From ‘Emergence’ Magazine…. Re. Polluted Water….From ‘Unbound’…..
by Bernie Bell - 08:54 on 12 December 2023
From ‘Emergence’ Magazine….
by Charles Foster
'He was ill-equipped for an otter’s life at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times. How can you teach an otter to fish when there are no fish?'
Losing your sense of home, identity, safety or security can be devastating. The turmoil and the grief that comes with this kind of loss is something we understand to be deeply affecting for humans. But what of our creaturely kin, for whom catastrophe has been commonplace since humans began encroaching on their lives? Ravaging entire ecosystems and neglecting the selfhood of other species, we have made it near impossible for many to live naturally, to follow the ways of their ancestors, to find sanctuary and survive.
This story, written by Charles Foster and accompanied by Jackie Morris’s original illustrations, invites us to experience the world as a young otter might, immersing us in his sensory and emotional existence as he navigates ecosystems hijacked and poisoned by human activity. By turns joyous and tragic, this tale offers a glimpse of the changing Earth through the otter’s eyes as well as a reflection of ourselves: both our capacity for heedless destruction and the deep wells of love, care, and gentleness that lie within each of us.
******
I’m reminded of ‘The Once & Future King‘ by T.H. White – where Arthur becomes other creatures to learn to see through other eyes.
************************************************************
Re. Polluted Water….
Please take action….
It’s been happening for too long…
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16190
**************************************************************
From ‘Unbound’….
'Such glamour and glee, glorious to hear,
A din upon day and dancing by night,
All was happy to the highest in hall and chamber
With lord and ladies a-lifting their thoughts!’*
------------------------------
Unbridled glee is what you can expect from Unbound's Christmas Gift Guide 2023
We've published some absolute crackers this year. In the run up to Christmas, we'll be sharing with you a selection of some of our most gorgeous gift books published in 2023. Spoil your loved ones with one of these well-earned treats.
First up, it's Unbound's first Sunday Times number #1 bestseller...
*Michael Smith, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’
_________
42: THE WILDLY IMPROBABLY IDEAS OF DOUGLAS ADAMS
Edited by Kevin Jon Davies
'The prevailing mood of 42 ... is joyous celebration of a phenomenal mind and a huge talent for surreal humour'
Sunday Times
'It is a rare opportunity to be granted insight into the earliest machinations of a beloved artwork, but that is what Davies offers us with this meticulous archive'
Readers Digest
When Douglas Adams died in 2001, he left behind 60 boxes full of notebooks, letters, scripts, jokes, speeches and even poems. In 42, compiled by Douglas’s long-time collaborator Kevin Jon Davies, hundreds of these personal artefacts appear in print for the very first time.
Douglas was as much a thinker as he was a writer, and his artefacts reveal how his deep fascination with technology led to ideas which were far ahead of their time: a convention speech envisioning the modern smartphone, with all the information in the world living at our fingertips; sheets of notes predicting the advent of electronic books; journal entries from his forays into home computing – it is a matter of legend that Douglas bought the very first Mac in the UK; musings on how the internet would disrupt the CD-Rom industry, among others.
42 also features archival material charting Douglas’s school days through Cambridge, Footlights, collaborations with Graham Chapman, and early scribbles from the development of Doctor Who, Hitchhiker’s and Dirk Gently. Alongside details of his most celebrated works are projects that never came to fruition, including the pilot for radio programme They’ll Never Play That on the Radio and a space-inspired theme park ride.
Douglas’s personal papers prove that the greatest ideas come from the fleeting thoughts that collide in our own imagination and offer a captivating insight into the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers and most enduring storytellers.
DARK: AN A TO Z OF THE COSMOS
James Wilkins
‘The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.’
Author and poet Eden Phillpotts
Ever wanted to know more about the Big Bang but didn’t have Brian Cox’s email address? Ever wanted to cry out, ‘What on Earth is a black hole?’ but been afraid you’d be shouting into the abyss? Ever wanted to find out how gravity works but never found the book to pull you in?
Well, have no fear: DARK is an easily digestible beginner’s guide to the Universe in a handy A to Z format, with entries on everything from Dark Matter and Quantum Physics to NASA and the Zoo Hypothesis.
What’s more, the book is beautifully presented, so you’ll want to keep it out on display, dipping in to check exactly when it is that we humans are likely to be engulfed by the furnace of the Sun. It boasts a number of stunning design elements throughout, including original artworks and bespoke lettering to accompany each of the twenty-six chapters, as well as inspiring, enlightening and amusing quotes about space rendered in exquisitely considered typography.
So, if you want to brush up on your astronomical ABCs while simultaneously receiving a visual massage from some rather splendid art and design, then this may well be the cosmic coffee-table book for you.
‘I had the idea for the book while my wife was in labour with our second daughter. I texted Andreas (my brother-in-law) asking if he was up for the project before being quickly reminded that I had more pressing things to deal with. One of the primary drivers behind the book was whether it'd help me to talk about space with my daughters. As they've got older, their questions go harder which reminded me that my grasp of space was initially more surface level than I realised!’
FOX AND OTTER: ACCORDION BOOKS
Jackie Morris
'Jackie Morris does more than tell a story; she conjures glorious landscapes of the heart'
Meg Rosoff
An Accordion Book doesn’t open, it unfolds. One side is filled with beautiful watercolour images of an animal: sometimes in motion, sometimes at rest. The other is filled with text – poems, descriptions, invocations – inspired by the same animal.
Together they work as spells to summon the animal’s spirit. Jackie Morris has painted them using antique watercolours, some from boxes which hadn't been opened for over 150 years, woken from their slumber with a single drop of water.
Fox and Otter are the first two Accordions in a series that will go on to include Hare, Hound, Owl and Cat among many others.
Jackie Morris has painted them using antique watercolours, some from boxes which hadn't been opened for over 150 years, woken from their slumber like ‘Sleeping Beauty’ with a single drop of water.
These valuable old paints that Jackie has found in museums form a major part of the Accordion books’ aesthetic. She likens the paint to “birds who are not permitted to sing… just because they are 250 years old, don’t deny its wings.’
Jackie Morris is a writer and artist. She studied illustration at Hereford College of Arts and Bath Academy and has written and illustrated more than fifteen books. The Lost Words, co-authored with Robert Macfarlane, won the 2019 Kate Greenaway Medal, which Morris was nominated again for The Unwinding in 2021. She lives in Pembrokeshire. @JackieMorrisArt
********************************************************************
Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/11/24/a-wee-bit-of-fungal-foraging-from-the-harray-potter/
Add your comment
