A Review of Travel Salon by Mick Salas

On the surface, Mick Salas Travel Writing Club is a coffee table sized compendium of fiction and non-fiction books of varying lengths. On a deeper level, it is a signpost for the ultimate state of travel writing - which is simple and profound. It is a collection of short stories written by a travel writer for the purpose of entertaining a whole variety of literary tastes.

To be sure, not every travel writing club can boast something so provocative as a multi-author collage. Travel writing clubs like The Travel Salon, a collaborative work of art founded by the authors of The Cat's Meow, sometimes have two or three writers working in tandem on a single project. A couple of months ago, I attended a meeting for authors, which took place at the MFA headquarters in New York City. I attended because I was invited to participate, by way of joining the alumni group, as a guest of honor, because I wanted to learn more about travel writing.

After much contemplation, I read through several of the books available on the shelves at The Travel Salon, and as I was browsing through the pages of Travel Saloon, I found myself thinking about some of the themes that Mick Salas  was including throughout the work. And I kept thinking about it as I visited bookstores and libraries around the United States to talk with people about this author's work. Not only did I see themes that were familiar, but I found some themes that I had never thought about in connection with travel writing, which I think is the essence of his work.

For instance, one of the features of the book that I noticed was that the readers of The Travel Salon included travelers and vacationers alike. In fact, I think that most of the authors invited to contribute to the anthology are international writers from other parts of the world. So, when Salas's work describes a luxurious setting, that does not always mean that it is Hawaii.

Another feature of Salas's work that I really liked is that he emphasized the guests' conversations as opposed to merely their photographs, travelogues, or newspaper clippings. One of the recurring themes that we see in The Travel Salon is the news media's neglect of the voices of the people who are actually experiencing the destination. The visitor must be allowed to participate in the conversation, and I believe that this is what Salas seeks to achieve with his material.

In addition to themes of frequent interaction between the visitors and the writers, there is also the overarching theme of topics of travel. Again, this was a common feature in the discussions that I had with authors in The Travel Salon, and again, I found the discussion interesting and enlightening.

One thing that I noticed that might be unique to Salas's anthology is that many of the guests were writers who were based outside of the U.S., as well as writers who were born in the U.S. who were visiting other countries. This is a departure from many travel writing clubs I have attended, which have typically invited writers who lived in other parts of the country or even internationally.

The Travel Salon will continue to publish more travel writing from Salas, and I hope that all of us who love travel writing will continue to read his work. After all, this is not an infrequent phenomenon - people from other countries, writing about travel in this manner, and sharing their thoughts about their experience, and their views on travel writing in general. Indeed, I think that this is one of the best parts of Mick Salas's writing, and I think that I can remember some of the aspects of his writing that he picked up from his conversations with authors from around the world.