GATORS, SNAKES, BEARS AND BIKERS, OH MY! This book is the second in a planned series of books entitles Tails of a Woodsman. This book is similar to the first book Patti has published, it is a collection of humorous true stories of Pattis encounters with Florida Wild Life. Pattis gifted story telling style has a way of touching the heart of her readers and many readers report laughing right out loud! Most of the stories in this book happened in the 440,000 acres of the untamed piney woods of the Ocala National Forest. Patti resides in a cottage, near the healing springs of the Seminole Indians---Salt Springs. This is where she shares the land with many Florida critters to include, gators, poisonous snakes, black bears, owls, eagles, and great salt water and freshwater fishing. These stories will warm the heart of the readers and expose the reader to rural Florida, a place that is spiritually scared to those born here and awesomely challenging to the newcomer!

"If you’re looking for a real declaration of independence, and a deeper social experiment, try a woman living alone in the Adirondacks for decades." —Megan Mayhew Bergman, Guardian Anne LaBastille found peace and solitude in the log cabin she built for herself at Black Bear Lake. But as the years passed, the outside world intruded in various ways: curious fans, after reading her best-selling book Woodswoman, tracked her down; land developers arrived; there was air and noise pollution and the damages of acid rain. Woodswoman II is the story of the author's decision to retreat farther, a half-mile behind her main cabin, and build a tiny cabin—fashioned after the one in Thoreau's Walden—in which she could write and contemplate. In this book (originally published under the title Beyond Black Bear Lake) she writes movingly of her life with two German shepherds as companions, of a sustaining relationship with a man as independent as herself, and her renewed bond with nature.

Snakes, gators, and bears, oh my! This book is a collection of humorous and emotional stirring events of one woman's attempt to share the land with various critters that resided on her farm located in the heart of Ocala National Forest. This 440,000 acre wooded swampland harbors over 20 spring fed lakes filled with large mouth bass, other fresh water fish and reptiles, including alligators. The piney forest that surrounds these awesome lakes in spring is also the home for many critters including a variety of aggressive snakes, wandering curious black bear and exotic often strange acting birds. These stories based on actual events will delight the heart of the reader. In addition, the reader will be exposed to rural Florida, a place spiritually sacred to those born and raised here, awesomely challenging to the newcomer.

Ecologist Anne LaBastille created the life that many people dream about. When she and her husband divorced, she needed a place to live. Through luck and perseverance, she found the ideal spot: a 20-acre parcel of land in the Adirondack mountains, where she built the cozy, primitive log cabin that became her permanent home. Miles from the nearest town, LaBastille had to depend on her wits, ingenuity, and the help of generous neighbors for her survival. In precise, poetic language, she chronicles her adventures on Black Bear Lake, capturing the power of the landscape, the rhythms of the changing seasons, and the beauty of nature’s many creatures. Most of all, she captures the struggle to balance her need for companionship and love with her desire for independence and solitude. Woodswoman is not simply a book about living in the wilderness, it is a book about living that contains a lesson for us all.

This collection of ten contemporary fairy tales--the second in the critically acclaimed series--puts a delightful new spin on classic stories and themes. Michelle Koszlowski desperately wants to be a princess until her wish comes true and she discovers what a pain royal life can be. The Little Tailor brags to everyone about his bravery until a giant comes along and teaches him a lesson. Rapunzel is held captive in a high-rise apartment by an urban witch who owns a pizza parlor. A postmodern wolf refuses to eat the bratty Little Red Riding Hood and her sickly grandmother. Hansel is so obsessed with candy that he steals Gretel's piggy bank and runs off to the Old Witch's Candy Factory. This collection of ten contemporary fairy tales--the second in the critically acclaimed series--puts a delightful new spin on classic stories and themes. Michelle Koszlowski desparately wantes to be a princess until her wish comes true and she discovers what a pain royal life can be. The Little Tailor brags to everyone about his bravery until a giant comes along and teaches him a lesson. Rapunzel is held captive in a high-rise apartment by an urban witch who owns a pizza parlor. A postmodern wolf refuses to eat the bratty Little Red Riding Hood and her sickly grandmother. Hansel is so obsessed with candy that he steals Gretel's piggy bank and runs off to the Old Witch's Candy Factory.

The complete Newfangled Fairy Tales all in one book! This collection of twenty contemporary fairy tales puts a delightful new spin on classic stories and themes. The Big Bad Wolf is running a successful scam on Little Red's Grandma until Little Red catches him in the act. The Three Bears invade Goldy's house because their forest home is being stripped to build a super highway. A clever princess pays a dragon to lose a fight so she can marry the man she loves. Michelle Koszlowski desperately wants to be a princess until her wish comes true and she discovers what a pain royal life can be. The Little Tailor brags to everyone about his bravery until a giant comes along and teaches him a lesson. Rapunzel is held captive in a high-rise apartment by an urban witch who owns a pizza parlor. Hansel is so obsessed with candy that he steals Gretel's piggy bank and runs off to the Old Witch's Candy Factory.

Anne LaBastille and her German shepherds experience more daring, death defying encounters in the wilderness, and with humans, than ever before. WOODSWOMAN IIII covers five years, rather than ten, since life has speeded up both at her log cabin and old farm. Anne juggles hard to achieve balance between making a living as a freelance writer and publisher, and as a cabin-dweller and contemplative. Her humorous descriptions of the miserly book factory show the complex demands on her time. These are contrapuntal to her exquisite images of Adirondack nature and wildlife and the harmony she finds therein. Despite fewer days at the cabin, each visitation holds greater intensity, more loveliness, interdependence and familiarity with her pets and wildlife. Her message to women everywhere is: Be Courageous, Be Independent, and Be Compassionate. Her message to readers is captured in this visionary chronicling of sociological events and ecological changes over 35 years in the Adirondack Park. WOODSWOMAN, WOODSWOMAN II, WOODSWOMAN III, also available from West of the Wind Publications, Inc., Westport, NY.

Here is your road map to the vast and previously uncharted terrain of recreational nonfiction. After defining the genre and discussing it's unique characteristics and appeals; the author describes more than 500 popular nonfiction titles and organizes them according to genre. Everything from true adventure, true crime, and travel narratives to investigative nonfiction, environmental writing, and life stories. Genres are subdivided into subgenres and popular themes, such as micro-histories, deep science, and humorous memoirs. Focus is on the best titles published within the last decade, with key classics and benchmark titles also cited. For each title you'll find a short list of nonfiction read-alikes; and fiction read-alikes are listed for each genre.

"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."—The New York Times Book Review Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever. “An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.” —The Horn Book

When one woman goes missing in the Colorado wilderness, another becomes bent on discovering her whereabouts in this unforgettably moving, bestselling literary debut. Driven to spend days alone in the wilderness, Amy Raye Latour, mother of two, is compelled by the quiet and the rush of nature. But this time, her venture into a remote area leaves her on the verge of the precarious edge that she’s flirted with her entire life. When Amy Raye doesn’t return to camp, ranger Pru Hathaway and her dog respond to the missing person call. After an unexpected snowfall and few leads, the operation turns into a search and recovery. As the novel follows Amy Raye and Pru in alternating threads, Breaking Wild assumes the white-knuckled pace of a thriller, laying bare Amy Raye’s ultimate reckoning with the secrets of her life and Pru’s dogged pursuit of the woman who, against all odds, she believes she can find.