I met the author through his podcast, Personal Landscapes: Conversations on Books About Place, which included interviews with some of my favorite authors: Paul Theroux on Orwell and Burma Sahib, Thomas Swick: Life in Cold War Poland, Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming, Barnaby Rogerson: The making of the Middle East and Jeremy Bassetti: Pilgrims on Bolivia’s Hill of Skulls. Murdock’s latest book, A Sunny Place for Shady People, takes place in Malta and blends travel writing and political reportage to show why a journalist was killed in broad daylight in a tiny European Union member state. But I chose Vagabond […]
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A BookFest Award, Plus Global Threats to Free Press! Million Mile Walker Dispatch November 2024
Dear Colleagues and Friends from Around the World, This month, you can click on the poster above to access an Ad in the Arizona Authors Association Literary Magazine, “Two Arizona Authors Celebrate Their Passion For Guatemala.” Earl de Berge is the other author, and he’s a poet and co-founder of Seeds for a Future, which we highlight as well. I highlighted him and his wife Susanne in The Guatemala Reader, “Allegro to Guatemala: An Expatriate Journey Through the Land of Eternal Spring.” Earl recruited me to their board, and we all lived in Guatemala and are still working to […]
Continue readingThe Perils of Beginnings by Bernadette Inclan, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
The author researched this five-hundred-year family history extensively and took five years to write the book—and it was worth the wait. During a time when our neighbors from the South are often disparaged and misunderstood, this story helps establish the role people from Mexico and Native Americans had in settling the areas on both sides of our southern border. Bernadette Inclan is the ideal person to tell this story: “My family has deep roots in the Americas. I am a descendant of the Conquistadors of New Spain, New Mexico, and Louisiana. In 2016, I received my certificate as an honoree […]
Continue readingAn Ode to Travel Writers, Million Mile Walker Dispatch October Edition 2024
Dear Colleagues and Friends from Around the World, This month, you can click on the poster above to access the latest Arizona Authors Association Newsletter, which includes my “An Ode to Travel Writers,” which is part of my Million Mile Walker Review column on page 15. I highlight two writers who have inspired my travel writing: Paul Theroux and Moritz Thomsen. You can also find out about a special presentation I’ve been working on with the Phoenix Writers Club and the Arizona Authors Association for Danielle Hampson, the founder of The Authors Show. On page 31, Danielle will discuss the […]
Continue readingMidwest Book Review of The Guatemala Reader: Extraordinary Lives & Amazing Stories by Mark D. Walker
The Guatemala Reader–Extraordinary Lives and Amazing Stories Mark D. Walker Contact Email: mark@millionmilewalker.com The Guatemala Reader: Extraordinary Lives And Amazing Stories: Walker, Mark D.: 9798990236622: Amazon.com: Books Synopsis: Guatemala is a country with a complex history, rich culture, and diverse political landscape. This exciting book offers you a unique perspective to explore this country’s unique tapestry of everyday life through descriptive words and passages. Throughout the pages, this book showcases the diverse and vibrant aspects of Guatemala’s culture and history, and our latest addition to our collection will particularly intrigue you. This author brings in-depth facts and pictures that […]
Continue readingSilent Light by Mark Jacobs, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Mark Jacobs is one of my favorite storytellers. A fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, he’s worked in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, always attracted to places that are not tourist havens. I first learned of him reading The Stone Cowboy, in which a burnt-out American doper, fresh from a Bolivian prison, connives with a naive social worker while helping her find her magician brother—and ends up conducting her on a tour of the hell that is the coca trade. This is Jacobs’ first book in thirteen years, and he introduces the reader to a different kind of hell set […]
Continue readingA Homage to a Dear Friend, Development Professional and Spiritual Leader, Ed Ruddell by Mark D. Walker
Ligia and I met Ed and Pilar when I joined World Neighbors in 1989. Fortunately, I came on board just as an international conference was taking place, so we met all of the overseas Area Representatives. I remember Ed since he was the most welcoming person I met in my early days in Oklahoma City, and he radiated an aura of Christian caring. Ligia remembers the conference because Pilar prepared a dinner some Chilean delicacies, including “the best Ceviche I have ever eaten!” Thus started a lifelong friendship. Our cross-border matrimonies have produced three children apiece—always two girls and one […]
Continue readingTraveling to Guatemala with Granddaughters, Million Mile Walker Dispatch, August Edition 2024
Dear Colleagues & Friends from Around the World, Putting together my photo album of our three-week sojourn through Guatemala with two granddaughters allowed me to reflect on the pluses and downsides of such a trip. I’ve revised my website based on this experience and the best-selling book. I have some new What Others Are Saying quotes and some new What We’re Reading (and viewing) and Why, topped off with an updated Calendar. And, as a special BONUS, click on the Million Mile Walker poster above for the latest Arizona Authors Association Dispatch. It includes an exceptional segment on the making […]
Continue readingWalking With Evaristo: a Memoir of Celebration and Tragedy in the Land of the Achí Maya by Christian Nill, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Christian Nill has written an engaging story about the impact and consequences of his experience as a volunteer in the highlands of Guatemala. He’s also made a timely contribution to our understanding of the devastating ten-year period of violence there. Although I was a volunteer five years before Nill, the similarities were amazing. I worked on a study for CARE identifying some of the management and conservation practices used for the Food-for-Work program implemented in conjunction with the group Nill worked with, INAFOR (National Forestry Institute). My second site was also in Baja Verapaz, where […]
Continue readingWater Drumming in the Soul: A Novel of Racy Love in the Heart of Africa, by Eric Madeen, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Although Madeen is a fellow Returned Peace Corps writer, I never heard of him until he reviewed my latest book, The Guatemala Reader, and commented on my video about the book’s making. Initially, I thanked him and asked him how he liked living in Texas (his university is listed as TCU—Texas Christian University)—but much to my surprise, he’s an adjunct professor of modern literature at Tokyo City University in Japan. I was impressed with a note from one of the great travel writers and a fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Paul Theroux sent him. He said he was mystified by […]
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