Floating Twigs

It's 1968 in the rural coastline town of Denton, Florida, and the only thing with a tougher life than twelve-year-old Jack Turner is a starving dog named Bones. When they meet while Jack is fishing, Jack knows that he and Bones are meant for each other, and he promises his oft-absent alcoholic parents that he'll somehow get a job to pay for his new dog's food and care. In the process of finding work, Jack meets Hank Pittman, a middle-aged man who lives in a dilapidated school bus at the harbor, and Mrs. Mary Jane Dawson, an eccentric but kind older woman in need of gardening help. As Bones nurses back to health, Hank and Mrs. Dawson become the caring parents Jack never had. But gossip and lies about Jack's growing relationships lead to an attack on Bones' life and questions about Hank's past. When Hank is put on trial for a crime he didn't commit, everything Jack holds dear is set in the balance of that small-town courtroom. Floating Twigs is a timeless coming-of-age story about a boy and his dog, the responsibilities that come with loving others, and how sometimes one small moment can change a life forever.

The highly anticipated sequel to Floating Twigs! Jack Turner has returned to his hometown of Denton, Florida, to live there for the first time in eighteen years. Despite a career as a criminal defense attorney and the companionship of his new dog, Brinkley, Jack is haunted by what is missing in his life. Whether it's the unanswered questions about his brother, Rick, who never returned from Vietnam, or a budding romance with Jenny Walton, Jack is wary of getting close to anyone beyond a few trusted friends and his beloved dogs. But when he's assigned to represent an old childhood tormentor for armed robbery, Jack is forced to re-evaluate his past and consider his own failings in dealing with others. This endearing sequel to Floating Twigs takes an honest look at love and redemption as Jack discovers that finding twigs is more difficult than floating them. Note: The reader does not need to have read Floating Twigs to read and follow this book, though of course it is better to have read that one before reading Finding Twigs to know more about the main characters.

Called the best essayist of his time by luminaries like Philip Roth, John Updike, and Edward Abbey, Edward Hoagland brings readers his ultimate collection. In Sex and the River Styx, the author's sharp eye and intense curiosity shine through in essays that span his childhood exploring the woods in his rural Connecticut, his days as a circus worker, and his travels the world over in his later years. Here, we meet Hoagland at his best: traveling to Kampala, Uganda, to meet a family he'd been helping support only to find a divide far greater than he could have ever imagined; reflecting on aging, love, and sex in a deeply personal, often surprising way; and bringing us the wonder of wild places, alongside the disparity of losing them, and always with a twist that brings the genre of nature writing to vastly new heights. His keen dissection of social realities and the human spirit will both startle and lure readers as they meet African matriarchs, Tibetan yak herders, circus aerialists, and the strippers who entertained college boys in 1950s Boston. Says Howard Frank Mosher in his foreword, the self-described rhapsodist "could fairly be considered our last, great transcendentalist."

The whittler extraordinaire, Chris Lubkemann, is back with 31 fun and rewarding new whittling projects in his latest guidebook, Big Book of Whittle Fun. These detailed, photo-illustrated projects are quick and easy to make. Chris offers clear instructions for creating a wide variety of useful and entertaining objects with almost no expense or training, and gives tips and techniques that make whittling accessible and enjoyable for both novices and experienced carvers. With helpful advice on choosing wood, basic whittling techniques and safe knife sharpening, you'll be able to make practical projects like recipe holders and whimsical objects like a rooster. Many playful sports and game-oriented projects are also included such as tic-tac-toe and a bowling set complete with a lane and pins. You'll find the projects in this book truly make whittling fun.

But it would be unfair to the reader to reveal what happens when a gang of professional crooks gets wind of the scheme and moves to muscle in on this bettors' dream of a long-odds situation. Worked out with all the meticulous detail, terror, and suspense of a nightmare, the tale is, on one level, comparable to a Graham Greene thriller; on another, it explores a group of people, their relationships fears, and loves. For as Leslie A. Fiedler says in his introduction, "John Hawkes.. . makes terror rather than love the center of his work, knowing all the while, of course, that there can be no terror without the hope for love and love's defeat . . . ."

Guaranteed to make the reader recall the author's Floating Twigs! Eric Northcraft is struggling to raise his three daughters without his wife, who recently died of cancer. While he misses his late wife, Emily, he must do his best to be both a father and mother to his young daughters. Lisa, the oldest at fourteen, loves horses, an interest not well-supported by his teacher's salary. Grace, his middle child, is physically and intellectually challenged, mentally more like a five-year-old than a girl of eleven. Monica, the youngest, is the rebellious one and is convinced her father loves her sisters more than he loves her. They each deal with the loss of their mother in different ways, some good, some bad. As Lisa finds a way to be around the horses she loves so much, Monica grows more rebellious and difficult. Grace, however, is happy with her canaries, preferring to sit and listen to their beautiful singing while doing her best to convince her family of the happiness they can bring. Meanwhile, Eric is having difficulties at work. One of his administrators is causing problems, and his best student, an African-American girl with issues of her own, refuses to be coaxed into attending college, even on a scholarship. When tragedy strikes once again, Eric and his family must deal with its outcome. A story of resilience, love, and the beauty that surrounds us to help us through life, Canaries' Song will make you laugh, cry, and finally, turn the last page with feelings of joy and satisfaction. It will remind the reader of Tabb's acclaimed novel, Floating Twigs.

SANCTAPHRAX WILL BE destroyed by the energy of the Mother Storm. . . . Far over the Edge, the Mother Storm is brewing—a storm more terrifying than any seen in the lifetime of any Edgelander. Sweeping in from the open sky, it must strike the source of the Edgewater River to bring new energy to the land. But in its way is Sanctaphrax, a magnificent city built on a floating rock and tethered to the land by a massive chain. Only one person can save the Edgelands from certain disaster: Twig, the young sky pirate captain who dared to sail over the Edge—and returned with his memory shattered and his crew flung far and wide. But to recover his memory and take action, Twig must first find his lost crew. And this means a journey back into the Deepwoods, and beyond. . . . “As before, Stewart’s descriptions are brilliant; Riddell’s line drawings are exquisitely detailed and notably grotesque. . . . Altogether this series is so exceptional that if I had any chance of collecting, I’d bet good money on it still being in print a century from now. . . . When’s the next book coming?”—Interzone “Fabulously illustrated. . . .”—The Sunday Times “Richly inventive. . . .”—Literary Review

Like A.S. Byatt’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Possession, these two mesmerising novellas are set in the nineteenth century. In Morpho Eugenia, an explorer realises that the behaviour of the people around him is alarmingly similar to that of the insects he studies. In The Conjugal Angel, curious individuals – some fictional, others drawn from history – gather to connect with the spirit world. Throughout both, Byatt examines the eccentricities of the Victorian era, weaving fact and fiction, reality and romance, science and faith into a sumptuous, magical tapestry.