For the remainder of February, I am offering a special offer to anyone interested in having their poetry or fiction critiqued. Simply buy two books from those listed below and then follow the instructions at the end of this post to get a free review of your work.
The Appointment
In 2017, my novella, The Appointment, was published by Vine Leaves Press.
A story of an aging professor whose life is caught up in a web of confusion, The Appointmentt is a Kafkaesque tale of alienation, bureaucracy, and merciless academia.
Judith McCombs, author of The Habit of Fire, says that “Maggio’s anti-hero, like Kafka’s K or Tolstoy’s dying Ivan Ilych, fails to find the recognition and human warmth he so desperately needs. The Appointment is a story of existence and mortality and those who avoid human community who are ultimately left totally alone.”
Sophy Burnham, author of A Book of Angels and The Art of Intuition: Cultivating Your Inner Wisdom, calls it “fascinating, colorful, dramatic.”
And Paul Al Falney gives it 5 stars and says that “through twists and turns, the story is reminiscent of Kafka’s The Trial and the best of Rod Serling’s work on The Twilight Zone.”
Letters From Inside: The Best of Mike Maggio
In 2019, Vine Leave Press published Letters From Inside: The Best of Mike Maggio. A collection of short stories that defy logic and tap into unrecognized truths about modern society, the book has been described as a twenty-first century vision of existential dysphoria. Heavily influenced by Franz Kafka and Nikolai Gogol, the collection includes the highly acclaimed “Suddenly, There Was Harold” which has been called his masterpiece.
Rafael Alvarez, Journalist, Television Writer and Author of Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown, writes that “Maggio makes a big splash with this book, a most welcome yet quiet one, undulating ripples of deep and careful prose from the inside of the heart.”
E. Ethelbert Miller, Host of On The Margin WPFW 89.3 FM and author of If God Invented Baseball, says “sometimes Mike Maggio writes like a weaver or sculptor. Sometimes he is simply a magician when it comes to words,” and adds that “Letters From Inside is a collection of twenty-one stories that should be given a home on every bookshelf.”
In 2022, San Francisco Bay Press published Mike Maggio’s groundbreaking poetry collection, Let’s Call It Paradise. Culling text from magazines, internet searches, personal ads and spam messages, the poems examines modern American culture through the lens of consumerism.
In 2023, Let’s Call It Paradise won the International Book Award.
Robert P. Arthur, author of Hymn to the Chesapeake,, calls the book “unforgettable, honest, brilliant, and to the point.”
Grace Cavalieri, Poet Laureate of Maryland and author of The Long Game: Poems Selected and New, writes ““Mike Maggio is a master craftsman. These poems are adventures. Maggio juxtaposes language in ways that break into new energies.”
Eric Pankey, Professor of English, Heritage Chair in Writing, George Mason University and author of The History of the Siege, calls Let’s Call It Paradise “carnivalesque and manic. Be prepared to be surprised. Whatever limits you have put on the possibilities of poetry, Maggio’s poems exceed them.”
Charles Rammelkamp writes that “in these remarkably unique poems, Maggio examines the modern world as if he were a visitor from another planet. The sardonic humor slaps you in the face like a waiter’s damp towel. Indeed, Mike Maggio’s one-of-a-kind Let’s Call It Paradise isn’t read so much as it is experienced.” (North of Oxford)
How to Take Advantage of This Offer
Buy any 2 books and I will review and critique 3 of your poems or up to 10 pages of short fiction. Buy all 3, and I’ll add in a special surprise. And if you don’t write and simply love to read, I also have a special surprise for you.
To take advantage of this offer, simply click on the book links to order your copy of Letters from Inside or The Appointment or Let’s Call It Paradise. Then send a copy of your receipts showing the purchase to mikemaggio@mikemaggio,net. I will then send you an email with instructions.
Thanks for reading and for your support.
Mike
