I have been neglecting the blog lately, for several reasons: mainly a sudden editorial job, which may result in my having three books with my name on them in a calendar year; far too much social life, with only the Spur Saint Patrick’s Day party planned; and an increasing amount of unanswered correspondence. I have …
Author: Steve Bodio
Dan Baum sticks to his guns…
… in this excellent interview in Atlantic (pun absolutely intended). Maybe they thought he would back down; because of the current climate, because– I don’t know, he hadn’t spent many years coming to his conclusions? No fear: “I’m no less a Democrat than I was, but I am more attuned to the gun guy complaint …
Zoo Eli
Three generations of us went to the Albuquerque Zoo on my birthday to see hot snakes, relict megafauna, and other biophilic entertainments. Mr Eli wanted to swim with the ducks, seals, and most alarmingly hippos. I enjoyed the herps more myself, and the mixed flock of wild migrant ducks including the irritatingly named “Ring necked”, …
Giant Vampire Bat
…and while we are on the Pleistocene, why not a giant prehistoric Southwestern vampire bat that preyed on the megafauna? From Randy Babb’s drawing in Dave Brown’s Vampiro, for Dr Hypercube (the paperweight is a bronze nighthawk with hidden eggs by Steve Kestrel):
“Homotherium is perhaps my favorite felid…”
… says Nathaniel below. I agreed, then laughed at the oddity of a blog where readers could make that statement with a straight face, though there are a couple of others on the blogroll… Here is my favorite image of Homotherium serum, a frightening predator, in life bigger than an African lion and possibly cursorial …
Gun Guys
I usually don’t review books that I blurb– but if you have any strong views on guns, on either side, take a look at Dan Baum’s Gun Guys . There are several reasons to (on top of its being a fine piece of reporting and a good read): first, genuinely pro- gun books by unabashed …
Hemingway, Faulkner, and longer sentences
Reid’s post below absolutely delighted me, because it showed me once again how my good friend and I share certain tastes and beliefs even when we don’t know it. If you haven’t read his post below read and come back… All set? Next month Lyons publishes my A Sportsman’s Library: 100 Essential, Engaging, Offbeat, and …
Parker
Leonard Parker, Quanah’s grandson (he was in the photo of the old man’s reburial in 1956, wearing his Army uniform) is back in town on a quick run with his nephew. He managed the BIA dorms for Floyd Mansell, ran the Spur for Steve Grayson, and eventually moved back to Anadarko with his late wife …
Amigos de Sevilleta
… soo– to my absolute shock, I find myself, after many years’ absence from the refuge, appointed vice-president of Amigos de Sevilleta, a non-profit organization that exists to inform the public about the refuge and its mission, and arrange for events like birding and plant tours for the public. We want to make this utterly …
Creatures of the Sevilleta
Sevilletta has plenty of big animals, even “Charismatic Megafauna”. Peregrines nest in the cliffs, and herds of exotic oryx, expanding from White Sands despite increased hunting pressure intended to confine them there, drift through as though it was Africa, keeping a distance that, in summer’s liquid haze, makes you reach for your binoculars. Karen was …