Nature Literature discussion

If you are an author of non-fiction, fiction or poetry with a nature/environmental slant, please feel free to provide links to your books and/or webpage here in this thread.

I wanted to introduce Maureen Dudley, who recently released her book The Plateau: Voices of the Earth on Earth Day! (April 22, 2013):

Maureen Dudley received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology. She then moved to Colorado where she began a career as an environmental engineer with the state. After more than two decades of working for state and then local government, Dudley decided it was time for a change. The Plateau - voices of the Earth is Dudley’s debut novel. She is currently researching and writing Book 2 – voices of the future.

About the Book:
What if you have a half a second to stop the extinction of the human race? What if that pivotal day to save humanity depends on you saving your own life? Catherine's life and humanity's continued existence depend on her ability and willingness to believe in an altered, future timeline with a cololny of Earth inhabitants. It couldn't come at a worse time. Catherine's father dies unexpectedly. The pressure of her research and advocacy work adds dead weight to her life's precarious tipping points. Catherine's losing battles includes sleep deprivation. Sleep eludes her, because when it does come, she finds herself repeatedly dreaming about standing on the same high plateau with her greyhound dog, Addy, surrounded by plants and animals and insects, and then poof! The living landscape transforms into ash.

Thanks for the information on Maureen Dudley's book Sami Jo. I've added her book to our bookshelf and indicated it as the "Book of the Month" (Featured Author) for July, 2013. Sounds like a very interesting read!

Thank you so much, Becky!!!!

Oh, sorry I did mention a little bit in my introduction.

I will post a link to my reviews. Not only was Scotland of 1210 very natural and unspoilt but much warmer than today which makes it somewhat of a garden of Eden.

http://tinyurl.com/CelticBloodPB

I personally love the serenity and life within a forest and European forests are indeed beautiful places.

Hello! I write essays, articles and books that touch on nature in one form or another - usually quite directly. My latest novel, "The Starling God", is a commentary on human impact on the rest of nature from another species' point of view - birds. Here's the book trailer link if you want to get the sense of it: http://youtu.be/2CaukL-i8oU
and here's the link to the book on the publisher's web site: http://www.forestrypressproducts.com/... It will be out in print sometime in late January if all goes well. I'd LOVE to see this books discussed by the membership here someday! Thanks

My newly-published novel, "Somewhere Upriver," is about wildlife biologists studying amphibians in the rain forests of Olympic National Park in Washington State. Amphibian toxicology play a fundamental role in a humorous plot.


I will be having a free book giveaway listed any day now.

Both of these novels sound very interesting, Tanya and Patrick. Please feel free to add your books to the bookshelf on the group's homepage. We don't seem to have a lot of interest in contests/reading groups/book challenges, but perhaps that will change now that we've gotten some new members.

~Becky

Becky wrote: "Both of these novels sound very interesting, Tanya and Patrick. Please feel free to add your books to the bookshelf on the group's homepage. We don't seem to have a lot of interest in contests/re..."

Thanks, Becky! I will do so. :-)

my new interactive poetry book "Wintering" available from iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/wint...

Description:

A book for this season, the season of wintering - an interactive book of my poems, paintings, photographs, video, and spoken word. A meditation on winter, and wintering.

These words and images - two sides of the same coin, tumbling in a great river - bearing witness to the Creation. I’ll meet you there.

Hi all,

I wrote the book Back to the Garden under the pen name Clara Hume. It is a book about the future post economic collapse due to climate change. It was my first novel, and I took on the perspective of ten main characters. Let's just say I am now working on a second novel that is not quite so ambitious!

I also run a Nature Writing forum at https://plus.google.com/u/0/communiti.... I ask its members to focus on nature themes found in speculative, science, climate (cli-fi), literary, and eco fiction. Nonfiction authors of essays are also welcome. All who love nature fiction are invited to join the discussion!

Hi everyone,

In case you're looking for some new books to read, I thought I'd point out that Smashwords is having their annual July Summer/Winter Sale.

I, personally, still offer Leopard's Kin there for free (which uses big cat myths from around the world as a basis for the novel) and I'm currently offering Lion's Kin for 50% off (making it $1.99)....but I'm not just posting to promote my stuff. There are lots of good stories there and a lot of them are free this month, so check it out!

Here's my personal profile there:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Enjoy!
Becky

My newly published non-fiction work The Wild Excellence: Notes from Untamed America chronicles my adventures living in some of the wildest country left in the United States. Grizzlies, wolves, Sheep Eater Shoshone Indians, homesteading, and all the reasons why we need so desperately to preserve our last remaining wildlands. Here's an Amazon link and you can also see it on my Goodreads page. http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Excellence...

Sounds very interesting, Leslie - thanks for sharing!

Hi all!

I'd like to make a wee pitch for my new book, In Search of Lost Frogs, which documents the global hunt for frogs and salamanders lost to science. The book is a narrative of my journey wrapped around 400 photographs from Colombia to the Congo, Israel to India and Ecuador to California. Link to the book is here: http://amzn.com/1770854649

Sneak peak of some of the images and text at: www.insearchoflostfrogs.com

Would love to hear people's feedback...

Thanks!
Robin

Looks interesting Robin! Might need to save up the dollars for the hardcover though.

Robin and Leslie, those sounds interesting! I hope to check them out.

My book, but it is out of print. I was the executive editor. We had a great time putting it together, and actually got all 12 authors to the book launch.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I have no connection to this author other than that he is from the town where I was library director and we had him for several programs about his books. He is an engaging and enthusiastic speaker. Todd McLeish He has 3 books out about endangered species.

Hi, I just joined this group. Thought you might wish to check some of my books, all of which deal with nature, especially the human relationship to nature: http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Lee-Feath...

I have a new book coming out at the end of 2016, Threshold, about climate change in a southwestern city, published by Fireship Press. Will keep you posted on its release.

Welcome, Susan! It's a pleasure to have you! Please keep us informed on your upcoming work.

~Becky

Thank you, Becky. I look forward to finding new reads with this community of readers.

Susan

Hello everyone, it's that time of year again where Smashwords' authors off discounts on their e-books in the July Summer/Winter Sale.

My paranormal novel about horses and big cat myths, Leopard's Kin is still free there and I'm currently offering Lion's Kin and All the Courses Run for 50% off.

Here's my personal profile there:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Enjoy!
Becky

Hi everyone, I would like to leave a small pitch for my new nature memoir WILD ROOTS - Coming Alive in the French Amazon. It is available for FREE download from the 16th August here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IAC3C9U

The book includes a number of nature essays, is also part personal essay and personal transformation story. A strong emphasis on the wonder and awe that is nature and why we need it.

I am also looking to meet up with other nature writing authors and am looking forward to reading some of the books listed in this thread.

You can read about WILD ROOTS here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

VIDEO TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo9hS...

Enjoy,
Donna

What a stunning book cover, Donna! Looks very interesting - please remind me closer to August 16th to look into this!

Hi, my novel, Autumn Imago, was one of only three selected to launch “Harper Legend,” on September 27 of 2016. This is a new imprint of HarperCollins. My story of family and natural drama set within Maine’s Baxter State Park has been lauded by reviewers that include the Bangor Daily News, PEN/Bellwhether finalist Frank O. Smith, and 2016 Maine Literary Award winner Jim Nichols, who characterized the work as “elegantly told with a fully-developed cast of characters and wonderful sense of place.” Many of the chapters are set in the specific trails, peaks, rivers, waterfalls, and other locations in the park that I've visited for the past 34 years. Thanks for checking out my homepage at http://www.wigginscreative.com/ for links to purchase the book and blog posts detailing my journey to write it.

This looks very intriguing, Bryan - I've added it to my wish list since my birthday and Christmas are both just around the corner! :)
Becky

Thanks so much, Becky. Love your thoughts on the story if you have a chance to share them.

I am not keeping up on my reading. A presenter at a conference I attended some time ago said, "Reading is inhaling, writing is exhaling." I am now going through a major exhale. More on my writers blog. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Hi, all! I've seen some of you in the discussions about book choices for the month. I'd like to share my The Book of Noticing: Collections and Connections on the Trail, which launched in May and is now also on Kindle:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Reviews at my publisher's site: http://homeboundpublications.com/the-...

Also, here's the link to my Ask the Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/1147...

Thank you! See you on the discussion boards!

I know what you mean, Ray. I have a habit of dipping into a multitude of books but not necessarily sticking with them start to finish. Not because I don't like them, just because that is, apparently, how I roll. I also think my attention span has gotten shorter! I want to up my reading and reading COMPLETION!

I'd like to introduce my newly retitled novel, The Dragon Who Didn't Fly, which is free on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Didnt-D.... The book is first in a series of four and soon to be 5 novels.

In a swamp that's a lot like the Florida Everglades, a dragon wrestles with the awareness that humans want to kill him and turn his home into suburban housing. The humans are out of touch with nature and with themselves. Somehow, he has to find a human he can reach.

Thanks! I hope to find many books to read on this board. Wild Roots is my next book.

I just published an Eco-Fiction adventure novel, The Battle for the Black Fen, which is the last volume in my Infinite Games series.

You can read all about this series at www.annispratt.com.

Here is a quote from my press release, headlined
Hope in a Time of Climate Armageddon;

We are out of our minds with worry that climate warming will eliminate not only whole shorelines and species of plants, insects, birds, animals, and reptiles but human life itself. We human beings, deluded that we can bend the natural world to gratify our every whim, have become global predators and planetary nemeses. This realization is so hard to bear that many deny scientific reality, while others, paralyzed with dread of impending climate doom, take no action whatsoever.

Enter Eco-Fiction. There are new genres of Cli-Fi and Solar Punk in the science fiction mode, with characters who adapt to climate warming and build new communities; traditional novels with plots based on environmental conflict; and Arcadian descriptions of invented or historical communities in harmony with nature.
you can read the whole press release at http://bit.ly/2z3cjol

Annis wrote: "I just published an Eco-Fiction adventure novel, The Battle for the Black Fen, which is the last volume in my Infinite Games series.

You can read all about this series at www.annispratt.com.

He..."

Congratulations Annis:
I have not heard of Eco-Fiction, but it's timely; I love the ideas behind this new genre.

Thank you for sharing, and we wish you success with your continued writing adventures.

Sher

Thanks, Sher. If you go to the web page of Ecology in Literature and the Arts you will find a wide variety of Eco-Fiction readings. I hadn't realized that it was the genre of my series until I came across this site. It should really appeal to our avid green readers in this community.

I think one of these should be nominated for a future group read--- do you agree?

Okay-- let's all try to find some nominations in this genre for January 2018!

Glorious Times: Adventures of the Craighead Naturalists


Midwest Book Review
Reviewer’s Choice

"Glorious Times: Adventures of the Craighead Naturalists" by Tom Benjey tells the fascinating, true, and important story of an American clan of Scots-Irish that settled in the early 1700s in Pennsylvania. From this clan came an astonishing number exceptional people, many of whom dedicated their lives to the study and conservation of nature. "Glorious Times" even poses the question as to whether this family had a special "Naturalist DNA" in their genetic heritage. "Glorious Times" covers many generations, but appropriately focuses most attention on the famous siblings Frank Jr., John, and Jean (Craighead George). It is interesting to note that in 2009 it was Dr. David Masland suggested Benjey write a book about his lifelong friends, the Craigheads. Benjey's initial investigation convinced him that this was indeed an extraordinary family. Impressively informed and informative, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Glorious Times" will prove to be of immense attraction to readers with an interest in the history of environmentalism and conservation in America -- and will prove to be of enduring value for both community and academic library American Biography collections in general, and Environmental/Conservation supplemental studies reading lists in particular.

Here is a link to a short trailer: https://youtu.be/8ROqbDlxs9g

Wow—Super interesting! I forwarded the YouTube link to my son, who is a big fan of My Side of the Mountain.We also are a (small!) naturalist family of sorts.

Thanks posting this Tom! Interesting.

This a project I am developing for the 75th anniversary celebration of the Chattanooga Audubon Society. It is the first page of a prospectus on the works of Robert Sparks Walker, Poet and Literary Naturalist and founder of the Chattanooga Audubon Society.
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

My name is Neus Figueras and I’m an oceanographer, a marine biologist, and a writer.

I've published a YA science fantasy novel to encourage more people to love and protect our oceans.

The plot follows Lorac, a sea nomad from Myanmar, in a journey to explore the wonders of the coral reefs, how over time our impacts on the ocean have increased, and what we need to do to reverse this.

I hope Lorac: An Adventure to Save the Ocean is of your interest :)

All proceeds go towards spreading awareness of the book, and the ebook version can be downloaded directly at https://imwithlorac.com/ and, if desired and possible, make a later donation to promote more people to live an adventure that inspires climate action and connection with nature.

Please feel free to spread the word if you like this project.

Thank you!

i was not sure where else to put this announcement, so here it is.
Barry Lopez is gone. I have rea most of his works and the world was a better place because of him.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/26/948863...

Ray wrote: "i was not sure where else to put this announcement, so here it is.
Barry Lopez is gone. I have rea most of his works and the world was a better place because of him.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/2..."

Oh, that's so sad, Ray. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Hello everyone, my name is Adrienne Ross Scanlan, and in addition to being a (silent) Nature Literature member, I’m also the author of Turning Homeward – Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild, a freelance developmental editor, and a book reviewer for the New York Journal of Books (my focus is mainly science- or nature-based nonfiction).

Here's the link for Turning Homeward:
https://www.adrienne-ross-scanlan.com...

Turning Homeward weaves personal essay with science-based nature writing to tell my journey of a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest (USA) who learns that home isn’t simply where you live but where you create belonging by repairing the nature that is close to our lives. Turning Homeward is on fifteen Goodreads lists for nature, science, and community-oriented books, and was a 2017 finalist for the Washington State Book Award.

I’ll suggest it for a BOTM later this summer. Book club members get a 20% discount if the book is purchased directly from the publisher. (Contact me for the discount code at adrienne@adrienne-ross-scanlan.com.)

I’m looking forward to taking part in Nature Literature discussions later this year.

Thanks,
Adrienne

Hello Adrienne--thank you for bringing your book to our attention.

And we would love to have you join us when you have time.

Sher

Thank you Sher. I hope to do so, and soon.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
I have been reading books by Emma Bell Miles lately. She had a number of books about the mountain people and natural history of Walden's Ridge near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I'm pretty sure I have done this before; but here we go.

I get inspiration and humor from the landscape. its plants, flowers, leaves, bark and all the ways that humans interact with them.

I have used that personal inspiration to build a protagonist. His name is Christopher Janus, nicknamed, CJ.

CJ is an American student in a term abroad design study in northern Morocco. He writes his own story and describes his discoveries in the landscape and its Mediterranean plants--stuff they didn't teach at university.

Check it out.

Tangier Gardens

Blog: www.flahertylandscape.com