The off-roading, hill-seeking and muddy-morning adventures of New Zealand farming legend Mark Warren Mark Warren is a larger-than-life character of rural New Zealand. He grew up with an obsession with Landrovers, council tip trucks, bulldozers, hill-country tractors, snow-plows - if it had four wheels, it warranted Mark's attention. Interwoven with his stories of working as a grease monkey, rallying in a purpose built Toyota landy, rescuing ski-bunnies off icy mountain roads, is his tale of being thrust into single-handedly managing a muddy Hawke's Bay farm in his twenties, just as Rogernomics was introduced and the removal of subsidies would change the face of farming forever. Many a Muddy Morning is a funny, original and affecting read that will appeal to petrol-heads and farmers alike. Mark brings together the traits we love to celebrate in our rural heartland in a book that is a colourful addition to the Kiwi story.

Say this of me, reader, after the voice-vanish of this life. I felt the joy of foolishness and in the muddy shoes of morning saw love.--John B. Lee.

The off-roading, hill-seeking and muddy-morning adventures of New Zealand farming legend Mark Warren Mark Warren is a larger-than-life character of rural New Zealand. He grew up with an obsession with Landrovers, council tip trucks, bulldozers, hill-country tractors, snow-plows - if it had four wheels, it warranted Mark's attention. Interwoven with his stories of working as a grease monkey, rallying in a purpose built Toyota landy, rescuing ski-bunnies off icy mountain roads, is his tale of being thrust into single-handedly managing a muddy Hawke's Bay farm in his twenties, just as Rogernomics was introduced and the removal of subsidies would change the face of farming forever. Many a Muddy Morning is a funny, original and affecting read that will appeal to petrol-heads and farmers alike. Mark brings together the traits we love to celebrate in our rural heartland in a book that is a colourful addition to the Kiwi story.

Phil Hale and Rick Berry met in 1980. Hale was sixteen and Berry twenty-seven. After founding the Newbury Studio (along with Tom Canty and Rick Salvucci) in Boston, they went on to illustrate the work of people who make up a veritable Who's Who of three major literary genres: William Gibson, Stephen King, Robert E. Howard, Frank Herbert, Peter Straub and the list goes on...Going well beyond the roles of illustrators, they are considered innovators and artistic pioneers -- Berry produced the first digital cover paintings (W. Gibson's Neuromancer, as seen in Time Magazine, 8 Feb. 1993) for trade fiction in the world. Hale's superb brush work garnered him so much attention, by age eighteen he was a pro in demand. Soon he was tapped for King's Drawing of the Three. Among their numerous awards is the 1989 World Con Best of Show for Dry Science by Berry. Berry's design and painting for Straub's Mrs. God was considered by Communication Arts as one of the year's best illustrated books. CA plus the Society of Illustrators annuals and Print magazine have published their works for music, literary and pop culture. Both have also contributed extensively to gaming cards and comic books.It is remarkable ... that somehow out of the discontinuities of the unexpected universe two of the most creative artists and best draftsmen I've ever seen should met at the right time. -- Jeff Jones

This American author has now spent four decades being involved in Costa Rica’s terrestrial and marine habitats, documenting the challenges and triumphs of his attempts to make an environmentally conscious and sustainable living in this paradise. Jon Marañón offers a unique first-person account of nature and persons in conflict and the difficulties of meshing human existence into the recently pristine coastal rainforests of Costa Rica. His work promotes reader awareness of the natural environment, wildlife, ecosystems, and socioculture of this remote area of Costa Rica. Ecology and spirituality intertwine as he describes his journey in a mix of naturalist and lyrical prose that, along with humor and introspection, mark the style of The Gringo’s Hawk. The Gringo’s Hawk represents the culmination of Mr. Marañón’s social struggles and the roles he has played in conservation, education, social well-being, and in establishing national parks and marine reserves in his area.

Coach George Abbott's football teams at Longstreet High School were unbeatable but he couldn't stop cancer from taking his beloved wife. It's 1970 and George is trying to rebuild his life despite his everyday disgust with a changing America. The tear gas and violence of anti-war protests. Kent State. My Lai. Psychedelic drugs. Woodstock. Afraid of becoming a recluse, George agrees to return to coaching but only Longstreet's freshman team. Once again walking the sidelines, he finds himself confronting the true costs of Vietnam through a young war widow and her son.--Back cover.

Award-winning author Terry Grosz, whose career in conservation is matched by his skill as a storyteller, revisits his rookie years as a fish and game warden for the State of California, where his on-the-job training got him into some awful scrapes (but the bad guys he chased almost always got into worse ones). As a law enforcement agent, he learned to sniff out trouble, defuse tense situations, and stay alive; and as a human being, he learned to temper justice with mercy and to treat everyone fairly. Grosz's stories are action-packed and driven by his passion to preserve our country's wildlife, whether he was working under the wing of a mentor, fighting out from underfoot of the bureaucrats, or stepping on the toes of corrupt and hypocritical politicians.