Interview with… Mike Maggio

I don’t expect you noticed, but there was a distinct lack of anything between my last interview and this one. *Sigh*

I have, however, been busy. And this week in particular has been ridiculously busy in my day job and in my writing. But… (and it’s a rather large but…) I’m not sure if I can tell you what I was doing. When I look back over the month, I don’t feel I’ve made all that much progress. Well, yes, the new version of Our Beautiful Child is almost complete and the new title for it is almost decided. So, there’s that.

Without further ado, I’m delighted to welcome Mike Maggio to my blog today. Mike has published fiction, poetry, travel and reviews in local, national and international publications including Potomac Review, The Washington CityPaper, and The Washington Independent Review of Books. His poetry publications include Your Secret Is Safe With Me, (Black Bear Publications, 1988), Oranges From Palestine (Mardi Gras Press, 1996),  deMOCKracy (Plain View Press, 2007) and Garden of Rain (Aldrich Press, 2015).  His newest collection, Let’s Call It Paradise was released in 2022 by San Francisco Bay Press and was awarded the International Book Award.

Welcome to the Fountain Pen, Mike. Tell us a little about yourself.

I live in Virginia. I am married and have three kids, all of whom are adults, the youngest being a senior in college. In addition to writing, I work in IT which is how I make my living, and I teach part-time at the community college. I have been writing since I was in high school, although I used to write short (awful) plays when I was about 9. The interesting thing about that is that I knew at the time that they were awful. I knew that the dialogue was terrible.  I think most kids that age would be proud of themselves. I wasn’t.

I consider myself primarily a poet which is what my training is in, but I am quite proficient in fiction which is what Vine Leaves Press has published. I have two books with VLP: The Appointment, which is a novella, and Letters From Inside, a collection of short stories.  My third VLP publication, Woman in the Abbey, is a gothic novel and is forthcoming in 2025. My latest book, Let’s Call It Paradise, a poetry collection issued by San Francisco Bay Press, just won the International Book Award for Contemporary Poetry in June.

Why poetry and literary fiction? Did you choose it, or did it choose you?

I’m not sure. I think both of them chose me. Back in high school, I wanted to be a novelist but, for some reason which I can’t remember, I started writing poetry. Now, I will say that I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. It was mostly rhyme and standard rhythm: the kind of thing that most kids that age write. But a lot of it involved narrative. I still have some of those poems which I try not to look at but I believe they served as a foundation, bad as they were. It wasn’t until I got to college and started taking creative writing classes that I began to learn something about prosody.

The novel thing turned into short stories later on and the finally led to The Wizard and the White House, my first novel and now to Woman in the Abbey.

How do you approach a new project? Are you a plotter or a pantser, or somewhere in between? Where you do get your ideas?

This is an interesting question and, I have to admit, I had to look up the word pantser. But that is exactly what I am so I’m glad to have a name for it. I start a project with an idea. Inspiration can come from anywhere: sometimes dreams, sometimes things that pop up into my head when I’m driving or doing something totally unrelated to writing. The idea for Woman in the Abbey came from a segment I saw on the news about an abbey where there were nuns in one wing and priests on the other but where all sorts of unreligious things went on. Combine this with my Catholic upbringing and the nuns who tortured us and you get one of the main characters in the book.

A novel which I started quite a number of years ago and to which I hope to return this year is based on my Italian-American heritage and will deal with 3 generations of immigrants in the US. And while it will deal with Italian immigrants, I’m hoping it will apply to all immigrants because I think immigrants and their offspring follow the same patterns.

Tell us about your most recent publication.

As I mentioned before, my most recent publication is Let’s Call It Paradise, released in 2022. It is a book of poetry which is totally experimental. A lot of it is collage poetry but not all and I will admit I have broken every rule in the English language (syntactic, spelling, grammar, etc.). But it is not all collage: I make use of the visual as well. My influences go back to dadaism and include surrealism and fluxus. You will see influences of all these and more in this book.

What do you hope your readers take away from your work? What are you trying to achieve?

Well a lot of my work involves political and social commentary. Paradise is a look at modern society through the lens of consumerism. The Wizard and the White House is a political satire. And a lot of my other work is experimental. I want people to think. I want to take readers to someplace they’ve never been which is what I want from a book.

How did your relationship with Vine Leaves Press begin? Was it a conscious decision to work with a small press rather than a Big 5 or self-publishing route?

I have always tried to get an agent and to be published by the Big 5. As most of us know, that is nearly impossible. And so I shopped around The Appointment with no luck. Then I came across VLP and, since all of my publications are with small press, I thought I’d give it a chance.  In fact, I didn’t think they’d accept it for, let’s face it, what I write is not readily accessible. not commercial. But they did. And I have to say that it was a great pleasure when my book was accepted and it has been a great experience. As any VLP author knows, VLP really cares about its authors. They put a lot of work into each book. Jessica does the covers and she is absolutely amazing (I’ve been told how professional the books look).  She is immensely talented.

As for self-publishing, I don’t believe in that. It’s perhaps a step above vanity or maybe on par, but really, any serious author should want to be peer reviewed which is what happens when you submit your work to a standard publisher.

Does social media help or hinder?

Another interesting question. I mostly use social media to promote my work. In that way it helps. And then, going back to Paradise, I made a great deal of use of things like social media, the internet, etc. while writing that book, and the book would not have been as good as it is without those tools. But, as we all know, social media can be a distraction. There are plenty of times while in my writing session that I start surfing the web when I should be writing.

What’s next for you?

I’m always in the middle of project. I’m currently planning on publishing contemporary Italian poetry in English and Italian on my web site (www.mikemggio.net). I have six or seven poets in the waiting. I’m also in the middle of a short story, a new poetry collection which is with my poetry publisher and another experimental poetry collection which is in the works. And then I want to get back to my Italian novel. All I need is some time, energy and motivation.

Wow, that’s a lot of projects in the mix. I love the idea of giving back by sharing the work of other poets. I hope you get back to your novel soon!

You can find Mike on his web site, and discover his work here and here.