One Christmas Eve many years ago when I was a little girl, I was too excited to sleep. I prayed to the baby Jesus whom I’d heard about in carols. I felt wrapped in love and woke up well-rested on Christmas morning.
I’ve always believed life is a spiritual journey: I respect and learn from many religious and secular traditions. After I joined a church, I became a spiritual director. When I was sixty, I earned an MA in pastoral ministry and women’s studies. I have pastored two churches and also became a preacher—something I could not imagine I’d ever be able to do. It’s never too late!
Mary’s Oliver’s nature poems are like psalms: full of beauty, wisdom, and spirituality that touch my heart. I read her poems over and over again.
In particular, during a silent retreat I attended near Gloucester, Massachusetts where scripture is assigned for reflection, her poems became my meditations. Every morning in the dining room overlooking the sea, I watched the sun rise, glowing across the waves and rocks. “Hello, sun in my face…” Oliver writes and ends with, “Watch, now, how I start the day / in happiness, in kindness.”
The forty-seven new works in this volume include poems on crickets, toads, trout lilies, black snakes, goldenrod, bears, greeting the morning, watching the deer, and, finally, lingering in happiness. Each poem is imbued with the extraordinary perceptions of a poet who considers the everyday in our lives and the natural world around us and finds a multitude of reasons to wake early.
I am an animal communicator and author of many books about our deeper connections with the animal world. A powerful dream featuring an archetypal Snake ignited my curiosity about snakes and inspired me to learn more. I immersed myself into the history, biology, and incredible diversity of snakes as well as their role in art, myth, medicine, and dreams. I also lived with two rescue snakes: a shy ball python named Carl and lively corn snake named Chloe. What I found was not only fascinating but life-changing. This book celebrates the mystery of Snake and the undeniable wisdom and healing that it offers our world.
While this book is less about snakes and more about the people who are obsessed with snakes, I recommend it for a fascinating perspective on the dark intrigue and alluring mystery inherent in our relationship with snakes.
Why are some individuals (and institutions!) willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to possess a rare snake? Why do wildlife traffickers go to incredibly dangerous lengths to find, capture and smuggle snakes on trucks, trains, and planes across international borders? And why do others make it their personal mission to stop these illegal activities?
When Bryan Christy began to investigate the world of reptile smuggling, he had no idea what he would be in for. In the course of his research, he was bitten between the eyes by a blood python, chased by a mother alligator, and sprayed by a bird-eating tarantula. But perhaps more dangerous was coming face to face with Michael J. Van Nostrand, owner of Strictly Reptiles, a thriving family business in Hollywood, Florida. Van Nostrand imports as many as 300,000 iguanas each year (over half the total of America's most popular imported reptile), as well as hundreds of thousands of…
Throughout my childhood, my mother repeated the mantra, “Love your own, leave others alone.” Her purpose was to prevent me and my siblings from begging to keep every animal we saw. Arguably, the phrase had some impact because we obviously didn’t bring home every animal. (But we also adopted a opossum from the backyard and named him Mr. Jenkins, so you be the judge.) For as long as I can remember, I have loved finding fantasy adventure books that feature the animals I love so much as trusted companions. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I do!
Do you love animals and seeing them within stories but sometimes just want something shorter than a full-length novel?
Then check out Animal Kingdom, a Havok anthology that includes 48 pieces of flash fiction (1000 words or less). Every piece features an animal and celebrates animal and human connections. Several pieces are fantasy, but (bonus) the collection also includes stories for fans of science fiction, thriller, mystery, and humor.
Pick up this book if you want a lot of different clean stories, fantasy and beyond, which feature many different types of animal companions (ranging from photogenic snakes, light-carrying moths, and more)!
I am the author of the DI Winter Meadows series. I love reading and writing crime fiction, especially books set in rural locations. I live in South Wales where I go hiking mountains, exploring caves, and discovering waterfalls. I take inspiration from these remote areas and close-knit communities to create the settings, characters, and plots for my books.
This was the first book I read by Sharon Bolton and it got me hooked on this author.
The book draws you into the lives of the residents of a small village where beneath the idyllic setting lurks secrets and malice. We follow newcomer Clara, a local vet, who is called upon when poisonous snakes turn up in the residents’ homes. The book has a brooding atmosphere which will leave you checking under the bed before you sleep.
Clara Benning, a veterinary surgeon in charge of a wildlife hospital in a small English village, is young and intelligent, but nearly a recluse. Disfigured by a childhood accident, she generally prefers the company of animals to people. But when a local man dies following a supposed snakebite, Clara's expertise is needed. She's chilled to learn that the victim's postmortem shows a higher concentration of venom than could ever be found in a single snake—and that therefore the killer must be human.
Assisted by a soft-spoken neighbor and an eccentric reptile expert, Clara unravels sinister links to an abandoned house,…
I’m a New Englander by birth, a Canadian by circumstance, and a Nova Scotian by choice. For as long as I can remember, I’ve told stories, first to my little sister—a captive audience—then to my children, then at my book readings, and now on my podcast, Kate and Friends, which I’m lucky enough to record with two professional musicians. For me, the ultimate test of a story is whether it can be told without visual aids. While I love picture books, and the way an artist can deepen a child’s experience of a story, I gravitate to satisfying, stand-alone tales with a good twist. They’re difficult to write, easy to remember, and great fun to tell!
One of my daughter’s perennial favourites, I read this so often I had it memorized, and found it great to tell even without the hilarious pictures. In this story, Kate is facing her first day of school. So miserable is she at the very idea, she gets out on the wrong side of the bed. So of course, everything goes wrong! Her school is a dungeon, her teacher is a gorilla, and the dinner lady serves spiders, snails, and snakes for lunch. Brave Kate fights back, runs home, and saves her own day when she gets up all over again, on the right side of the bed. This is, underneath, a story about attitude, and reassures kids about the reality of school by comically exaggerating one child’s fears. But it’s also great fun to tell, with silly voices, unexpected developments, and a fine arc of tension till Kate decides to…
Every child's worst nightmare is brought to life by Fancesca Simon's enchanting and witty text and by Peta Coplans' bright, bold and quirky illustations. This funny, original book is full of charm and humour - and it has a happy ending!
Animals! And a zoo! Kristy Farrell is a middle-aged mom, a true everywoman character.
I love stories with ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Kristy seeks a permanent position with a wildlife magazine and goes to the zoo to interview people for an article. There she finds a body – a human body.
When the zoo director dies from snake venom, her brother – in charge of the zoo’s reptiles – is the main suspect. Kristy must clear her brother, and along the way uncovers dangers for exotic animals. Picking a favorite novel among cozy mysteries is like asking me to pick a favorite grandchild.
Schmitt deserves to be brought to the attention of people who love the traditional cozy mystery, but might miss an excellent series from a smaller publisher.
A zoo with its lions, crocodiles, and snakes is a dangerous place — a perfect place for murder. When the director of a Long Island zoo is murdered by snake venom, Kristy Farrell, former English teacher turned wildlife reporter, takes a personal interest in the case. Her brother Tim, the zoo’s curator in charge of reptiles, is the leading suspect. Although the evidence is circumstantial, Kristy is sure the homicide detective, a childhood nemesis of her brother, is out to frame Tim.
I’ve read romance since I was teenager, and I’ve written all my professional life, first in journalism, then public relations, finally as an author. Being a sci-fi romance author is my dream job! There is nothing on this planet I’d rather do. I love the freedom and creativity of science fiction romance. There are new worlds to explore and fascinating characters to meet. The best books of any genre are those with “legs.” Years after reading them, you stillremember the story. My goal is to send my readers on an unforgettable emotional journey to an exciting new world filled with characters they can’t help but fall in love with.
What makes I Married a Naga stand out is the hero. He’s a half-humanoid, half-snakealien. The heroine is human.
I had hesitated to read I Married a Naga because it involved snake people. Snakes? No thanks! But I kept seeing the book and finally decided to give it a try. Thanks to author Regine Abel’s excellent storytelling, I got accustomed to the idea of a snake-man.
He’ll never be my favorite book boyfriend, but I warmed to him and thoroughly enjoyed the unforgettable characters and world-building.
When Serena comes to Trangor to participate in the First Hunt, the last thing she expects is to find herself forced to marry an Ordosian… or be executed. She knows nothing of his people, nothing of him, except that he’s got fangs, scales, and a crazy long tail. Serena only has to play the part of being a wife for six months, and then she’ll be free to leave. But Szaro seems to have other plans. He’s big, intimidating, and definitely not human. Yet, how can she remain indifferent when he does everything…
I am pathologically allergic to “message” books. As the former host of The Gittle List contest for self-published authors, I’ve read hundreds of children’s books. Many were “tell, not show” books. Stories with phrases like “we all should respect each other’s differences” rather than showing characters respecting each other’s differences. My recommended books are, at least in part, about diversity. Like my own book series, they demonstrate diversity through unusual friendships. Showing how characters work out their differences by learning about each other and finding ways to get along. A good story can change hearts and minds when characters carry the message–not beat readers over the head with it.
It earned a spot on the 2014 Gittle List, a contest I hosted for 5 years for self-published children’s book authors. I’ve purchased several copies for both children and adults. Somewhere, there’s a video of my grandson reading it to me (well, a couple of pages).
It’s unique in character, words, and pace. Seeing the two characters becoming friends, being the closest of friends, having a fallout that separates them, and finding their way back to each other moved me to tears because that is what my son and I were doing, at the time. Finding our way back to each other.
The lessons of forgiveness and humility flow naturally without ever saying those words explicitly.
A modern day tale of devoted friendship and the things each of us has to endure to make a valued friendship last. Spring has sprung in vibrant and colorful Under Valley. The valley is alive with wonderful creatures and tales to tell. As our story unfolds, we find an unusual pair. One is a silky orange snake, the other is a bright pink square. Their new friendship will blossom, then change, and change again. Let's hope, for their sake, it gets better in the end.
I am an animal communicator and author of many books about our deeper connections with the animal world. A powerful dream featuring an archetypal Snake ignited my curiosity about snakes and inspired me to learn more. I immersed myself into the history, biology, and incredible diversity of snakes as well as their role in art, myth, medicine, and dreams. I also lived with two rescue snakes: a shy ball python named Carl and lively corn snake named Chloe. What I found was not only fascinating but life-changing. This book celebrates the mystery of Snake and the undeniable wisdom and healing that it offers our world.
Homeopath Sadhana Thakkar helps to dispel the negative image of snakes by revealing how profoundly snake remedies can help humans heal and awaken.
The author offers an introduction to the physiology, temperament, lifestyle, and survival strategies of many snakes, and reveals how homeopaths match these patterns to effective venom-based remedies.
Homeopathy itself is a fascinating study, and Thakkar does an excellent job of deepening our understanding of how and why it works through her many stories of humans successfully treated with snake remedies. I found this book super informative and fascinating to read!
I am a psychotherapist working with individuals and couples since 1974 and have had over 57,000 sessions. How people relate to one another has been a fascination of mine since I was a youngster growing up in a suburb of Chicago. I believe that we are “wired” for relationships of all kinds and it takes a conscious effort to see the best in each other for them to thrive. Differences can be the spice of a relationship, not the division of them. My book, my practice, and my life focuses on those concepts. In 2012, I co-authored a popular book on relationships, Togetherness: Creating and Deepening Sustainable Love.
This simple, sweet, picture book, like others in the Elephant and Piggy series, deals with different animals who are trying to solve a problem together. I liked the book because it portrays how differences don’t matter when you care about another. To show how differences can be overcome and not be reasons to divide is wonderful, especially when the concept is shown to the very young reader.
Perfect for children just learning to read, this highly original book is told entirely in speech bubbles with a repetitive use of familiar phrases. From the award-winning author of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can. Gerald worries so that Piggie does not have to. Gerald and Piggie are best friends.
In Can I Play Too? Gerald and Piggie meet a new friend, Snake, who wants to join in a game of catch. But don't you need arms to catch...? Mo Willems creates another hilarious escapade starring the…
