Maheu, Layne

PERSONAL:

Children: a son.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Seattle, WA.

CAREER:

Writer and carpenter.

WRITINGS:

Song of the Crow (novel), Unbridled Books (Denver, CO), 2006.

Short stories have appeared in periodicals, including Other Voices, Northwest Review, and Ascent.

SIDELIGHTS:

In his first novel, Song of the Crow, Layne Maheu retells the Biblical story of Noah's Ark through the eyes of a crow named "I Am." The crow is suspicious of Noah's work cutting down the forest to build his ark, but can understand the God Crow as he speaks to Noah and tells him to continue to build. "I Am" disregards Noah's rules and sneaks onto the Ark at the last moment only to be sent out by Noah to later search for land. The novel follows the bird's story as he searches so a new world can begin. "After reading this remarkable book, you will marvel at every crow you see along the side of the road," wrote David A. Berona in the Library Journal. Meredith McGuire, writing on the BookPage Web site, noted: "Maheu ushers us into the crows' world, revealing their secrets and language so that we, too, see the story of the flood from the vantage point of the open sky." A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that the "fable works beautifully, probing the relationship between creatures of the heavens and those of the underworld." Writing in Reviewer's Bookwatch, Willis M. Buhle called Song of the Crow "an incredibly engaging and superbly crafted story."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 1, 2006, David A. Berona, review of Song of the Crow, p. 83.

Publishers Weekly, April 24, 2006, review of Song of the Crow, p. 39.

Reviewer's Bookwatch, June, 2006, Willis M. Buhle, review of Song of the Crow.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 20, 2006, John Marshall, review of Song of the Crow.

ONLINE

BookPage,http://www.bookpage.com/ (March 3, 2007), Meredith McGuire, review of Song of the Crow.

Pop Matters,http://www.popmatters.com/ (January 9, 2007), Jason B. Jones, review of Song of the Crow.

Song of the Crow Web site,http://www.songofthecrow.com (March 3, 2007).