{"title":"Stephen Lyn Bales","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"ephemeral-by-nature-book-stephen-lyn-bales-9781621903543","title":"Ephemeral by Nature","description":"In this captivating collection of twelve essays, a testament to a lifetime’s fascination with the outdoors and its myriad wonders, naturalist Stephen Lyn Bales examines a variety of flora and fauna that in one way or another can be described as “ephemeral”—that is, fleeting, short-lived, or transient.  Focusing on his native East Tennessee, Bales introduces us to several oddities, including the ghost plant, a wispy vascular plant that resembles a rooster’s tail and grows mainly in areas devoid of sunlight; the Appalachian panda, an ancestor of today’s red panda that wandered the region millions of years ago and whose fossil remains have only recently been discovered; and the freshwater jellyfish, a tiny organism that is virtually invisible except for those hot summer days when clusters of them bloom into shimmering “medusae,” sometimes by the thousands. Other essays consider such topics as the plight of the monarch butterfly, a gorgeous insect whose populations have dropped by 90 percent in only the last two decades; the reintroduction of the lake sturgeon, one of nature’s most primitive and seldom-seen fish, into the waters of the Tennessee Valley; and the surprising emergence of coyote-wolf and coyote-dog hybrids in the eastern states.  Written with insight, humor, and heart, Ephemeral by Nature is as entertaining as it is instructive. Along with a wealth of biological details—and his own handsome pen-and-ink drawings—Bales fills the book with delightful anecdotes of field trips, species-protection efforts, and those thrilling occasions when some elusive member of the natural order shows itself to us, if only for a brief moment.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50395392573713,"sku":"CIN1621903540G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51107429777681,"sku":"NIN9781621903543","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51601328832785,"sku":"CIN1621903540VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1621903540.jpg?v=1761990509"},{"product_id":"rising-from-the-ashes-book-stephen-lyn-bales-9781953291042","title":"Rising from the Ashes","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis catalog documents a 2022 exhibition of original editorial illustrations commissioned by the University of Tennessee Libraries to complement the Chimney Tops 2 Wildfires Oral History Project. The four illustrators showcased here have strong ties to East Tennessee. Paige Braddock, author of the Eisner-nominated comic strip \u003ci\u003eJane's World\u003c\/i\u003e and Chief Creative Officer at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, is an '85 UT alumna; Charlie Daniel, beloved \u003ci\u003eKnoxville News Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e editorial illustrator, has been a Knoxville resident since 1958; Marshall Ramsey, syndicated editorial illustrator and Pulitzer nominee, is a '91 UT alumnus; and professional illustrator Danny Wilson has been a visible part of Knoxville's graphic landscape since graduating from UT in 1984. The artists were given access to the project's digital archive of oral interviews--to date, 139 have been recorded--and were asked to respond creatively to what they heard and read.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe result is \u003ci\u003eRising from the Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e, a candid and deeply felt collection of illustrations encapsulating accounts of the merciless firestorm that enveloped Sevier County in November 2016. The flexible medium of the editorial illustration shows itself capable of extended narrative, disquieting detail, and poignant synthesis, as well as moments of beauty, hope, horror, and even humor as it ushers viewers into the recollections of wrestling and sorrow that animate the project's still expanding archive. Bales writes, \"Ultimately, the multiple fires destroyed or damaged 2,500 homes and buildings, killed 14 trapped people, injured another 200 or more, and burned over 17,000 acres of mostly woodlands that were a powder keg of dried leaves, all in a matter of three hours.\" Years later, the ramifications of this event are still being felt in the community and region. \u003ci\u003eRising from the Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e is a tribute to a people who suffered, lost, banded together, and rebuilt; and no less important, it is an expression of solidarity, recognizing how much remains to be done.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51062371320081,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51062375252241,"sku":"NIN9781953291042","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52815429206289,"sku":"CIN195329104XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/195329104X.jpg?v=1750901430"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-stephen-lyn-bales.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}