New Releases by Ed Kostro

This book of poems depicts the author''s experience of helping rescue animals following Hurricane Katrina and the remarkable souls he encountered on the Gulf--stories of both victims and rescuers that he will remember forever.

Margaret and Thomas Hawkins are a typical harried big city couple in desperate need of a vacation. She''s exhausted and dreams of a luxurious Caribbean cruise where ship attendants will pamper her. He dreams of remote unpopulated areas where he can leave the maddening city hordes behind and enjoy the grandeur of nature with his strange little dog, Big Mack. They eventually compromise and rent a houseboat in the Canadian wilderness. They are both enjoying their idyllic get-a-way until the worst storm in centuries descends directly upon them. To their utter horror, Margaret and Tom soon discover that in the wilderness, there is absolutely nowhere to run-nowhere to hide. Lightning bolts fill the northern sky; thunderclaps echo through the night; 60 mile per hour winds hurl deadly debris and uprooted trees in every direction; and their tiny houseboat is tossed about on the now turbulent lake waters like a flimsy matchstick. Somehow, this violent storm also rips open a hole in time. Suddenly, the Hawkins family is trapped in a terrifying foreign world, a world populated by French-Canadian fur trappers, Ojibwa Indian warriors, and a man-eating grizzly. Sometimes, vacations just don''t turn out the way you hoped they would.

I’ve encountered many non-human creatures on my life’s journey. I’ve owned snakes, turtles, canaries, parakeets, pigeons, dogs, and cats. I’ve had hilarious encounters with such diverse creatures as a kamikaze bee and a pot-bellied pig who thinks she’s human. I’ve studied and observed black bears, eagles, osprey, red-tailed hawks, moose, deer, loons, raccoons, ducks, geese, opossums, skunks, and many other wild creatures. I have found each and every one of these animals to be a unique and wondrous being. Animals have truly brought fullness to my life. Some of them have also brought deep anguish and pain. Each person or animal depicted in this book has taught me something. Some of these lessons have been humorous, some painful, and some extremely sad. Yet I truly believe that my encounters with all sorts of animals have been an integral part of making me who I am today – an avowed ‘animal person.’