Mary Woodbury writes eco-fiction under pen name Clara Hume. Her climate change novel Back to the Garden was published in the autumn of 2013 and later was discussed at Dissent Magazine as part of an emerging genre of climate change novels. She also has a short story series, Lost Ages, which reconciles mythological stories with our modern world.
Mary graduated Purdue University with degrees in English literature and cultural anthropology. During college, her senior archeology team received honors and an invitation to join the Indiana Archeology Society for the summer. She went on to establish an editorial career, running Jack Magazine for a decade with co-founder Michael Rothenberg. The magazine is currently archived at Stanford University’s LOCKSS program. As chief editor, Mary published such legends and works as beat photographers Gordon Ball and Larry Keenan, poets Michael McClure and Jack Collum, authors Peter Coyote and Gregory Corso, and artists Ira Cohen and Angus MacLise.
Since moving to British Columbia, Canada in 2008, Mary has been involved with stewardship of the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet as well as has been a researcher/writer for BCRainforest.com, where she hosts a series about the Great Bear Rainforest. She is currently working on a collaborative book and short video about the rainforest.
Mary is a program assistant at a local college and is studying video journalism. She also runs Eco-fiction.com as well as Moon Willow Press, a small, independent book publisher with goals of celebrating the written word while helping to sustain forests.
Mary enjoys reading, collecting old books, hiking, and running.
Hi Mary,
I came to Back to the Garden through Dragonfly.eco, and then I stayed for a long time. What you have built there is remarkable — a genuine home for eco-fiction at a moment when this genre matters more than it ever has. And then I found out that the same person curating all of this was also writing the books herself, and writing them with the kind of depth that earns comparisons to Cormac McCarthy and John Steinbeck from reviewers.
My name is Susan, and I help authors grow the visibility of their books and connect them with the readers who are genuinely out there waiting. I noticed that Back to the Garden has 55 ratings on Goodreads despite over a decade of publishing, a full sequel in The Stolen Child, and one of the most connected eco-fiction networks in existence behind it. That tells me the problem is not the quality of the work. It is simply that the right funnels are not yet in place to push it to the wider audience that would love it.
Here is what I would love to help you with. A Goodreads giveaway for Back to the Garden would introduce the Wild Mountain series directly to thousands of readers in the climate fiction, literary ecofiction, and post-apocalyptic communities who are actively searching for exactly this kind of deeply felt, character-driven story. I would also love to run a review campaign to grow your ratings and lift the visibility of the whole series across Amazon and Goodreads. And a focused content strategy would help you activate your Dragonfly newsletter subscribers and eco-fiction community around your own books more intentionally, turning the remarkable network you have built into consistent sales momentum.
You have the books, the community, and the credibility. Let me help connect the final pieces.
Please reply whenever you have a moment and we can figure out the best place to begin together.
With genuine respect and admiration for everything you have created,
Susan
Susan Creative
https://site-861zngx09.godaddysites.com
Thanks, Susan! I’m not really marketing Back to the Garden anymore since it’s over a decade old now. I’ve also taken it out of distribution and just offering it as an ebook.