buy local

•

ephemeral: adj. lasting a very brief time; short-lived; transitory; fleeting; as in "the ephemeral joys of childhood."

Truth be told, and I revel in the truth since nonfiction is the palette I paint with, I have written about ephemerality in all three of my UT Press books. The ebb and flow nature of all life. 

My new book Ephemeral by Nature looks at 12 species of plants and animals that are in some way—ephemeral.

Where to buy it locally this holiday season?

1) Ijams Nature Center 2915 Island Home Ave.

2) Wild Birds Unlimited 7240 Kingston Pike, Gallery Shopping Center.

3) Or on SALE for the holiday from the University of Tennessee Press: Online



Book review in the Knoxville News Sentinel click: Book Review



•

circles

•

New books get a lot of early promotion but it is really the word-of-mouth, in ever expanding circles, that is the life or death of a book. One person tells two, two tell four, etc. Readers talk, they cannot help themselves. 

And even though my new book Ephemeral by Nature is about several very sobbingly serious topics: the fragileness of all species, recovery of a vanishing species, hard-to-find species, extinction and the very transitory nature of the concept of "species" itself. Are they immutable or only a mere point in time? 

For what is life? A wisp. Nothing more than "a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." (James 4:14)

Yet, there is a boyish curiosity to the wonder, the minutia of all life in the pages of Ephemeral.   

Perhaps this is why two young ladies whom I have know since they were kindergarteners in summer camp at Ijams, thought I needed some playful PR photos to promote the book, even if it meant a photo bomb at my Sunday talk.

Thank you Lucy and Josie! You make me smile.

And Mom Sara, I see your hand in this too.   

PHOTO BOMB! Spotted you young ladies.

•

A revisit to Panther Country

•

Last Monday, I made my yearly sojourn to Panther Nation, paying a visit to Will Roberts' AP Environmental Science class at Powell High School. It has become an annual tradition.

Each student had been assigned to read a portion of one of my first two books: Natural Histories or Ghost Birds and ask questions about what they had read. Plus we chatted a bit about my new book Ephemeral by Nature now available in the Ijams gift shop. 

Topics we visited were some of my favorite parts of my first two books including Osage oranges, river cane, pawpaws, male lesser prairie chickens dancing in a lek, plus the arduous process of writing a book in the first place. And—a preview of coming attractions—the red pandas and the return of lake sturgeon to the Tennessee River in Ephemeral.

We also talked about beauty in nature and my favorite animal I work with at the nature center. And how could I not have named the partial blind barred owl we care for? He flies beautifully, just doesn't see very well. 

Best of luck to all of you! Thanks, Will.

Lincoln. A red panda at the Knoxville Zoo. 

Click these links for a look back at past visits:

Fall 2016

Spring 2016

Fall 2015

Spring 2015

Fall 2014

Spring 2014

Fall 2013

School year 2012-2013 

School year 2011-2012

School year 2010-2011

School year 2009-2010

•

Ijams book talk

•

Drop by Ijams on Sunday, November 19 at 2 p.m. for a book talk, a look at some of the stories that went into the making of my third book Ephemeral by Nature published by the University of Tennessee Press. 

Books will be available in the Ijams Gift Shop.

Thank you Sarah Brobst for arraigning the talk. 

•

News Sentinel

•

When you reach the pinnacle, somehow you know it and become apprehension about what awaits on the other side. That IS the nature of ephemerality.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017: Book review reprinted in the Knoxville News Sentinel click: Book Review



•

Wild Birds-ephemeral

•

What was Newton's Third Law of physics? "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Just get ready for it. Perhaps Sir Isaac was thinking of authoring. It is an odd avocation, filled with an unusual and opposing dichotomy, a push pull.

While writing a book, the long months that turn into years, you are squirreled away, quietly working, researching, putting words to paper, locked in your own head. Yes, it's scary. Nonfiction books live or die by the research, a detective job that can go in many directions, through many sources. It's fascinating. Sometimes you know, or think you know bits of the story but its details are ferreted out by the detective work. Often it is full of surprises.   

Ultimately, if you are lucky, the book is published and your baby is out into the world, and you spend months and years standing in front of groups talking about what you have written, reliving the stories. That is intensely extroverted. You jump from meek mouse to roaring lion.  

Many, many thanks to my friends at Wild Birds Unlimited Knoxville—owners Liz and Tony, assistant manager Tiffiny—for hosting the first book talk about my newest, Ephemeral by Nature. And thank you the University of Tennessee Press for publishing it. 

What a strange ride it all has been. 

And thank you Tiffiny for the photos.  

With Liz Cutrone, co-owner with husband Tony of Wild Birds Unlimited Knoxville

•

Ephemeral review

•

Of all things fragile and beautiful, we feel for thee. By the late 1940s, there were roughly only 24 whooping cranes left alive in the world. Today they are far more but they still are very much endangered. 

We are not actors on Broadway, so we don't go to Sardi's to wait for the reviews to come in. When a book is published, it is cast upon the wind like milkweed seeds. Authors wonder, "Will they land on futile ground?"

No, I wasn't at a glamourous restaurant on Times Square. I was on the sofa nursing a cold and reading Sy Montgomery's book on octopuses. The only thing worse than a bad review is no review. The only thing better than strawberry yogurt on a stick is a good review.  

With deep appreciation, this author thanks, Maria Browning for her review in Chapter 16: A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby  

Browning writes, "These are difficult days for nature lovers. Pollution, habitat destruction, the decline of countless species, climate change—anyone who takes an interest in the condition of planet Earth had better be prepared for bad news. This state of affairs should make someone like Stephen Lyn Bales, senior naturalist at Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, more than a bit gloomy. But his collection of essays, Ephemeral by Nature, shows him to be, if not exactly optimistic, at least deeply philosophical about the fate of life as we know it. He makes a convincing case for joy and curiosity despite—or perhaps because of—the transience of all living things..."

For the rest of Browning's review click: 

Ephemeral by Nature review

• 

See you in Oak Ridge

•

•