The Cold War had recently drawn to a close, and Lisa Duffy-Korpics’s career as a dogcatcher would soon be history, too, but for very different reasons—and, indeed, with infinitely more pleasant memories. In Tales from a Dog Catcher, she brings together these experiences in a magical book that is funny, touching, and heartrending by turns. Set in a small, Hudson River town north of New York City, this book comprises twenty-two real-life stories about people and their experiences with animals, stories that both entertain and charm, and feature all creatures great and small—from plenty of dogs and cats and “peeping Tom” raccoons, to a duck and a turkey and an (imagined) mountain lion. Animal lovers of all kinds can read how: • A decades-long feud between two longtime enemies who use each other’s dogs to hurt each other culminates in a dramatic courtroom battle where they unwittingly end up helping each other. • A call on an elderly woman to surrender twenty-three cats provokes a surprising revelation. • A language and culture barrier yields a situation where a woman ends up watering her cats like plants. All ends well, save for some damp kittens, but the laughter continues for miles. • The police chief forces the animal control officer (ACO) into a presentation at the local high school—for students with behavioral problems. After a few awkward moments, the ACO finds herself at ease. Drawn to these engaging teenagers, she realizes that sometimes what you are meant to do in life is not always something that you choose. Sometimes it chooses you. In the tradition of James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small and John Grogan’s Marley & Me, Lisa Duffy-Korpics’s Tales from a Dog Catcher is an unforgettable look at the lives of everyday people (and animals) who, whether by accident or design, come into contact with the sad, comical, and often profound world of an animal control officer.

At the age of nineteen, I was given the incredible opportunity to work, play, help, and protect animals of all kinds all the while having the time of my life and the best job ever. I would encourage women to take the State tests to become fish and game, wildlife, and environmental police, whatever your particular state calls it. There are not enough of us in the wildlife law enforcement world.

When TV director Bernard Cartwright, with a wife and four children, loses his job, he takes on role of dog warden in Worcester. His job is to look for dogs in trouble. He finds barking dogs, biting dogs, dogs lost, abandoned, injured and abused.

Maxim, a curious border collie, can sense trouble a mile away. His keen eyes and ears lead him from one dangerous case to the next. Surrounded by his friends, animals look to him to right the neighborhood wrongs, proclaiming him the Dog Catcher. In pursuit of the truth, he often finds himself at odds with his mistress, who is unaware of the ordeals associated with his secret life. Implicated in the death of his archenemy, deception and intrigue unfold as Maxim fights to clear his name.

Closer Walk with Thee, Closer Walk With Thee I am weak, but thou art strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong; I’ll be satisfied as long As I walk, let me walk close to thee. Refrain: Just a closer walk with thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be. Through this world of toil and snares, If

The tales in Bedtime Stories for Dogs are written just the way dogs like things—they're short and simple, they have happy endings, they usually involve food, and they frequently refer to things that smell really awful. Each one of these stories was proofed (and woofed) by the author's two wiener dogs: "If they didn't give a story two paws up and two tails wagging, it was back to the drawing board," she says. This is the perfect treat for anyone: *Whose dog has control of the remote (and flips when watching dog food commercials) *Whose dog occasionally allows him to sleep in the bed (but only if he doesn't hog the covers!) *Who doesn't even notice the dog hairs in their food *Who carries their dog when he gets winded Anyone who has a canine companion will want this charming book. It's a bow-wow bedtime bible!

The essays and memoirs collected in Seek! trace Rudy Rucker's trajectory through the final decade of the second millennium. His topics include artificial life, chaos, the big bang, Pieter Brueghel, the church of the subgenius, live sex, mathematics, science fiction, and TV evangelism. A computer scientist and programmer, Rucker is an articulate, engaging guide to the world on either side of the computer screen.

With the death of his mother and his father being strung out on heroin, MENACE took to the streets at a very young age. Being focused on his money and his grind, he didn’t have time for love. That is until, he falls for the beautiful SHATIRA. Shatira lives the life of a ghetto Cinderella, being treated like a second class citizen by her evil stepmother, DELORES, and her wicked twin sons, LEVON and LERON, until Menace rescues her from her world of torment and nightmares. While on the run, a hood romance blossoms between Menace and Shatira and they find themselves madly in love. But trouble invades their paradise when FLOCKA, Menace’s best friend, runs afoul of a crime boss, setting off a chain of events that guarantees death for the lovely young couple. During this time, Menace realizes there’s a thin line between friend and foe, and that sometimes your woman is the realest nigga on your team. But more importantly he’ll come to understand that THE STREETS DON’T LOVE NOBODY.

Life List evokes the feel and images of growing up and growing old in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The speaker must rely on faith and her internal gyroscope to find her way through a rapidly changing world. Loss and grief sober and subdue her, but she sees the world with much the same eyes as she ages. Her poems are concrete and evocative; they will recall your experiences too.