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329 Lee Maynard was born and raised in the hardscrabble ridges and hard-packed mountains of West Virginia, an upbringing that darkens and shapes much of his writing. Maynard’s novel, Crum, was the first original work of fiction published by Washington Square Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In its first month of publication, the novel rose to No. 8 on the Doubleday Best Seller List and was nominated for the Penn Hemingway Award. The novel has been taught in English literature classes in a score of prestigious universities. Sometimes called “the book that wouldn’t die,” Crum was republished by Vandalia Press in the summer of 2001. It was the first book published by Vandalia and within a year became the best selling book in the history of the university. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded a Literary Fellowship in Fiction to Maynard for Crum’s sequel, Screaming With The Cannibals, published by Vandalia Press in 2002 and rapidly overtaking Crum in sales. A third volume of the Crum series, The Scummers, is in progress. Maynard’s short fiction has appeared in such publications such as Columbia Review of Literature and Appalachian Heritage. His work will soon appear in the literary magazine, Kestrel. As a journalist, Maynard has been an assignment writer for Reader’s Digest for more than two decades. His journalism and non-fiction work has appeared more than 100 times in publications as diverse as The Saturday Review, Rider magazine, Washington Post, Country America, Dual Sport News and Christian Science Monitor. Much of Maynard’s work is highly controversial. Crum was banned in his home state and, even today, stirs deep, conflicting emotions among the people of Appalachia. Nevertheless, Maynard’s work has been critically acclaimed. His prose has been held in comparison to Hemingway, Twain, Harris, Faulkner and Salinger. Specializing in the novel, Maynard has taught at many national and regional workshops, including the Appalachian Writers Workshop, Southwest Writers Workshop, and West Virginia Writers Conference. He has served as Writing Master at Allegheny Echoes. Maynard has been a management and editorial consultant to newspapers , magazines and small publishing companies. He once served as a college president. An avid outdoorsman, he is a mountaineer, sea kayaker, skier and former professional river runner. He once rode a motorcycle from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Arctic Circle. He lives near Santa Fe. ...

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