothic Novel

Coming: February 4

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Coming in February

Woman in the Abbey

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2024 Rappahannock Writers’ Conference

Join me tomorrow, November 9, for a day of writing workshops at Germanna Community College, Fredericksburg Campus. Along with other wonderful offerings,I will be presenting a workshop on collage poetry.

For more information and a full listing of workshop offerings, click the QR code or go the URL.

Hope to see you there.

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Fragments of a Paradise – a Book Review

My latest book review from an author worth reading.

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Press Release

Press Release                                                         

Contact: Mike Maggio 703-930-5214
mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net

For Immediate Release – November 1, 2024                                                       

Acclaimed DC-based author Mike Maggio is set to launch his new gothic novel, Woman in the Abbey, in February 2025. Published by Vine Leaves Press, the story is set in an ancient crumbling abbey occupied by an unearthly being, a mysterious old woman and the ghosts of those whose lives have been lost to its secrets throughout the centuries.

Woman in the Abbey has garnered praise for its fidelity to the gothic tradition. Norah Vawter, DC-based author and editor, states that the story is “an old-school gothic novel packed with horror, romance, and beautifully overwrought emotion.”  Elizabeth Bruce, writer and theater producer and author of Universally Adored & Other One Dollar Stories, says that Woman in the Abbey `is a “go-to novel for aficionados of the underworld visited upon a crumbling abbey filled with the tortures of the damned.“ And Edward Belfar, author of the award-winning novel A Very Innocent Man, says that “Mike Maggio’s Woman in the Abbey delivers everything that a fan of gothic fiction could want—a crumbling, haunted abbey, an endangered heroine, supernatural intervention, unrelenting suspense. It will have you guessing till the end.”

Originally from New York City, Mike Maggio settled in Herndon, Virginia afte0r moving to Los Angeles and then traveling the world in search of adventure. He is the author or 11 books, including poetry, novels and short stories. A retired English professor who has taught at USC and Northern Virginia Community College, he has dedicated his life to the arts with an emphasis on promoting up-and-coming writers and artists. His ground-breaking collaborative work, cloudism, was produced at the now-defunct Soundry in Vienna, Virginia and was later performed at Woolly Mammoth and Capital Fringe. The success of cloudism led to other collaborations with poets, artists, actors and musicians including Music for Mummies, Springtime in Winter (reviewed in the Washington Post), Peace and Identity (with Antonella Manganelli) and a bilingual production called La Guerra è Pace\La Guerra e Pace which was performed with an international cast in Naples, Italy.

In 2022, his poetry collection, Let’s Call It Paradise, won the International Book Award for Contemporary Poetry. His fiction, poetry and book reviews have appeared in The Montserrat Review, Pleiades, Apalachee Quarterly, The Northern Virginia Review, The L.A. Weekly, The Washington CityPaper, Beltway Quarterly and many others. He writes for Washington independent Review of Books and is an associate editor at Potomac Review. His web site is www.mikemaggio.net.

For an electronic Advanced Reader Copy or more information or to arrange an interview/reading/’discussion, please contact the author at mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net or 703-930-5214.

Publication date: February 4, 2025
Genre: Gothic
Paperback: ISBN: 978-3-98832-129-9 

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Coming in February

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Space Still Available for Poetry Workshop

Space is still available for the poetry workshop I am offering duringthe coming weeks. We have four participants as of now, and there is room for six more.

Here’s what we will be doing:

  •  We will read selected poems and discuss the poetics involved. We will focus on how the prosody of the poems informs their meaning.
  • Participants will write a poem each week based on specific assignments related to our discussions of prosody.
  • Each poem will be critiqued by me.
  •  Participants will critique each other’s poems in writing and send back to the participant.
  • Each week, we will workshop the poems that were written by the participants. This will be a live discussion.
  • We will concentrate on elements of prosody. Regareding this, there will be some targeted discussions on prosody (metrics, imagery, anaphora, etc.).
  • All sessions will be held online
  • Tentative start date: October 20 (days and time TBD)
  • Cost: $300

 For more information or to sign up, email me at poem@mikemaggio.net

I look forward to your participation.


 

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Poetry Workshop

I am now accepting participants for an upcoming poetry workshop to be held online. The workshop will consist of short lectures as well as discussion on prosody, weekly assignments, personal critiques of everyone’s work as well as by the other workshop participants and in -depth discussion of everyone’s work.

The workshop is limited to 10 participants will meet weekly for one and a half hours (time and day TBD) for 10 weeks.

For more information or to submit your work for consideration, contact poem@mikemaggio.net.

I look forward to working with you.

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Last Call for Speaking of Love

Registration is still open for Speaking of Love: A Poetry Seminar and Workshop. Class starts next Sunday, September 8, at 10 AM and will continue for six Sundays. All classes will be online.

To register or for more information, contact me at mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net.

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