True Travel Adventure

An exciting, hilarious, and thoughtful travel memoir about one man's adventurous two and a half years on the road, backpacking through 40+ countries on a shoestring budget. From the back cover: Until his midlife crisis arrived, Chris Gattanella always played it safe. He spent two decades sinking into a nice cozy life and career in Los Angeles. Now in his forties and newly single, he suddenly feels unfulfilled and bored. Is it because he never ventured out to see the world? Impulsively, Chris burns years of saved vacation time on a six-week “test run” through Europe to see if he enjoys ...

Six years after her Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller, A Thousand Acres, and three years after her witty, acclaimed, and best-selling novel of academe, Moo, Jane Smiley once again demonstrates her extraordinary range and brilliance. Her new novel, set in the 1850s, speaks to us in a splendidly...

The “mountain men” were the hunters and trappers who fiercely strode the Rocky Mountains in the early to mid-1800s. They braved the elements in search of the skins of beavers and other wild animals, to sell or barter for goods. The lifestyle of the mountain men could be harsh, existing as they did among animals, and spending most of their days and nights living and camping out in the great unexplored wilds of the Rockies.

How many times have you had that overpowering urge to leave it all behind and sail off to a tropical island? The desire of the ordinary landlubber to go to sea is as old as mankind itself. Here is the true story of how my wife and I became captured by the powerful allure of the sea. This is book one of a four book series. 'Quest and Crew' begins hours before a hurricane of unimaginable destructive force obliterates the south shore of Grenada. Luckily, Quest survives without a scratch. It’s a story about how life's many twists and turns, fortune and disaster, can change your path but make ...

How and why to live in a car, van or RV, and learn to love it! There are two main reasons you might buy a book on living in a vehicle: 1) You're being forced into it by a bad economy, divorce, or unemployment, or 2) The "American Dream" has become a nightmare for you and you are dropping out of the rat race. Whatever your reason, this book will tell you everything you need to make it the best possible experience it can be. We'll cover details like: which vehicle to live in and how to find it, where to park, staying clean, going to the bathroom, how to cook in a van, get out of debt, survive...

‘Quest in the Caribbean’ is the final book in the Quest Series. Wendy and I have learned to become sailors. We thank our lucky stars every day that the sea has been merciful to us. The sea is our home, but it can also be a strict master and unforgiving teacher. We learn our lessons one day and one problem at a time. But more importantly, Wendy and I learn a great deal about each other and what it takes to be good companions on a tiny boat. Compatibility on a cruising boat is the irreplaceable ingredient that keeps the cruise alive. The first chapter of ‘Quest in the Caribbean’ ...

A hilarious travel memoir about a man who moved with his wife, three kids, and two pets onto a forty-six-foot sailboat for a year. He expected it to be a yearlong version of Margaritaville, but what he got was shipwrecks, bad directions, hygiene calamities, and pirate attacks (sort of). Perfect...

Fly fishermen everywhere will enjoy these varied, witty, and engaging adventures by one of America’s finest outdoor writers. There is a long section on trout fishing called "Brookies, Browns, and Bows", and another on the challenges and excitement of saltwater fly fishing, and an exciting group of memoirs about fishing near home and in far-flung and often exotic places - like the Minipi, Bighorn, and Norfolk rivers, where the trout can beggar the imagination, and where frustration can be the occupational hazard.

It started as a joke, a night out with three friends in costume. A debauched international pub crawl followed, but the partying and exotic women weren't enough, and what started off as a bit of fun slowly descended into madness. With sombreros atop their thick skulls and swords hoisted high, they would storm the most dangerous places on earth...and face the consequences.

A Russian Drama best seller now in its second edition! In February, 1959 nine young hikers on a cross country ski trip mysteriously died under horrific circumstances. It is one of the great mysteries of our times. They would be found with missing eyes, even a missing tongue, crushed bones, and stripped of their clothes (later found radioactive) in minus 50 degree temperatures. Theories range from their being murdered by the CIA to space aliens, to even "Abominable Snowmen". This book explores this famous incident using a technique known as "Higher criticism" to explain their terrifying ...

While most addictions destroy you, Lisa Michelle’s saved her. For thirty years, Michelle has been a junkie for altitude—chasing the high that only comes at 10,000 feet, in places with no trail markers and no easy way out. True Nature is the raw story of what happens when you need secluded wilderness to survive, and what those wild places can teach you. True Nature isn’t about conquering massive mountains or logging thousands of miles. It’s about using wilderness to discover your own true nature when things get tough. About the satisfaction gained at locating a 13-million-year-old ...

What would a sailing challenge be without green water over the bow and a hard beat to windward? ‘Quest on the Thorny Path’ is the second book of the Quest series. You are now on the feared and fabled Thorny Path. Leave the laid back cruiser hangout of Georgetown, Bahamas behind and hit the big ocean waves for the first time. From Georgetown we take the path less traveled through the deserted and desolate out islands of the southern Bahamas. After a short stay in the Turks and Caicos, our course takes us to the north coast of Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus appropriately named this ...

Will Chaffey is 18 when he boards a plane in New York bound for Australia. Taking time off to work and travel, Will meets an enigmatic wanderer and herpetologist. Together they cross the inland desert to the tropical northwest coast, home to the saltwater crocodile, a known man-eater and a predator who has been hunting since the age of the dinosaurs. They devise a plan to explore the remote Prince Regent River, a trek so dangerous it had never been attempted by outsiders.

Kidnapped, locked up, and then stolen by a ruthless, sexy mercenary. Harper Kidnapped from my dorm room. Locked in a vault and left to die. And then? Stolen by a ruthless mercenary who claims I’m his mate. What’s a girl supposed to do? Run? Hide? Or surrender to those smoldering looks, the steamy touches, and the sizzling kisses? When a nasty alien crimelord tries to kidnap and sell me for the information he stored on a chip inside my head. Danger lurks from every corner, and my mercenary might hold the answers, he’s certainly devoted to my protection. Like he’s devoted to my ...

Two friends. One Amazing vacation. A deadly betrayal. San Francisco businesswoman Cathryn Prentis’ dream of visiting Peru’s Machu Picchu turns into a living nightmare on October 21, 2003 when she is arrested in the Lima airport and charged with transporting cocaine. Advised by DEA agents, Peruvian lawyers, family and friends to plead guilty and do anything she can—legally or illegally—to escape Peru, Cathryn must choose: should she plead guilty or should she maintain her innocence and risk a deadly prison sentence? And can she overcome a foreign culture she can’t trust, a language...

Based on the remarkable true story of Irish convict John Graham, WHITE SPIRIT is an epic historical adventure set in 19th Century Australia. After escaping from the notorious Moreton Bay Penal Settlement, Graham finds refuge with the Kabi, a tribe of Aborigines who eventually accept him as one of their own. Attempts to recapture Graham are orchestrated by a variety of contrasting characters working for the all-pervasive British Empire. They include Moreton Bay's tyrannical, opium-addicted commandant Lord Cheetham, the dashing yet warlike Lieutenant Hogan, native tracker Barega and the penal...

We are anchored in a windswept bay in the Dominican Republic on our way to Puerto Rico. There is no turning back now. The gear is stowed, hatches battened and the sails reefed. We are about to venture into the dreaded Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Once we are in PR, we will have a leisurely sail along the beautiful south coast. But we have to survive the Mona Passage first. Will she be kind to us? It is my pleasure to have you come along for the third book in the Quest series. Included in our itinerary is Vieques, St. Croix, St. John and a little fling with Virgin Gorda. ...

Seventy-foot waves batter a torn life raft 250 miles out tosea in one of the world's most dangerous places, the Gulf Stream. Hanging on to the raft are three men, a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, Jean Pierre de Lutz, a dual citizen of America and France. Their capsized forty-seven-foot sailboat has filled with water and disappeared below the tempestuous sea. The giant waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with ninebroken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death.

A mysterious girl birthed him, but couldn’t raise him Armed with an adoption diary written by his father and a picture of a young girl, Gadi searches for his roots in Brazil. He hunts down clues about the identity of his biological mother and wants to know what had happened that made her give him up and what is her life like. Gadi learns about Brazil’s adoption process and retraces the steps of his own adoption journey; from the arms of a young girl who could not raise him, to the arms of his adoptive parents who looked forward to his arrival. While traveling with two friends in Brazil,...

Helping parents and adolescents navigate fact from fiction, packaged in an exciting "together we learn" program which allows both parents and adolescents their own pathways through the reading. Parental discourse sections cover broad concepts, reflection questions, real-world parallels, character insights, thematic explorations, journal prompts, and further reading suggestions.