Vernon came out of the Civil War with a honed talent for violence that disallowed any opportunity for a peaceful existence. Pursuant to a confluence of circumstances, five children living a scratch existence on the outskirts of Jackson, Texas will come to rely on that talent for their very lives. Indeed, one runaway Chickasaw with vengeance in her blood and another with destruction in his will force Vernon to extremes that challenge not only his skill with a revolver but his very survival. With an old man carrying an old shotgun riding at his side, Vernon seeks to control his personal demons while going up against the very real threats that seek to destroy both him and the people he cares about. “The author delivers a strong protagonist and an engaging supporting cast. … A likeable, quirky hero and delightful youngsters make this violent yarn appealing.” — Kirkus Reviews.

Cal Gibson rode horses with his father as a boy. Now, fifty years later and a lone rural relic, his lifestyle continues in the countryside of Missouri as well as in its neighboring states, the South, and West, despite the impersonal advances of technology. He is a cowboy.Southwest Missouri¿s oak forests, native prairies, grass-covered hills, and cattle operations second only to Texas, are Cal¿s home. Here as a young man, he gains the devotion of a lovely woman, but is forced to walk away. He makes do, however painfully, throughout his remaining years. Yet, here, too, Cal has held tight to friends that last and stand with him when the going gets tough. Cal and his six lifelong companions provide a final burst of heartfelt determination and courage that unknowingly fosters revolution in a land written off as soft, spoiled, and doomed by greed.Cal¿s violent but heroic end spells out how this brave cowboy near sixty contributes more to his small community, his state, and his country during a cold December and January, than anyone could dare hope in a string of lifetimes.This intense but uplifting story tells of the heartland and its real people, their loves, tragedies, and spirit in terrible times. Cal Gibson grows to be a lone rock of decency and hope holding on in midstream as a fearful river rises. He provides the steady hand his community needs to cope with a calamity that today is all too possible.Impressed by the independence of American farmers and ranchers, the author has chronicled measured doses of their wisdom and grit in his writing. Although leaving rural Missouri repeatedly, his love of the land and family have always drawn him back and added a keener edge to his storytelling.

“Chatty, humorous, and sometimes almost hysterically funny . . . Everything, perhaps even more, that you might have wanted to know about armadillos.” —The Quarterly Review of Biology Perhaps no creature has so fired the imagination of a populace as the armadillo, that most ungainly, awkward, and timid little animal. What is it that sets this quizzical little creature apart from the rest of the animal kingdom? Larry L. Smith and Robin W. Doughty ably answer this question in The Amazing Armadillo: Geography of a Folk Critter. This informative book traces the spread of the nine-banded armadillo from its first notice in South Texas late in the 1840s to its current range east to Florida and north to Missouri. The authors look at the armadillo’s natural history and habitat as well as the role of humans in promoting its spread, projecting that the animal is increasing in both range and number, continuing its ecological success in areas where habitat and climate are favorable. The book also contributes to a long-standing research theme in geography: the relationship between humans and wildlife. It explores the armadillo’s value to the medical community in current research in Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) as well as commercial uses, and abuses, of the armadillo in recent times. Of particular note is the author’s engaging look at the armadillo as a symbol of popular culture, the efforts now underway to make it a “totem animal” symbolizing the easy-going lifestyles of some Sunbelt cities, and the spread of the craze for armadilliana to other urban centers.

On a cold winter's morning, Lorimer Black, an insurance adjustor -- young, good-looking, on the rise -- goes to keep a perfectly ordinary appointment only to find a hanged man. His life is about to be turned upside down and in directions he never imagined. The elements at play: A beautiful actress with whom he finds himself falling in love after a quick glimpse of her in a passing taxi ... an odd, new, business associate whose hiring, firing and rehiring make little sense ... a rock musician whose loss -- in this case of his mind -- may be "adjusted" by the insurance company. What ties it all together: a web of fraud in which virtually everyone he knows is somewhat involved, a web in which he finds himself being increasingly entangled.

have great pleasure in writing this foreword to Dr. Latane’s book on the Novels of William Boyd. The book is a significant contribution to Boyd criticism. It has discussed the early, the middle and the last phase of Boyd’s novels. In doing if the author has defined the totality of Boyd’s vision. Indeed every novel is a part of this totality and the totality is more than a mere sum of the novels. The reciprocal relationship between the part and the whole is the crux of novel-criticism and the book has given due justice to this aspect. Another important feature of the book is the analysis of the postmodernist element in Boyd’s novels. This critical framework can be used to analysis the postmodernist element in the contemporary Indian novel in English. Even going further it can be used to analyse the Postmodernist element in the contemporary Marathi novel. A thesis is really acknowledged when it become a source material for the future researchers and comparatives. Mr. Latane’s book has that potential. I heartily wish a good reception to the book. Dr. Prakash Deshpande Kejkar Former Professor of English Shivaji University, Kolhapur