Books published by Polar Bear & Company

Standard edition: Maine authors have crafted these 28 stories and essays to accompany fine art photography in this full-color edition of their choices from the 22 works of art in the September 2019 exhibit at Fukurou gallery, illustrated herein.From the preface: Art critique is one thing, while a writer's view may be another. And the reflections of an innocent bystander another yet. In the sound of the Japanese word "Fukurou," I somewhere hear an owl. Folks grown up in the West might think of the Greek goddess Athena and her associations, but the owl has many multicultural things to say, including about art. Maine, coastal and inland, is historically connected with worldwide trade and cultural exchange. From Melville's Mainer out of the forest showing up on a South Pacific island in Typee to the scenes in Neil Rolde's Maine in the World, an owl may not be so out of place as a moose. Which is as much to say, Polar Bear & Company, an imprint of the Solon Center for Research and Publishing, has requested eight hundred words or less from any self-described Mainer on any of the works currently exhibited at gallery Fukurou, recently established at 20 Main Street, Rockland.We did not know what to expect, but the response of eighty-eight contributions was larger than that, and we are immensely thankful to all contestants; I prefer the term "contributors" with such creativity, especially for a nonprofit, even though we had to be publishers and be selective, hopefully forgiven. A major consideration was that we look for fine writing inspired by as many of the individual works exhibited as possible. Some of the essays and stories are wonderfully distant from the author's chosen artwork hanging in the gallery, as you will see. So raw competition for literary quality was moderated by inclusion of art, which seems appropriate, as we inaugurate this series of annual publications and their book-signing events at the gallery. For information on the Solon Center and related projects, please visit SolonCenter.org, ProtectingAmerica.net, and welcome to Fukurou gallery! --Paul Cornell du Houx, ED

Gallery edition: Maine authors have crafted these 28 stories and essays to accompany fine art photography in this quality color edition of their choices from the 22 works of art in the September 2019 exhibit at Fukurou gallery, illustrated herein.From the preface: Art critique is one thing, while a writer's view may be another. And the reflections of an innocent bystander another yet. In the sound of the Japanese word "Fukurou," I somewhere hear an owl. Folks grown up in the West might think of the Greek goddess Athena and her associations, but the owl has many multicultural things to say, including about art. Maine, coastal and inland, is historically connected with worldwide trade and cultural exchange. From Melville's Mainer out of the forest showing up on a South Pacific island in Typee to the scenes in Neil Rolde's Maine in the World, an owl may not be so out of place as a moose. Which is as much to say, Polar Bear & Company, an imprint of the Solon Center for Research and Publishing, has requested eight hundred words or less from any self-described Mainer on any of the works currently exhibited at gallery Fukurou, recently established at 20 Main Street, Rockland.We did not know what to expect, but the response of eighty-eight contributions was larger than that, and we are immensely thankful to all contestants; I prefer the term "contributors" with such creativity, especially for a nonprofit, even though we had to be publishers and be selective, hopefully forgiven. A major consideration was that we look for fine writing inspired by as many of the individual works exhibited as possible. Some of the essays and stories are wonderfully distant from the author's chosen artwork hanging in the gallery, as you will see. So raw competition for literary quality was moderated by inclusion of art, which seems appropriate, as we inaugurate this series of annual publications and their book-signing events at the gallery. For information on the Solon Center and related projects, please visit SolonCenter.org, ProtectingAmerica.net, and welcome to Fukurou gallery! --Paul Cornell du Houx, ED

Poetry and art of Maine and beyond illustrated in color with 18 of the poet's paintings.Trudy Overlock has a wide experience of life, from department store work on many levels to public relations to legal secretary and paralegal work to photo-colorist to private secretary for a Wall Street financier to minister's wife to advertising copywriter to mural and stage artist for dance studios to baker and supplier of pies to restaurants.Trudy was a professional vocalist, singing at a wide range of venues, from Maine's Lakewood Inn to the grandstand at the Skowhegan State Fair, with freebees singing for the Togus VA Medical Center and the Maine State Prison. She designed and had built the home where she raised her two stepsons; in Vassalboro she has established a gallery where a hundred of her paintings are on display in the eighteenth-century house she has restored and which is cited on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mac McCabe, the owner of Allagash Air, flies his customers into the wilderness to unforgettable and often life-changing experiences, camping, fishing, and hunting. But these days it seems that it's harder to make ends meet, even as the rich get richer and flock to Maine on vacation.When the local paper mill is to be chopped up, stripped and closed, and the man behind the deal slams Mac's airplane into a deadly spin with his jet, Mac dreams up a plan to get even. He recruits the military discipline of his brother-in-law Jackson Gunther and the skills of a journalist on the run from the mob. With the computer expertise of one more companion, they are involved in an offshore network to lift billions of dollars from two crooked and greedy billionaires.Nature encounters human nature in the North Woods in search of natural justice -- just one good thing to bring home to the community.

Hugh is the younger son of the author Henry Roth. Popular recognition of his father’s work did not soon follow from critical acclaim. Call It Sleep, the classic portrayal of Jewish and American immigrant life in New York City, was out of print for almost thirty years — until rediscovered in the early 1960s. In 1946 the family moved from Boston to Maine, where they raised and slaughtered ducks and geese, and Hugh’s mother was a teacher and principal in local schools. Egg Time in Augusta recalls this transition and the ensuing years with three narrative perspectives that challenge and highlight cross-cultural insights.

"This wonderful book that you are about to start reading will tell you the story of a brave monarch butterfly named Madalynn and her quest through North America to the pristine mountains of Michoacan.". . . ."Este maravilloso libro que estas a punto de leer, cuenta la historia de una valiente mariposa monarca llamada Madalynn y su aventura a través de Norte América hasta las preciosas montañas de Michoacán." --Guillermo Castilleja, Vice-president for Latin America & the Caribbean, World Wildlife Fund. . . .Bilingual text with Spanish translation.. . . .Madalynn encounters a variety of birds on her travels. Come and enjoy how they entertain, educate and challenge her liberating spirit.

A wonderful book about the myths and theories, some plausible and some preposterous, that have accumulated over the ages about the origins of the peoples of ancient America. Esther Pasztory treats them all with wisdom and wit ... If all this were not enough, Esther Pasztory, turns her conclusion into the most readable introduction we now have of what everyone needs to know about ancient American art. Nothing could be a more appealing and acute entry into the subject as a whole.―From the foreword by David Freedberg, PhD, author of The Power of ImagesWhy, today, do ... farfetched ideas enjoy the popularity that they do? Dr. Pasztory is a highly respected art historian with an international reputation in the field of pre-Columbian art. She is especially well known for her work at the ancient city of Teotihuacán in Central Mexico. Having spent a long career studying the works of the great civilizations of the Americas, no one is better qualified than she to provide an answer. ―From the introduction by William A. Haviland, PhD, coauthor of textbooks including Anthropology: The Human Challenge