Books published by Stormbird Press

There is a centuries-old Japanese form of writing called the haibun: meditative narratives ending with a haiku that acts as a summary or extension of the ideas and moods in the prose. In Accidental Gardens, Rob Carney both honors this form and gives it an update for the 21st century. These 42 essays-arranged into sections titled "Environmental Studies," "Wine Is Rain in Translation," "Seven Seeds," and "Raccoon Verses"-are all short and end, haibun-style, with poems or encapsulating images. These essays are impressed by the natural world, and unimpressed by politics. They are lessons on poetic craft, and poetic themselves. They are at home in the American West but aware of the whole earth, all its landscapes and animals and magic, but also its fragility since so many of its human inhabitants are reckless and absurd. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes reverent, Accidental Gardens is always smart, and vital, and concerned.

When demoralised Warren Yeats abandons his failing business, his ex-wife and his city lifestyle to embark on a road trip with more twists and turns than Sydney's streets, he has no idea how gruelling the outback can be.Set during tropical Australia's oppressively humid build-up to the annual monsoon-the Suicide Season-when tempers are short, children are constantly irritable, and adults are tight-lipped, Yeats stumbles across an illegal wildlife poaching operation, falls in love with an attractive female mechanic, and becomes an unwitting trespasser on Aboriginal land.Whether sharing Yeats' admiration for an apricot-hued sunset as it soars across an aurora borealis-like sky, watching nectar-eating parrots getting tipsy on the fermenting blossoms of paper bark trees or learning how to bake damper over hot coals, odds are you have never enjoyed a journey as unique as this, following one of life's nicest losers as he becomes a winner.

The world is a complicated place, reigned by chaos. Politics has become frightening, climate change is worsening, and we're mourning the loss of the natural world. It is easy to succumb to feelings of powerlessness and doom, but creating a better future for us and our children is achievable if we listen to our innate voice. Psychologist and transpersonal counsellor, Paul W. Blythe, Ph.D., shares how each of us can reclaim a life of happiness, compassion, and health in our current times. Referring to the teachings of visionaries, Paul explains why individual efforts are needed to match these challenges, and how we will not only survive, but bloom.What if we could see that people aren't so different from ourselves? What if we stopped judging others and didn't take everything so personally? What if we could "know" at an experiential level that everyone yearns to do the right thing for their loved ones, their friends, and their community? What if each parent, sister, brother, partner and friend taps into an innate wisdom which impacts their relationships and ripples out into the world?Our brain areas unwittingly combine to drive our actions, thoughts, and reactions that are eroding beneath denial and a sense of doom. Without a countervailing force, we are following our brains, which are leading us, as individuals, society and as a species to devastating consequences.Surviving Doom reveals the path that leads to truth and placing our own needs and those of all mankind on equal footing. By undoing years of indoctrination and beliefs that hold us back and separate us from others, we can not only overcome our sense of doom, but create a better future for everyone.

As a young elephant learns the ways of the world from his herd's matriarch, 18 year old American Owen Dorner travels to Africa to meet his father for the first time. Plunged into the corrupt underworld of Colonel Mubego, a conniving prison warden and former revolutionary fighter, Owen seeks friendship amongst unlikely allies and finds meaning in the world of elephants.Biologist Wanjeri Mubego, the colonel's niece who is happier among the wildlife in her native Kenya than with people, helps Owen discover the truth about his father, Karl. A U.S. Army captain, Karl Dorner has lived in a dusty African prison cell since Owen was a small boy.Could Karl, accused of helping a local rebellion, be a hero, and not a traitor? Karl isn't telling.In a moving portrayal of elephant civilization parallel tales of intrigue and survival unfold, masterfully enriching our understanding of what it means to be human.

There is a storm brewing. Humans may survive the turmoil and onslaught of climate change and political upheaval, but the world they leave will be brittle and harsh. In choosing between the market, people, and wildlife, we are casting a future where a tiger's footprints will not be seen in snowdrifts, and the deep, pungent smell of elephant musth won't carry on the wind. Drawing on decades of experience as a wildlife activist, international negotiator, and academic, Dr Margi Prideaux describes how we can amplify voices from Africa, Asia and Latin America. She presents a poignant essay-we need not march into a tragic future where wildness disappears. Tapping local community wisdom, we can design promising potential. We can choose to hear birdsong after the storm. 'Clearsighted, passionate and inspiring, Margi Prideaux has written a vital reimagining of the destiny of environmental activism. Birdsong After the Storm is a clarion call for civil society to step forward and demand greater power. This important and wise essay will reshape the thinking of activists, environmentalists, NGOs and policy makers.'-Micah White, The End of Protest'Margi Prideaux has done more than anyone to raise awareness of the need for grassroots voices to be heard in debates over nature, climate change and the environment. She deserves to be widely read.'-Michael Edwards, Transformation

This collection of river literature compiles both classic and cutting-edge essays of twenty-one writers who draw on their wisdom, compassion, and ecological consciousness to create an original and inspiring collection borne from their unique connection with the natural world.Tales from the River features original writing by award winning authors including Anthony Birch, author of Ghost River, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing, and cutting-edge prose by Kathleen Dean Moore best known for award-winning books about our cultural and spiritual relation to wet, wild places, and fresh new voices from across the globe.This connection is shared in stories where, being so focused on the complexities of the river ahead makes the rest of the world completely disappear, and the smoke of a driftwood fire floats in air too thick to carry any sound but the rushing of the river. A canoe is tossed aside and rests akimbo with an aspen branch penetrating its hull, white fog flows down a river as if even the air runs to the sea, and an Aboriginal 'slum kid' steals a bike so he can visit a river rich in eucalypt trees that 'old blackfellas' had used to make bark canoes, scar trees.Like Eric Sevareid's Canoeing with the Cree, Ernest Hemingway's Big Two-Hearted River, and Edward Abbey's Down the River, the anthology promises glimpses into history, adventure and magic, and reminds us that the crystal-clear rivers of our childhoods are the way rivers are meant to be.Editors Donna Mulvenna and Margi Prideaux share a passion for wild spaces as portrayed in the anthology's dramatic range of environmental writing which offers an insight into rivers across the world, reflected by the varied perspectives of field biologists, environmentalists, wilderness guides, academics, writers, and naturalists.

Donna aimlessly daydreams of pulling up stakes and starting a new life, but never imagines a chance encounter with a new man will lead her to make a wild, impetuous decision that catapults her on a soul-changing journey.Living in the Amazon rainforest where a host of curious jungle creatures visit her jungle shack, she narrowly dodges disaster on a raging river, gets lost in a tropical swamp, and is struck down by a tormenting tropical disease. But none of that compares to what happens when she embarks on a scientific field trip that unexpectedly alters the course of her life.Tested mentally, physically and spiritually, Donna feels lost in the wilderness, but it is hard for her to be lost when pure joy pounds in her heart and she discovers the way to live her one precious life.Despite being accosted by angry ants and battling inclement weather, she begins work from a tree platform where she captures rare moments in the lives of wild animals, befriends a water-loving agouti, and forms a special bond with a tree, which convinces her it was her wild self who coerced her to travel over ten thousand miles so that it could unleash itself.Written with laugh-out-loud humour and deep compassion, Donna poignantly captures the isolation, challenges, and true beauty of the rainforest where she literally rises above the limitations of her once modern life."The big takeaway for me is the fact none of us knows the direction life will take us. It is only when we open our heart and eyes that opportunities present themselves. Bravo to all who have the courage to travel the meandering lane to the unknown."-Ron Melchiore, Off Grid and Free: My Path to the Wilderness"Deeply personal, moving, funny, and satisfying ... Reading Donna Mulvenna is like having a heart-to-heart with your best friend about the things that truly matter."-Jessica Groenendijk, The Giant Otter: Giants of the Amazon

Danielle Gasket's search for ancestral secrets is imperiled by warring factions that agree about nothing but that Danielle must die.Danielle's home is a dystopian city beneath the earth's surface. People have lived underground for so long that knowledge of the surface is preserved only in dwindling communities of persecuted heretics. According to the heretics, a prophet called "the philodendrist" led people underground to repent for their violent conquest of the natural world.Following a string of clues while eluding pursuit, Danielle races toward the long-forgotten path of ascension to sunlight, relying upon her wits and valor to make it through. Finally, her mercy toward her fiercest persecutor convinces him to help her ascend to the pure waters of the sunlit world.The Philodendrist Heresy is a call for the preservation and resurrection of the great forests of the earth. "Philodendrist" means "tree lover."