Mexico – Peace Corps Worldwide

New books by Peace Corps writers | March — April 2024

May 01 2024

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — CLICK on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers to order a book and/or to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions. P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf. PLEASE, PLEASE join in our Third . . .

ROCKET CELESTIAL | Poems by John-Michael Bloomquist (Mexico)

Apr 28 2024

Rocket Celestial Poems by John-Michael Bloomquist (Mexico 2019-20) White Stag Publishing 97 pages March 2023 $18.95 (Paperback) Rocket Celestial is an exploration of human nature through the paradoxes of earth & the cosmos, science & religion, & history & advancement. It sets a stage of existential characters whose faith & morality are met with skepticism, & in which their curiosities can be dangerous. “How strange it is that the closer we come to the weight of light, the more we must guard ourselves against it, lest we be consumed—how dangerous it is to love you…(from Rocket Celestial)” Rocket Celestial is a 6×9 glossy cover paperback book with 97 pages of poetry & photos. It includes multiple sections of corresponding poems that journey through the universe, wielding a scale of sword & stardust, cutting through the folds of time to unveil the impact of the human search for knowledge. Intermingled . . .

DEADLANDS by Victoria Miluch (Mexico)

Apr 27 2024

Deadlands: A Novel by Victoria Miluch (Mexico 2019-20) Lake Union Publishing October 2023 254 pages $16.99 (Paperback); $4.99 (Kindle); 1 credit (Audio Book) • • • From debut author Victoria Miluch comes the riveting story of a girl on the cusp of womanhood living in an arid wasteland and the encounter with two outsiders that upends her understanding of the world beyond it. Only the most hardened survivalists can endure living in the scorched deadlands of the former state of Arizona. Among them is nineteen-year-old Georgia Reno, who lives in an isolated desert settlement with her father and younger brother. Roads don’t exist here; visitors are more dark fairy tale than reality. But when two mysterious strangers arrive on their land, Georgia begins to question her sheltered existence. Soon, her tentative curiosity blooms into a fledgling desire to leave the settlement, even if it means venturing into a world her father . . .

PC Response Volunteer Nancy Nau Sullivan (Mexico) writes mysteries

May 11 2023

RPCVs in the news • MICHIGAN CITY, IN — The Lubeznik Center for the Arts presented “Read Between the Crimes: An Evening with Two Mystery Writers” from 5 to 8 p.m. CDT May 5 at 101 W. Second St. Local writers Nancy Nau Sullivan (Mexico 2013-14) read excerpts from her newest book and participate in a question-and-answer session for LCA’s May First Friday event. Sullivan invented the life and times of Blanche Murninghan in her four-part mystery series, which debuted with “Saving Tuna Street” in 2020. Sullivan’s other titles in this series include “Trouble Down Mexico Way,” “Mission Improbable: Vietnam” and “A Deadly Irish Secret,” which will be released July 11. A former newspaper journalist, Sullivan taught English in Argentina, in the Peace Corps in Mexico and at a boys’ prison in Florida. • Nancy has also published The Last Cadilac: A Memoir [2016].

Review — IF YOU ARE RETIRING, YOU MIGHT JOIN THE PEACE CORPS! by Sally Jo Nelson Botzler (Mexico)

Oct 18 2017

If You Are Retiring, You Might Join the Peace Corps! by Sally Jo Nelson Botzler (Mexico 2009–11) WestBowPress July 2017 122 pages $16.95 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964—66) • WAKE UP RETIREES, life is just beginning . . . Sally and Rick Botzler did it and so can you! After a successful career teaching, raising a family, and involvement with their communities . . . they became Peace Corps Volunteers assigned to Mexico. Twenty-four months as Volunteers, and three months as Trainees, and their lives will never be the same. Peace Corps does something to you no matter where you serve in over 70 countries — with Vietnam being the newest. Sally takes us thru the application process, and having kept a log (great idea) she tells us what training was like — the excellent and friendly host family they lived with, and Peace Corps Mexico (PC/M) staff and . . .

Review — GOING TO MEXICO: STORIES OF MY PEACE CORPS SERVICE by David H. Greegor (Mexico)

Jul 18 2017

Going To Mexico: Stories of My Peace Corps Service by David H. Greegor (Mexico 2007-11) CreateSpace Publisher April 2017 132 pages $14.99 (paperback), $6.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Bob Criso (Nigeria 1966-67, Somalia 1967-68) • DAVID H. GREEGOR’S Going To Mexico is a short, light and breezy collection of anecdotes and vignettes that illustrate various aspects of rural Mexican culture during the author’s Peace Corps service. Mr. Greegor and his wife Sonya, both older PCVs, lived in Queretaro, Mexico from 2007 to 2010 and worked as environmental advisors in nearby pueblos. David worked on deforestation and erosion while Sonya promoted environmental education. Having lived in Tuscon, Arizona, they had been to Mexico many times, but it was their adventures in the small pueblos that revealed a different, more indigenous, Mexico to them and became their most memorable experiences. More like a diary or a journal than a memoir, Going To Mexico . . .

Review — MAYA 2012 by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua)

Nov 29 2011

Maya 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras by Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998–2000) Moon Travel Guides 128 pages $7.99 (paperback) October 2011 Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) TRAVELERS WHO PLAN TO EXPLORE the Mayan world this coming year need this book! Even the seasoned trekker with a worn and patched backpack, creased boots, frayed hat and a passport bulging with extra pages will want to buy Maya 2012 before it’s sold out. It has it all: great maps, background information, descriptions of tours, transportation and discount hotels. It also contains conversion tables, an index, Mayan words and phrases, interesting interviews with important Mayan scholars and even a suggested reading list. This ain’t no guide to overpriced hotels and do-dads, but a book written for us serious wayfarers. For those with only a whiff of Mayan history, this book will convince you that the place . . .