These fictional stories seemed very real to me

I loved the stories in Madeira Starling’s first book of fiction, so I was very pleased when she recently published a second book, Legends of Mayo Mills, The Adventures of Benny and Me, Volume 2.

And oh my, what adventures these are. The small rural Maine town that is the setting for the stories could very well be my town of Mount Vernon. Several of the stories are set in the local café or historic grist mill, both of which are prominent in Mount Vernon.

And I even recognize some of the characters in the book as very similar to some of the characters in our town. Yes, we have some real characters in Mount Vernon.

The café sits on the edge of the lake and one of my favorite stories involves an avid angler who rushes into the café one night seeking help to haul in a massive fish. A lot of people from the café ran out onto the ice to help him.

I also love the story of the little girl who could not speak until a comedian at the café hauled out a live blue frog. And yes, the frog drew a real squeal from the girl, the first noise she had made in years. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story for you but it’s really a good one.

I asked the author to let me know how you can obtain the book, and here’s what she told me:

I have posted volume 2 now on the piccalillipress.com website that uses Square register.  The website itself does not show as secure, but once a user gets on the website, if they click the image, the order goes directly to Square register, which is secure for all the info they enter.  I have also listed my e-mail address on the site now, so can be contacted directly at minnehonkgal@gmail.com

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.