"Chris Orcutt serves up a deliciously cheeky and ironic collection of short stories that offer glimpses into the perilous lives of ten men from vastly different walks of life and eras."* An IndieReader Best Book of 2013. From the emotionally poignant to the outrageously humorous, this varied collection of stories dramatizes the lives of a wide range of fascinating men including The Last Great White Hunter... learns that on the African savanna, the most dangerous predator is Woman. The Bootlegger... goes to extraordinary lengths to provide for his family during the Great Depression. The Speechwriter... contends with something all men have since the beginning of time--gut-wrenching temptation. The Dogcatcher... earns his living finding the lost dogs of uber-wealthy clients. The Civil War General... reveals the pitiful but hilarious depths of his own self-deception. Brimming with action-adventure, ample humor, and clean, picturesque writing, The Man, The Myth, The Legend combines the compelling narrative drive of great movies ("What happens next?") with the gemlike beauty of the short story form. Readers Say: "Chris Orcutt's writing is a surprise at every turn of the page. The writing is impeccable and filled with underlying humor and wit." "I would recommend The Man, The Myth, The Legend to anyone who enjoys suspense, romance, intrigue and humor. So, pretty much anyone." "Orcutt's glib use of language and deft ability to switch into multifarious voices and writing styles captures the nuances of time, setting and mentality of each protagonist...making each story unique, engaging and insightful." "I absolutely loved this collection of short stories. Each story is unique and has a different feel to it. I personally loved the story 'Seven Whole Grains on a Mission.' It's just incredibly clever and made me laugh out loud through the entire thing." "Again, I was thoroughly engaged in Chris's beautiful use of our language." "Let this book take you away from the ordinary and whisk you away to other worlds of interesting lives. You'll find yourself engrossed in every chapter, thinking about the stories you've read days later." "This book is like a mahogany box of sample liquors and cigar on the side, each bottle providing a new flavor and a memorable aftertaste." --- "Author Chris Orcutt serves up a deliciously cheeky and ironic collection of short stories that offer glimpses into the perilous lives of ten men from vastly different walks of life and eras. Whether it is a hunter in Africa, or a feisty General of a Civil War-era army, a gentlemanly writer, a senior road engineer, dogcatcher, or an artist daring to live outside New England, Orcutt highlights the tongue-in-cheek intrigue, danger and adventure in each man's life. Orcutt's fresh, lively descriptions preserve the irony of the stories, as with the description of Nick Carraway's 'mean little bungalow that quaked in the shadow of Gatsby's mansion like a tick beneath a Burmese elephant....' Orcutt's glib use of language and deft ability to switch into multifarious voices and writing styles captures the nuances of time, setting and mentality of each protagonist...making each story unique, engaging and insightful. The Man, The Myth, The Legend is a stimulating and entertaining collection of stories about the adventure in every man's life, work and passion. (5 stars; IR approved)" —IndieReader

We think of Zeus as the mightiest god of Greece, accompanied by his servants Force, Might and Victory,—the Cloud-gatherer, the Rain-giver, the Thunderer, the Lightning-hurler, the Sender of Prodigies, the Guider of Stars, the Ruler of other gods and men, whom even Poseidon the Earth-shaker must obey. The very name reverberates with majesty, power, dominion. But the beginnings of this vast deity were in darkness and danger. True, the reign of his father Kronos was that Golden Age when, in the fresh morning of the world, "Heat and Cold were not yet at strife, the Seasons had not begun their mystic dance, and one mild and equable climate stretched from pole to pole; when the trees bore fruit and the vine her purple clusters all the year, and honey-dew dripped from the laurel and juniper which are now so bitter; when flowers of every hue filled the air with perpetual fragrance, the lion gambolled with the kid, and the unfanged serpent was as harmless as the dove"; when over-curious Pandora not yet having released her boxful of ills, men had neither care nor sickness nor old age, but, after centuries of blissful calm, faded like flowers and became kindly spirit-guardians of their successors. Yet amid this charming serenity Kronos could never forget the curse of his father Uranus whom he had overthrown, and the prophecy that he himself should in his turn be cast down by his own children. "Wherefore being resolved to defeat that prophecy, he swallowed each child his wife Rhea brought forth, as soon as it was born. When Rhea had thus lost five babes,—Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon—and knew herself about to bear yet another, she made her prayer to Uranus her ancient sire, imploring counsel and aid.

The largest edible fruit native to the United States tastes like a cross between a banana and a mango. It grows wild in twenty-six states, gracing Eastern forests each fall with sweet-smelling, tropical-flavored abundance. Historically, it fed and sustained Native Americans and European explorers, presidents, and enslaved African Americans, inspiring folk songs, poetry, and scores of place names from Georgia to Illinois. Its trees are an organic grower’s dream, requiring no pesticides or herbicides to thrive, and containing compounds that are among the most potent anticancer agents yet discovered. So why have so few people heard of the pawpaw, much less tasted one? In Pawpaw—a 2016 James Beard Foundation Award nominee in the Writing & Literature category—author Andrew Moore explores the past, present, and future of this unique fruit, traveling from the Ozarks to Monticello; canoeing the lower Mississippi in search of wild fruit; drinking pawpaw beer in Durham, North Carolina; tracking down lost cultivars in Appalachian hollers; and helping out during harvest season in a Maryland orchard. Along the way, he gathers pawpaw lore and knowledge not only from the plant breeders and horticulturists working to bring pawpaws into the mainstream (including Neal Peterson, known in pawpaw circles as the fruit’s own “Johnny Pawpawseed”), but also regular folks who remember eating them in the woods as kids, but haven’t had one in over fifty years. As much as Pawpaw is a compendium of pawpaw knowledge, it also plumbs deeper questions about American foodways—how economic, biologic, and cultural forces combine, leading us to eat what we eat, and sometimes to ignore the incredible, delicious food growing all around us. If you haven’t yet eaten a pawpaw, this book won’t let you rest until you do.

A WOLF WHO HAS SPENT HIS LIFE IN THE SHADOWS OF HIS PAST... Beta werewolf—and ex–bounty hunter—Shadow knew when his Alpha commanded—er, "politely growled"—for him to attend the werewolf summit, that it was going to royally suck. Not only does he not want to fool around with all that royal werewolf bullshit, but he also knows he’s not exactly everybody’s favorite guy. Considering he ruined a lot of those werewolves’ lives in his old profession, he’ll be lucky if he can survive the weekend. Not to mention his mating Fever is driving him insane—and so is the feisty Alpha female he’s Marked as his mate. A QUEEN OF WOLVES WHOSE REIGN IS THREATENED... Spirited Breanna Whiteclaw is barely holding it together. With an ornery Alpha named Strider out to make her—and her pack —his own, and with her pack recovering from recent attacks by an unknown enemy, she has her paws full. Attending the summit means leaving her pack in their time of need, but as a royal werewolf, she knows she has no choice. Add to that the fact that her Blood Moon is approaching, and she has yet to find a mate—until the devilishly handsome Shadow Marks her as his own. CAN LOVE BE BORN FROM HATRED? Shadow never intended to go through with the mating ceremony—especially with the daughter of a man he killed. But his Fever has other plans. The more he’s around her, the more he craves her touch, longs to hear her voice, and aches to claim her. From the moment Shadow’s Mark formed on her hand, Breanna knew her mate-bond was destined for failure. The bounty hunter responsible for her father’s death is the last wolf on this earth she could ever bind herself to forever. But if she wants to remain Alpha and save her pack, she might not have a choice. As Strider closes in on her, she finds herself relying on Shadow’s quiet strength—and craving those rough hands all over her curves.

The Bear Book brings together an impressive range of bear--usually big, hairy men who favor full-face beards and prefer to wear jeans and flannel shirts--viewpoints to explore this unique social and cultural phenomenon that stretches from America to western Europe to Australia! On the personal level, you learn what beardom means to different people in their daily lives, and on a broader level, its cultural implications for not only the gay community, but also society as a whole. As this book moves across the wide spectrum of bear identities, you learn about the defining forces of identity, the significance of differences among masculinities, and the shapings of the bear movement from different viewpoints. The Bear Book is the first compilation of sociological and cultural analytical investigations of the contemporary gay bear phenomenon. To this end, Editor Les Wright brings together both objective and subjective viewpoints to create a forum where bears can speak for themselves. Through their voices, you’ll learn about: bears and sexual identity gay male iconography socializing on the Internet sexual politics (gender, class, “looks-ism,” and body image) gay mass media, the single most powerful force in the current construction of ”bears” bears, power, and glamor bear-as-image vs. bear-as-attitude Gays, lesbians, lesbigay scholars, bears, and social scientists are sure to find The Bear Book thought-provoking and insightful as it broaches questions such as: Are bears caught up in a utopian-romantic impulse to reinvent themselves? What was radical lesbianism’s impact on the bear movement? To what extent are bears only another group of exploited consumers in a fragmented market system? And, is it possible to establish social liberation through enslavement to your sexual passions? For both your pleasure and your education, The Bear Book examines nearly every corner of beardom, including bear history, identity, social spaces, iconography, and its constituency abroad.