My name is not Condalmo; that’s the site’s name.  I am, by trade, a mental health clinician.  A mental health clinician can mean “a counselor,” which is what I mean to say.  It can also mean “a therapist.”  You probably won’t see too much about that topic here, as I’m fairly stringent with regard to maintaining confidentiality.

I have a bachelor’s degree in English.  You’re welcome to it.  My Master’s degree is in clinical counseling and rehabilitation counseling.

In my spare time, I am a freelance writer. My book reviews have appeared in the Star Tribune, The Quarterly Conversation, PopMatters, Small Spiral Notebook, AudioFile Magazine, and other places.  I’ve also interviewed authors for this site, but that hasn’t happened for a long time.  If you’re a publisher, or you work at a company that publishes, you can contact me at the e-mail address below, or just go ahead and send catalogs, review copies, advanced reader copies, and such to the snail mail address below.  I tend to lean toward “literary fiction” and “non-fiction” most of the time. I’m also interested in reviewing psychology, counseling, and therapy books.

A few of my reviews:

• The Case for Books by Robert Darnton (reviewed at the Star Tribune)
• A Country Called Amreeka by Alia Malek (reviewed at the Star Tribune)
• Ticknor by Sheila Heti (reviewed at Small Spiral Notebook)
• The Exquisite by Laird Hunt (reviewed at PopMatters)
• Of Song and Water by Joseph Coulson (reviewed at The Quarterly Conversation)
• Yann Andrea Steiner by Marguerite Duras (reviewed at PopMatters)
• The Dead Fish Museum by Charles D’Ambrosio (reviewed at Condalmo)
• The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson (reviewed at The Elegant Variation)
• Who I Was Supposed To Be by Susan Perabo (reviewed at Small Spiral Notebook)
• Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (reviewed at The Quarterly Conversation)
• Death with Interruptions by Jose Saramago (reviewed at PopMatters)

I’m also involved with Identity Theory magazine as the Book Reviews Editor.  We recently worked out an agreement with Powell’s Books to have Identity Theory’s book reviews included in the far-reaching “Review-A-Day” mailing list. If you have forthcoming titles available for review by one of the Identity Theory reviewers, please contact me at the address below.

I am a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

This site is primarily concerned with books, culture, music, and the search for good soil.

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Condalmo

PO Box 613

Buxton, ME 04093

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condalmo
“at”
gmail.com