Having packaged his more than 3,100 poems in chronological and themed collections, poet & writer Thomas Porky McDonald had the idea of putting together a volume of some relevant pieces that feature his lifetime home of Queens, New York. On addition, Porkwalk: The Queens Collection utilizes the same formula that McDonald chose in a previous collection based on his 20 years working out of neighboring Brooklyn, Dem Poems: The Brooklyn Collection. The 364 poems contained in this book are divided into sections, with old friends, his Astoria neighborhood, baseball and the losses he has suffered in the mix. This collection brings the poet back to where it all began and is thus arguably the most important one to date.

After going to various states on the Major League landscape over 21 seasons, poet/writer Thomas Porky McDonald came upon the notion of continuing to tour the rest of the contiguous United States, using Minor League parks as a starting point. A pair of Western tours with his niece Jaclyn and her son Alex, as well as a stop in Graceland with his sister Patti, would be in the mix, with each stop bringing out more of McDonald’s signature poetry. Poet in the Parks is a sequel of sorts, as the earliest trips chronicled feature returns to Major League parks with his Poet in the Grandstand road partner, Adam Boneker, who later hits the Minors trail with McDonald, as well as a stop in New Orleans during the time of a World Pandemic. Ultimately, this second travel/poetry volume is merely a quest to savor the American landscape, no matter how many cities, states, parks and places of interest you pass through along the way.

The seventh collection of poetry to be released by Thomas Porky McDonald, And These Thy Gifts: Poems 20072009, contains another five-book set of unique material. In Theresa, Red and Serenity, the self-styled ramble poet began an arc that would permeate throughout the entire volume. Pieces like God through the Lens of a Kaleidoscope, You Wonder Where Were At, and These Thereafters all spoke of the current world, in relation to a world that once was. Where is My Spy? and Irish Girls in Waiting cited friends McDonald had made in his two decades working in NYC Transit, and Incident on Blake Street, Inside the Crawford Grill, and Is Heaven Such a Place? touched on the ballpark. In book two, Contemplating Farewell, the collection amps up, as the impending demise of Shea Stadium and the sudden loss of a dear childhood friend take center stage. I Wonder About Yesterday and A Final Opened, Indeed honor Roy Riegel, who passed away on Opening Day of the 2008 baseball season, and The Lights of Skillman, A Ramp Overlooking Ecstasy, and In 73 all looked back at Shea, even as it still hung on for dear life. Whispering to Heaven, the third book of the set, used a trip to Los Angeles (Risin Mojo on the Diamond, The Night the 70s Returned and When Nothing Turns Up Differently), Anaheim (The Boater Battalion, A Rubys Diner Monday) and San Francisco (Where Were Without Willie, The Known at Polo Guy) to lead up to the final days of the old yard in Queens (Sittin in the Greens). In the last two books of the collection, On the Steps With You and The Wonder of the Silver Wander, the final days of Shea and the election and inauguration of Barack Obama as the first black U.S. President offer up the most evocative images. The Planes Weep Openly, And So the Fade Begins, The Sound of Hope and Another Tuesday (Steps) and The Seats that Have Come Home Again, Agee and Jones, From 16 to 44 and Whistle Stops (Wander) offer up the best of these. All in all, And These Thy Gifts: Poems 2007-2009, might well be McDonalds most reflective volume yet.

This book contains 70 short stories from 10 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. The stories were carefully selected by the critic August Nemo, in a collection that will please the literature lovers. For more exciting titles, be sure to check out our 7 Best Short Stories and Essential Novelists collections. This book contains: - Mór Jókai:Thirteen at Table. The Celestial Slingers. The Bad Old Times. The Hostile Skulls. Love And The Little Dog. The Justice Of Soliman – A Turkish Story. The Compulsory Diversion—An Old Baron's Yarn. - Andy Adams:Drifting North. Siegerman's Per Cent. "Bad Medicine". A Winter Round-Up. A College Vagabond. The Double Trail. Rangering. - B. M. Bower:The Lonesome Trail. First Aid To Cupid. When The Cook Fell Ill. The Lamb. The Spirit of the Range. The Reveler. The Unheavenly Twins - Richard Middleton:The Ghost Ship. A Drama of Youth. The New Boy. On the Brighton Road. A Tragedy in Little. Sheperd's Boy. The Passing of Edward. - Pierre Louÿs:Woman and Puppy. The New Pleasure. Byblis. Leda. Immortal Love. The Artist Triumphant. The Hill Of Horsel. - Hugh Walpole:The Whistle. The Silver Mask The Staircase. A carnation for an old man. Tarnhelm Mr. Oddy. Seashore Macabre. - Henry Handel Richardson:The End of a Childhood. The Bathe. Succedaneum. Mary Christina. "And Women Must Weep". Sister Ann. The Coat. - Gertrude Stein:Ada. Miss furr and Miss Skeen. France. Americans. Italians. A Sweet Tail. In the Grass. - E. Phillips Oppenheim:The Noxious Gift. Traske and the Bracelet. The Atruscan Silver mine. The Defeat of Rundermere. The End of John Dykes—Burglar. A Woman Intervenes. The Regeneration of Jacobs. - Arthur Wuiller-Couch:I Saw Three Ships. The Haunted Dragoon. A Blue Pantomime. The Two Householders. The Disenchantment of 'Lizabeth. The Laird's Luck. Captain Dick and Captain Jacka.