Stories Change How We See the World—and Ourselves
I’m Kristine Madera, a novelist and writer working at the intersection of cross-cultural experience, identity, and consciousness.
My work explores what happens when we leave familiar systems behind and allow ourselves to be shaped—sometimes uncomfortably—by other ways of living, believing, and belonging.
This website is a home for stories, guides, and resources that support intentional travel, international exchange, and study abroad as pathways to deeper humanity and global citizenship.
It’s always expanding, too. Here’s a sample of what’s coming up:
- My new novel The Snakeman’s Wife inspired by my Peace Corps experience in Papua New Guinea
- My memoir An Adventure in Trust which is part travel adventure, part spiritual experiment inspired by my solo backpacker travel through China, Russia, and the Baltics during the fall of the Soviet Union
- Many Etiquette Express Guides, starting with Mexico in 60 Minutes: Culture, Customs & Dos & Don’ts Every Visitor Should Know.
In the meantime, there’s plenty to explore, from essays and articles, to my Rewriting Your Reality Substack, to books and blogs.
You can also use the links below to grab the first chapter of my novel God in Drag or the entire free eBook The Art of Belonging: 12 Skills for Creating Connection in Any Culture—a practical, no-drama guide to moving through the world with more respect, curiosity, and confidence.
Check out my novel God in Drag about man’s search for a vanished guru that turns into a confrontation with the lies that shaped his life—and the love that could remake it. Inspired by my experience volunteering at Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Calcutta.
Read the first Chapter of God in Drag HERE
“A travel novel that positively shines with humanity… poignant and sharply original… a believably flawed protagonist readers will genuinely root for… a heady masterwork of literary fiction.” —Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★★
“…a wondrously evocative novel, rich in mysticism and psychological drama…God in Drag is a mesmerizingly good read.” —The Book Review Directory
Download my free guide: The Art of Belonging: 12 Skills for Creating Connection in Any Culture
You don’t need to “master” a culture to move through it well.
You just need a few steady skills:
- How to stay curious,
- How to adjust without performing
- How to recover gracefully when you miss a cue—because we all do.
This free PDF guide gives you 12 simple, human skills you can use anywhere: whether traveling abroad, navigating a new city, joining a host family, starting a new job, or even re-entering your own life after a trip.